(Vatican Radio) “It is a duty of everyone to protect children, especially those exposed to elevated risk of exploitation, trafficking, and deviant conduct.”
That was the message of Pope Francis for International Missing Children’s Day at his General Audience on Wednesday. Missing Children’s Day was established in the United States by President Ronald Reagan in 1983, four years after the disappearance of 6-year-old Etan Patz in New York City. The date of his disappearance, May 25, was chosen for the annual commemoration. Since 1998 Missing Children’s Day has been commemorated internationally.
In his appeal at the conclusion of the weekly Audience, Pope Francis expressed his hope that “civil and religious authorities might stir consciences and raise awareness, in order to avoid indifference in the face of children on their own, exploited children, and children far from their families and their social context, children who cannot grow-up peacefully or look with hope to the future.”
He invited everyone “to prayer that each of them might be restored to the affection of their loved ones.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) At the conclusion of his weekly General Audience, Pope Francis prayed for the victims of terrorist attacks that took place in Syria on Monday.
“I exhort everyone to pray to the merciful Father, to pray to the Madonna, that [God] might give eternal rest to the victims, and consolation to their families,” the Pope said, “and might convert the hearts of those who sow death and destruction.” He then led the crowd in the Hail Mary
More than 160 people were killed in the coordinated attacks on cities of Jableh and Tartus, government strongholds which had remained relatively untouched throughout the civil war, now in its sixth year.
Funerals for the victims began on Tuesday in Syria.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis centered the catechesis of this week’s Wednesday general audience on the importance of persevering in prayer.
Below, please find the official English-language summary of the Holy Father’s prepared remarks:
Dear Brothers and Sisters: In our continuing catechesis for this Holy Year of Mercy, we now turn to the parable of the unjust judge and the widow ( Lk 18:1-8). In telling us that even an unscrupulous judge will finally render justice to a poor woman because of her persistence, Jesus encourages us to persevere in prayer to our heavenly Father, who is infinitely just and loving. He also assures us that God will not only hear our prayers, but will not delay in answering them (vv. 7-8). The Gospels tell us that Jesus himself prayed constantly. His own intense prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane is a model for our own: it teaches us to present our petitions with complete trust in Father’s gracious will. The parable of the unjust judge and the widow ends with a pointed question: “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth”? (v. 8). Perseverance in prayer keeps our faith alive and strong. For in that prayer, we experience the compassion of God who, like a Father filled with love and mercy, is ever ready to come to the aid of his children.
(from Vatican Radio)…
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(Vatican Radio) “Walk in the presence of God without reproach.” That’s how Pope Francis says we can journey towards holiness. During the Homily at Mass at Santa Marta Tuesday, the Pope said that for this commitment to succeed, Christians must be able to hope with courage, open themselves up to discussion, and freely welcome God’s grace.
Listen to our report:
Holiness cannot be bought. Neither can it be earned by human strength. No, “the simple holiness of all Christians,” “ours – the kind we are called to every day,” says the Pope, can only be attained with the help of four essential elements: courage, hope, grace, and conversion.
The path of courage
Taking the liturgical excerpt from the First Letter of St. Peter, which he called a “small treatise on holiness,” Pope Francis said holiness means “to walk in the presence of God without reproach:”
“Holiness is a journey; holiness cannot be bought. It can’t be sold. It cannot be given away. Holiness is a journey to God’s presence that I must make: no one else can do it in my name. I can pray for someone to be holy, but he’s the one who has to work towards [holiness], not me. Walk in God’s presence, in an impeccable way.”
Everyday holiness, the Pope continued, can also be “anonymous.” And the first element needed to achieve it is courage: “The path to holiness takes courage.”
Hope and grace
“Jesus’ Kingdom of Heaven,” the Pope stressed, is for “those who have the courage to go forward” and courage, he observed, is generated by “hope,” the second element of the journey that leads to holiness. The kind of courage that hopes “in an encounter with Jesus.”
The third element of this journey towards holiness, the Pope observed, appears in Peter’s words: “Put all your hope in that grace:”
“We cannot achieve holiness on our own,” affirmed Pope Francis. “No, it is a grace. Being good, being saintly, going every day a little ‘a step forward in the Christian life is a grace of God and we have to ask for it. Courage, a journey. A journey one must take with courage, with hope and with the willingness to receive this grace. And hope: the hope of the journey.
Here, the Pope urged the faithful to read the “beautiful” chapter XI of the Letter to the Hebrews, which recounts the journey of “our forefathers, the first to be called by God.” “Of our father Abraham, it said: ‘But, he went out without knowing where he was going.’ But with hope.”
Convert every day
In Peter’s letter, the Pope continued, we also see the importance of a fourth element: conversion as a continuous effort towards cleansing the heart.
“Conversion, every day,” recalled Pope Francis, does not mean one must beat oneself as penance for committing a wrong: “No, no, no: small conversions… if you’re able to not speak ill of another, you’re on the right path to becoming saintly. It ‘so easy! I know that you never speak ill of others, no? Little things … ‘I want to criticize a neighbor, a workmate’: bite your tongue a bit. The tongue will swell a bit, but your spirit will be holier on this journey. Nothing grand, mortification: no, it’s simple. The path to holiness is simple. Do not go back, but always moving forward, right? And with fortitude.”
(from Vatican Radio)…