(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Monday spoke of the importance of taking stock of what is in people’s hearts and lives instead of only taking the law into account.
During his homily at morning Mass at the Casa Santa Marta, the Pope spoke of the Doctors of the Law whom – he said – passed judgment with their hearts closed to God and to prophecy; all that mattered to them – he explained – was to uphold the Law.
Listen to the report by Linda Bordoni :
Pope Francis was reflecting on the Reading from the Acts of the Apostles in which the Doctors of the Law accuse Stephen of speaking “blasphemous words against Moses and God” because they “could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke.”
They even instigated false witnesses to uphold their claims, he said.
“Their hearts, closed to God’s truth, clutch only at the truth of the Law, taking it by ‘the letter’, and do not find outlets other than in lies, false witness and death” he said.
The Pope pointed out that Jesus had already reprimanded them for this attitude, because “their fathers had killed the prophets”, and they were now building monuments to those prophets.
He said that the response of the “doctors of the letter” is more cynical than hypocritical when they say that had they been in the days of their fathers, they would not have done the same.
Thus – the Pope said – they wash their hands of everything and judge themselves pure.
But, he continued: “The heart is closed to God’s Word, it is closed to truth, and it is closed to God’s messenger who brings the prophecy so that God’s people may go forward.”
Pope Francis said: “It hurts when I read that small passage from the Gospel of Matthew, when Judas, who has repented, goes to the priests and says: ‘I have sinned’ and wants to give … and gives them the coins. ‘Who cares! – they say to him: it’s none of our business!’ They closed their hearts before this poor, repentant man, who did not know what to do. And he went and hanged himself. And what did they do when Judas hanged himself? They spoke amongst themselves and said: ‘Is he a poor man? No! These coins are the price of blood, they must not enter the temple… and they referred to this rule and to that… The doctors of the letter. ”
The life of a person did not matter to them, the Pope observed, they did not care about Judas’ repentance.
The Gospel, he continued, says that Judas came back repentant. But all that mattered to them “were the laws, so many words and things they had built”.
This – he said – shows the hardness of their hearts. It’s the foolishness of their hearts that could not withstand the wisdom of Stephen’s truth so they go to look for false witnesses to judge him.
Stephen – the Pope continued – ends up like all prophets, like Jesus. And this is repeated in the history of the Church:
“History tells us of many people who were judged and killed, although they were innocent: judged according to the Word of God, against the Word of God. Let’s think of witch hunts or of St. Joan of Arc, and of many others who were burnt to death, condemned because according to the judges they were not in line with the Word of God” he said.
Pope Francis pointed out that Jesus himself ended up on the cross for having trusted in God and obeyed His Word and he reminded the faithful of Jesus’ words of tenderness when he said to the disciples on the Road to Emmaus: “Oh, how foolish you are! How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke.”
He concluded saying: “Let us ask the Lord to look to the large and to the small follies of our hearts with the same tenderness, to caress us gently and to say to us: ‘Oh you foolish and slow of heart’ and begin to explain things to us.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Almost a year on from its publication, Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’, on the care for our common home, has had an important impact at local and international levels.
That’s according to the head of the Pontifical Justice and Peace Council, Cardinal Peter Turkson, who was taking part in a panel discussion in the Vatican on Monday about U.S. and Holy See engagement on issues of common concern.
The encyclical, signed by the Pope on May 24th 2015, explores the interconnected concerns of caring for the human life and protecting the environment, appealing for action based on an interior ecological conversion.
Over the past year, Cardinal Turkson, whose Council worked on the drawing up of the document, has been travelling widely, speaking about its relevance to many other areas of financial, social and environmental policy.
He says Laudato Si’ has had a significant impact in highlighting the effects of human activity on our environment…
Listen:
Cardinal Turkson recalls that right after the publication of the encyclical the UN organised an event to explore what kind of moral support it could lend to the process of combatting climate change.
One month later, he says, the French president, François Hollande opened a conference called Consciences for Climate, quoting widely from the document.
The cardinal says he has spoken since then at many U.S. universities and colleges, highlighting local needs and concerns, such as the impact of rising sea levels off the Florida coast. Climate related disasters, he says, are increasingly “making it difficult for people to live wholesome and peaceful lives” and it’s important to ask “to what extent are people contributing to that”.
Speaking of his own experience growing up in mining town in Ghana, Cardinal Turkson describes the effect that surface mining has on the local environment: “the forest has gone, the topsoil is gone, agriculture is affected, the water board is affected – that’s a drastic change caused by human activity.
Similarly, he continues, the African agricultural practice known as ‘slash and burn’ creates “a lot of savannah in place of forests”. These examples, he says, show how human activity “can induce, worsen or even provoke” climate change.
(from Vatican Radio)…
An appeal “for
the liberation of all people who have
been seized in areas of armed conflict” was launched by Pope Francis at the
Regina Caeli on Sunday, 10 April. In particular the Pontiff reminded the faithful gathered in St Peter’s
Square of the Salesian priest Tom Uzhunnalil, who was take on 4 March during
the vicious attack on a centre for the elderly and disabled near the city of
Aden, Yemen. Four nuns of the Missionaries of Charity, the congregation founded
by Mother Teresa of Calcutta, and twelve other people were killed in the
attack. Before reciting the Marian prayer,
referring to the Gospel episode of the miraculous catch of fish, the Pope
pointed out the attitude taken by Peter, who threw himself into the water and
swam toward Jesus, with “all the enthusiasm of the Paschal faith, full of joy
and wonder, which sharply contrasts with the disappearance, the dejection, the
sense of powerlessness that had accumulated in the disciples’ heart”. Indeed, Francis observed, “the
presence of the Risen Jesus transforms everything: darkness has become light,
futile work has again become fruitful and promising, the sense of weariness and
abandonment give way to a new impetus and to the certainty that He is with us”. The Pontiff emphasized that “all of
us are the community of the Risen One”, and noted that “the great
message of the Resurrection instils in the hearts of believers heartfelt joy
and invincible hope”. He reminded the
faithful that “we Christians are all called to communicate this message of
resurrection to those we meet, especially to those who suffer, to those who are
alone, to those who find themselves in precarious conditions, to the sick, to
refugees, to the marginalized”, so that a sign of the powerful
mercy of the Risen Christ may reach everyone….
(Vatican Radio) The Secretary of State of the Holy See, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, has sent a letter to Cardinal Angelo Scola, Archbishop of Milan and President of the Giuseppe Toniolo Institute for Higher Studies, which founded and and continues to promote Italy’s premier Catholic institution of higher learning, the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart – Università cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan and Rome, on occasion of the 92 nd “Day for the Catholic University” in Italy. In his letter, Cardinal Parolin writes of the ever-present and pressingly urgent need today to recover and to continue the conversation between timeless truth and contemporary culture. “Without an eye to the fundamental values of truth, goodness, justice and peace, which comes from a genuine opening of the spirit,” writes Cardinal Parolin, “you cannot counter the strong impulses toward materialism and scientific positivism that seem to be the dominant coordinates on which the culture and society of our time seem to move.” The theme chosen for the 92 nd Day for the Catholic University – celebrated Sunday, April 10 th – was: “The Italy of tomorrow: I’ll be there, starting today!” Cardinal Parolin notes in his letter how a core element of Catholic education is its ability to create and foster a spirit of service. “A distinctive sign of the Catholic institution of higher learning,” he writes, “must always and ever more be that of an education energetically ordered to solidarity and the service of the least among us, through all dimensions of knowledge and human life.” (from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis prayed the Regina coeli with pilgrims and tourists gathered in a sun-drenched St. Peter’s Square at noon on Sunday. In his remarks ahead of the traditional Eastertide prayer of Marian devotion, the Holy Father reflected on the Gospel reading of the day, which tells of Our Lord’s third appearance to the disciples following His resurrection, and the episode of the miraculous catch of fish, in which the disciples, returned to their old workaday lives, encounter the Risen Jesus on the shore of Lake Galilee.
“The presence of Jesus,” explained Pope Francis, “transforms everything: darkness is overcome by light; vain labor is made once again fruitful and promising; the sense of fatigue and abandonment gives way to a new élan, and to the certainty that He is with us.”
The Pope went on to say that the renewal of hope and missionary spirit, which the disciples experienced then, are with the Church still today.
“If it may seem, by a superficial glance, that the shadows of evil and the weariness of everyday life have the upper hand, the Church knows with certainty that the light of Easter shines with undimming brilliance on all those who follow the Lord Jesus.”
Pope Francis concluded his remarks with an exhortation: “May the Lord renew Paschal faith in us as well: may He make us ever more aware of our mission in service of the Gospel and of our brothers and sisters; may He fill us with the Holy Spirit so that, sustained by the intercession of Mary, we might with all the Church proclaim the greatness of His love and the richness of His mercy.”
(from Vatican Radio)…