(Vatican Radio) Christians are called to care for God’s creation. That was the Pope’s message at Mass this Monday morning at the Casa Santa Marta. The Holy Father also spoke about the “second creation”, the one performed by Jesus that he “re-created” from what had been ruined by sin.
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God creates the universe but creation does not end, “he continues to sustain what he has created.” That was the focus of Pope Francis’ homily as he dwelt on a passage from Genesis, in the first reading, which recounts the creation of the universe. “In today’s Gospel”, the Pope commented, we see “the other creation of God”, “that of Jesus, who came to re-create what had been ruined by sin.”
We see Jesus among the people, he said, and “those who touched him were saved” it is the “re-creation”. “This ‘second creation’ Pope Francis, is even more wonderful than the first; This second work is wonderful. “Finally, there is “another job”, that of “perseverance in the faith” that which the Holy Spirit works on:
“God works, continues to work, and we can ask ourselves how we should respond to this creation of God, which is born of love, because he works through love. In the ‘first creation’ we must respond with the responsibility that the Lord gives us: ‘The earth is yours, take it forward; let it grow ‘. Even for us there is a responsibility to nurture the Earth, to nurture Creation, to keep it and make it grow according to its laws. We are the lords of creation, not its masters. ”
The Pope warned, however, that we must be “careful not to become masters of Creation, but to make it go forward, faithful to its laws.” Therefore, he added, “this is the first response to the work of God: to be protectors of Creation”:
“When we hear that people have meetings about how to preserve creation, we can say: ‘No, they are the greens!’ No, they are not the greens! This is the Christian! This is ‘our response to the’ first creation ‘of God. And’ our responsibility. A Christian who does not protect Creation, who does not let it grow, is a Christian who does not care about the work of God, that work that was born from the love of God for us. And this is the first response to the first creation: protect creation, make it grow. ”
On the subject of the “second creation Pope Francis looked to the figure of Saint Paul saying, this Saint tells us to let ourselves be “reconciled to God”, “go on the road of inner reconciliation, community reconciliation, because reconciliation is the work of Christ.” And again, echoing the words of Saint Paul, the Pope said that we should not be grieved that the Holy Spirit is within us, that he is within us and works in us. The Holy Father added that we “believe in the person of God”: “the person is the Father, Son and the person of the Holy Spirit”:
“And all three are involved in this creation, in this re-creation, in this perseverance in re-creation. And to all three of them our response is: to preserve and nurture Creation, let ourselves be reconciled with Jesus, with God in Jesus Christ, every day, and do not be grieved by the Holy Spirit, not drive it away: he is the host of our hearts, he who accompanies us, he who makes us grow. ”
“May the Lord – Pope Francis concluded – give us the grace to understand that he” is at work “and give us the grace to respond appropriately to this labour of love.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Sunday evening visited the parish of San Michele Arcangelo in the eastern Roman district of Pietralata. The parish is on the peripheries of Rome, and home to 8,000 families. On his way to the parish, the Holy Father made a surprise visit to a shantytown called “Campo Arcobaleno”, where he…
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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Sunday evening made a surprise visit to a shantytown, a few minutes before he celebrated Mass at the parish of San Michele Arcangelo in the eastern Roman district of Pietralata.
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The settlement– called “Campo Arcobaleno”[ Camp Rainbow] – is 300 metres from the parish church.
“He got out of the car and people were shocked when they saw him in front of their shacks,” said Father Aristide Sana, the pastor of the parish who quickly traveled to the camp when he got word of the visit.
Pope Francis received a boisterous welcome.
“Viva la Papa!” the crowd shouted, engulfing the Pope, chanting and shaking his hand. Pope Francis asked how many spoke Spanish, and the crowd shouted out “All of us!”
This was not quite true: Many of the residents are from Peru and Ecuador, but many others were from Eritrea, Ukraine, Russia, and other parts of the world.
The ten-minute visit ended with a recitation of the Our Father in Spanish.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Sunday evening made a surprise visit to a shantytown, a few minutes before he celebrated Mass at the parish of San Michele Arcangelo in the eastern Roman district of Pietralata. Listen: The settlement– called “Campo Arcobaleno”[ Camp Rainbow] – is 300 metres from the parish church. “He got out of…
Read more
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Sunday evening visited the parish of San Michele Arcangelo in the eastern Roman district of Pietralata. The parish is on the peripheries of Rome, and home to 8,000 families.
On his way to the parish, the Holy Father made a surprise visit to a shantytown called “Campo Arcobaleno”, where he visited with residents for about 10 minutes.
Listen to our report:
After arriving at the Parish Hall, Pope Francis met with a group of homeless people who are cared for by the Sant’Egidio Community.
“The fact that people do not know your name, and call you ‘homeless’ and you carry this: It is your cross, and your patience,” said Pope Francis. “But there is something in the heart of all of you – of this, please be assured – there is the Holy Spirit.”
He then held a meeting with parents whose children had been baptized in the previous year, and asked them to teach them the Faith well, and lamented there are “Christian children who cannot make the sign of the cross.”
In his meeting with older children, many of whom were part of the Scouting movement, Pope Francis pointed out that wars are not only those – and he asked them to make a list – which kill children in Iraq, Ukraine, and Africa. Wars are come about much earlier in people who do not possess God.
“Who is the father of war?” Pope Francis asked. “The devil!” the children answered.
Pope Francis said the devil is the “father of hate”, “the father of lies” who seeks disunity.
“But God wants unity,” Pope Francis said. “If in your heart you feel jealousy, this is the beginning of war. Jealousies are not of God.”
And this is the theme Pope Francis continued during his homily at Mass.
“It is sad when in a family, brothers do not speak because of something stupid,” Pope Francis said.
“Because the devil takes stupidity and makes a world,” he continued. “Then these enmities continue and multiply for years. It destroys the family: Parents suffer because their children do not speak to each other, or with the wife of a son…And so this jealousy and envy, it is sowed by the devil. And the only one who can drive out demons is Jesus. The only one who can heal these things is Jesus. So to each of your: Have yourself healed by Jesus.”
As he often does during parish visits, he urged the congregation to listen to Jesus in the Gospel, to read a passage and ask themselves, what does it say to me?
“Have this daily contact with the Gospel,” Pope Francis said. “Pray with the Gospel.”
(from Vatican Radio)…