(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Wednesday urged Christians to spread hope by supporting and encouraging one another.
He was speaking to the pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the General Audience.
Please find below the English summary of the Pope’s catechesis:
Dear Brothers and Sisters: In our continuing catechesis on Christian hope, today we reflect on two words used by Saint Paul in the opening reading: steadfastness and encouragement. Paul says that both are contained in the message of the Scriptures, but even more, that ours is a God of steadfastness and encouragement (cf. Rom 15:4-5). In the Christian life, we are called to spread hope by supporting and encouraging one another, especially those in danger of faltering. But we do so with the strength provided by the Lord, who is our unfailing source of hope. Faithful to the Apostle’s injunction, may we always live in harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis warned against treating the confessional like the dry cleaners, a place to make a quick transaction, wipe away our sins and steal a false pardon. He also stressed the need for Christians to be truly ashamed of their sins. The Pope’s words came during his homily at his Tuesday morning Mass in the Santa Marta residence. Listen to the report by Linda Bordoni :
The Pope drew on the morning’s readings at Mass, beginning with the book of Daniel, which emphasized mankind coming before God with a humble and contrite spirit. “Here is the shame of sins, a grace which we cannot attain by ourselves.” Moving on to the Gospel, where Jesus tells Peter to forgive his brother “not seven times, but seventy-seven times” the Pope reminded the congregation that being forgiven and understanding that forgiveness, gives us, in turn, the ability to forgive others. This is shown in the actions of the debtor who is forgiven by his master, but who himself could not forgive another person who was in debt to him. “He has not understood the mystery of forgiveness” the Pope said. He went on to explain that this mystery is not like a transaction in a bank and sounded a warning against those who confess their sins like a sort of checklist: “ If I ask ‘Are you all sinners? – Yes Father, all of us – and to obtain pardon for our sins? – We confess – And how did the confession go? – I go there, I say my sins, the priest forgives me, I’m given three Hail Mary’s to pray and I leave in peace.’ You have not understood! You have only gone to confession to carry out a banking transaction or an office task. You have not gone to confession ashamed of what you have done. You have seen stains on your conscience and have mistakenly believed that the confessional box is like the dry cleaners that removes those sins. You’re unable to feel shame for your sins.” Entering into this mystery helps us to reform our lives, the Pope continued. “The marvel enters your heart. You have the power to enter into its knowledge. Otherwise you leave the confessional, meet a friend, begin to talk and gossip about someone else and continue sinning.” If we don’t have this knowledge, the Pope reminded his congregation, we will be like the servant in the Gospel, who thought he could get away with not forgiving others, when he himself had been forgiven. “I can only forgive when I feel forgiven. If you don’t have the knowledge to be forgiven, you will never be able to forgive. This attitude affects how we deal with others. Forgiveness is total. But I can forgive only when I feel my sins, my shame. I am ashamed and I call on God for forgiveness. I feel forgiven by the Father and in that way I can forgive others. If not, I cannot forgive, and we are unable to do so. For this reason forgiveness is a mystery.” The Pope concluded by urging the congregation to always forgive others, just as they have been forgiven. “Today, let us ask the Lord for the grace to understand this, seventy times seven. Let us ask for the grace to be ashamed before God. It is a huge grace. To feel ashamed of our sins and then receive forgiveness and the grace of generosity to give it to others, because the Lord has forgiven all, so who am I to not forgive?” (from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Saint Joseph gives young people “the ability to dream, to risk, and to undertake the difficult tasks that they have seen in dreams.” That was the message of Pope Francis during the morning Mass at the Casa Santa Marta.
The day’s liturgy commemorated the Solemnity of St Joseph, which is normally celebrated on 19 March, but which is transferred when that date falls on a Sunday in Lent.
In his homily, Pope Francis focused on the figure of St Joseph, the guardian of weaknesses, and of the “dream of God.”
The Gospel of the day tells how Joseph, in obedience to the angel who appeared to him in a dream, took Mary, who had conceived by the Holy Spirit, as his wife. Joseph, silent and obedient, is a man who carries with him the promises of “ancestry, heritage, paternity, sonship, stability”:
“And this man, this dreamer, is able to accept this duty, this grave duty. He has so much to say to us in this time of a strong sense of being orphaned. And so this man takes the promise of God and carries it onward in silence, with strength, he carries it onward so that God’s Will might be done.”
Saint Joseph, the Pope said, is a man “who can tell us many things, but who does not speak,” “the hidden man,” the man of silence, “who has the greatest authority in that moment without letting it be seen.” And the Pope emphasized that the things God confides to the heart of Joseph are “weak things”: promises – and a promise is weak. And then there is the birth of the child, the flight into Egypt, situations of weakness. Joseph takes to heart and carries forward “all these weaknesses” as weaknesses are carried forward: “with so much tenderness,” “with the tenderness with which one takes a child in one’s arms”:
“He is the man who doesn’t speak but obeys, the man of tenderness, the man capable of carrying forward the promises so that they might become solid, certain; the man who guarantees the stability of the Kingdom of God, the paternity of God, our sonship as children of God. I like to think of Joseph as the guardian of weaknesses, of our weaknesses too: he is able to give birth to so many beautiful things from our weaknesses, even from our sins.”
Joseph is the guardian of weaknesses so that they might become firm in faith. But he received this duty in a dream: he is a man “able to dream,” Pope Francis said. And so he is also “the guardian of the dream of God”: God’s dream “of saving all of us,” of redemption, was entrusted to him. “How great was this carpenter!” the Pope exclaimed. He was silent, but he worked, he guarded, he carried forward the weaknesses, and he was capable of dreaming. And so he is a figure who has a message for all:
“Today I want to ask, grant to all of us the ability to dream, that when we dream great things, beautiful things, we might draw near to the dream of God, the things God dreams about us. [I ask] that he might give to young people – because he was young – the capacity to dream, to risk, to undertake the difficult tasks they have seen in dreams. And [I ask] him to give to all of us the faithfulness that tends to grow when we have a just attitude – Joseph was just – [the faithfulness that] grows in silence, with few words; that grows in tenderness that guards our own weaknesses and those of others.”
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) “Perhaps we have not yet encountered Jesus personally,” Pope Francis said in his Angelus address on Sunday. “Perhaps we have not recognized Him as our Saviour.”
The Holy Father was commenting on the day’s Gospel, which relates the “dialogue” between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well. Because of the great respect Jesus shows her — despite her being a Samaritan, and despite her disordered life — she is open to the words of Christ, when He speaks to her about the true faith. She recognizes Him as a prophet, and intuits that He could be the Messiah, and Jesus tells her plainly that He is, in fact, the Messiah — something that happens very rarely in the Gospels, the Pope said.
“Dear brothers,” Pope Francis continued, “the water that gives eternal life was poured out in our hearts on the day of our Baptism;” on that day, “God transformed us and filled us with His grace.” However, the Pope said, we sometimes forget about the grace of our Baptism, or treat it merely as a piece of biographical data. When that happens we go looking for “wells” filled with water that cannot quench our thirst. “And so this Gospel is for us!” the Pope said, “not just for the Samaritan woman.”
Lent, he said, is a good opportunity for us “to draw near” to Jesus, “to encounter Him in prayer in a heart-to-heart dialogue… to see His face in the face of a brother or a sister who is suffering.” In this way, the Pope said, “we can renew within ourselves the grace of Baptism, quenching our thirst at the font of the Word of God and of the Holy Spirit; and thereby discovering, too, the joy of becoming artisans of reconciliation and instruments of peace in our daily lives. “
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Sunday recalled the Beatification of Joseph Mayr-Nusser, which took place the day before in the Italian city of Bolsano. Blessed Joseph, as the Holy Father noted, was a layman, the father of a family and a promoter of Catholic Action. In 1944, Mayr-Nusser refused to take the so-called “Hitler oath” after he was drafted into the German army. He was subsequently sentenced to death, and died on the way to Dachau concentration camp; he is honoured as a martyr by the Church.
“On account of his great moral and spiritual stature,” Pope Francis said following the Angelus on Sunday, Blessed Joseph “is a model for the lay faithful, especially for fathers, who we remember with great affection today.” Fathers are honoured in Italy on 19 March, the Solemnity of St Joseph, although this year, since the 19th falls on a Sunday in Lent, the feast of the patron saint of father is transferred to the following day.
(from Vatican Radio)…