(Vatican Radio) April 2nd is the 10th anniversary of the death of Pope Saint John Paul II, that unforgettable day in 2005 when the eyes of the world were fixed on the Vatican as the Polish Pope lived out his last hours on this earth. So, a decade later, how alive is the memory of Pope John Paul and what were his greatest achievements? Those were the questions that Susy Hodges put to two interviewees. The first was George Weigel, a Catholic scholar and author who wrote a best-selling two volume biography about Pope John Paul II and who was given unprecedented access to the Polish Pope and those who knew him whilst researching his work. The second was Father Leszek Gesiak, the head of Vatican Radio’s Polish Section, who examines the lasting impact of one of the greatest figures in Poland’s history.
Listen to the interviews with George Weigel and with Father Leszek Gesiak :
Weigel said he believed that Pope John Paul’s influence and stature on the world stage has increased in the 10 years since he died: “He looms larger than ever as the man who re-invigorated the Catholic Church for the 21st century.” He also pointed to the Polish Pope’s “pivotal role” in helping to bring about the collapse of communist rule in Europe.
Father Lesek Gesiak too describes the “huge impact” that Pope John Paul II had on the history of Poland and other countries in Europe and his “inspirational” role in the collapse of communism. When asked to sum up Pope John Paul’s greatest achievements, Father Gesiak points to the late Pope’s “very clear doctrinal vision” of the Catholic faith, his position on defending the role of the family and human life and his strong emphasis on the importance of the personal freedoms of human beings, a process which helped set the stage for the toppling of communism and the move towards democracy in central and eastern Europe.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Holy Thursday is the day when Jesus’ Last Supper with his disciples was a very special meal for them and for Him.
As Benedictine Abbot Timothy Wright explained to Linda Bordoni, it was his last and he wanted to make sure it endured, and so he did a number of things.
First of all he reminded those around the table – his disciples – that this was going to be the last meal, it was going to be a definitive moment and he was not going to partake fully of it until he had been through the process of dying and rising.
They didn’t understand – who would? They celebrated the meal in the traditional Jewish way as a Passover meal.
Throughout that whole journey they were commemorating this great event, when pursued by the Egyptian army; they had to cope with what was effectively God’s intervention on their behalf.
That event is traditional for the Jews and has been ever since.
Christ took it up as his last meal and he did a number of things which were particular.
First he took bread and said: “this is my body”. Who would understand what that really meant?
He took wine and said: “this is my blood”.
A new Covenant for the forgiveness of sins – a new life.
But, Abbott Timothy says: “before he did that, he sat the disciples down and said: ‘right – I’m going to wash your feet’”.
Listen :
“Washing feet is a very menial task. A sign of the host welcoming a guest; a sign of the recognition that you are important to me. You are important because of who you are, not because of what you have done for me; not because you are a sinner or a saint, but because in you there is the unique presence of God” he says.
The Abbot explains that Jesus tells the disciples that with this service “I will wash your feet because you are going to be the leaders and it is you who then have to wash other people’s feet”.
Service – he says – is at the heart of the Christian Gospel.
My service – Jesus was saying – is “to die and to rise and to give new life. Your service is to go forward and wash people’s feet to show that it is love that really counts”.
Abbott Timothy explains that the washing of the feet is a very particular moment in the ceremony. It happens after the readings, after a homily and before the celebration of the Eucharist. It is a moment when 12 people gathered in the Church come together near the altar and the chief celebrant washes each foot: “water is pored over, the foot is dried and sometimes the foot is kissed” he says.
It is done in silence, the congregation is singing but no prayers are said: it is the gesture that counts.
For him, Abbot Wright says, part of the tradition is to see behind the gesture itself and look at the value of the feet….
“My feet are my way to God, I walk the path to God, my feet are that part of my anatomy which enables me to move… they are the way to love. We are all pilgrims on the way…” he says.
Abbott Timothy pays tribute to the twelve very different pairs of feet that sat around the table on that eventful evening of Jesus’ last Supper:
– The feet that never walked – the feet of people who have never had the opportunity of experiencing the walk in any other way than “being walked by someone else”…
– The feet that never wore shoes; that are so poor that they haven’t got shoes…
– The feet that are always shackled; the feet that have been put in prison…
– The feet of those who are so talented; who use those feet in a magical way…
– The feet that give pain as we get older…
– The feet crushed in accidents; feet that are lost through no fault of our own…
– The feet that spend hours training to run a marathon for charity…
– The feet that are blown off by landmines…
– The feet of those who have walked and have never found; the ones who doubt…
– The feet that have always taken the wrong turnings…
– The feet of strangers who have come to this Church…
– The feet that long to walk to Heaven…
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis delivered the homily at the Chrism Mass for the diocese of Rome on the morning of Holy Thursday. Below, please find the official English translation of the Holy Father’s prepared remarks.
*******************************************
Homily of His Holiness Pope Francis
Holy Thursday Chrism Mass
2 April 2015
“My hand shall ever abide with him, my arms also shall strengthen him” ( Ps 89:21).
This is what the Lord means when he says: “I have found David, my servant; with my holy oil I have anointed him” (v. 20). It is also what our Father thinks whenever he “encounters” a priest. And he goes on to say: “My faithfulness and my steadfast love shall be with him… He shall cry to me, ‘You are my Father, my God and the rock of my salvation”’ (vv. 24, 26).
It is good to enter with the Psalmist into this monologue of our God. He is talking about us, his priests, his pastors. But it is not really a monologue, since he is not the only one speaking. The Father says to Jesus: “Your friends, those who love you, can say to me in a particular way: ‘You are my Father’” (cf. Jn 14:21). If the Lord is so concerned about helping us, it is because he knows that the task of anointing his faithful people is demanding; it can tire us. We experience this in so many ways: from the ordinary fatigue brought on by our daily apostolate to the weariness of sickness, death and even martyrdom.
The tiredness of priests! Do you know how often I think about this weariness which all of you experience? I think about it and I pray about it, often, especially when I am tired myself. I pray for you as you labour amid the people of God entrusted to your care, many of you in lonely and dangerous places. Our weariness, dear priests, is like incense which silently rises up to heaven (cf. Ps 141:2; Rev 8:3-4). Our weariness goes straight to the heart of the Father.
Know that the Blessed Virgin Mary is well aware of this tiredness and she brings it straight to the Lord. As our Mother, she knows when her children are weary, and this is her greatest concern. “Welcome! Rest, my child. We will speak afterwards…”. “Whenever we draw near to her, she says to us: “Am I not here with you, I who am your Mother?” (cf. Evangelii Gaudium , 286). And to her Son she will say, as she did at Cana, “They have no wine” ( Jn 2:3).
It can also happen that, whenever we feel weighed down by pastoral work, we can be tempted to rest however we please, as if rest were not itself a gift of God. We must not fall into this temptation. Our weariness is precious in the eyes of Jesus who embraces us and lifts us up. “Come to me, all who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest” ( Mt 11:28). Whenever a priest feels dead tired, yet is able to bow down in adoration and say: “Enough for today Lord”, and entrust himself to the Father, he knows that he will not fall but be renewed. The one who anoints God’s faithful people with oil is also himself anointed by the Lord: “He gives you a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit” (cf. Is 61:3).
Let us never forget that a key to fruitful priestly ministry lies in how we rest and in how we look at the way the Lord deals with our weariness. How difficult it is to learn how to rest! This says much about our trust and our ability to realize that that we too are sheep. A few questions can help us in this regard.
Do I know how to rest by accepting the love, gratitude and affection which I receive from God’s faithful people? Or, once my pastoral work is done, do I seek more refined relaxations, not those of the poor but those provided by a consumerist society? Is the Holy Spirit truly “rest in times of weariness” for me, or is he just someone who keeps me busy? Do I know how to seek help from a wise priest? Do I know how to take a break from myself, from the demands I make on myself, from my self-seeking and from my self-absorption? Do I know how to spend time with Jesus, with the Father, with the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph, with my patron saints, and to find rest in their demands, which are easy and light, and in their pleasures, for they delight to be in my company, and in their concerns and standards, which have only to do with the greater glory of God? Do I know how to rest from my enemies under the Lord’s protection? Am I preoccupied with how I should speak and act, or do I entrust myself to the Holy Spirit, who will teach me what I need to say in every situation? Do I worry needlessly, or, like Paul, do I find repose by saying: “I know him in whom I have placed my trust” ( 2 Tim 1:12)?
Let us return for a moment to what today’s liturgy describes as the work of the priest: to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim freedom to prisoners and healing to the blind, to offer liberation to the downtrodden and to announce the year of the Lord’s favour. Isaiah also mentions consoling the broken-hearted and comforting the afflicted.
These are not easy or purely mechanical jobs, like running an office, building a parish hall or laying out a soccer field for the young of the parish… The tasks of which Jesus speaks call for the ability to show compassion; our hearts are to be “moved” and fully engaged in carrying them out. We are to rejoice with couples who marry; we are to laugh with the children brought to the baptismal font; we are to accompany young fiancés and families; we are to suffer with those who receive the anointing of the sick in their hospital beds; we are to mourn with those burying a loved one… All these emotions can exhaust the heart of a pastor. For us priests, what happens in the lives of our people is not like a news bulletin: we know our people, we sense what is going on in their hearts. Our own heart, sharing in their suffering, feels “com-passion”, is exhausted, broken into a thousand pieces, moved and even “consumed” by the people. Take this, eat this… These are the words the priest of Jesus whispers repeatedly while caring for his faithful people: Take this, eat this; take this, drink this… In this way our priestly life is given over in service, in closeness to the People of God… and this always leaves us weary.
I wish to share with you some forms of weariness on which I have meditated.
There is what we can call “the weariness of people, the weariness of the crowd”. For the Lord, and for us, this can be exhausting – so the Gospel tells us – yet it is a good weariness, a fruitful and joyful exhaustion. The people who followed Jesus, the families which brought their children to him to be blessed, those who had been cured, those who came with their friends, the young people who were so excited about the Master… they did not even leave him time to eat. But the Lord never tired of being with people. On the contrary, he seemed renewed by their presence (cf. Evangelii Gaudium , 11). This weariness in the midst of activity is a grace on which all priests can draw (cf. ibid., 279). And how beautiful it is! People love their priests, they want and need their shepherds! The faithful never leave us without something to do, unless we hide in our offices or go out in our cars wearing sun glasses. There is a good and healthy tiredness. It is the exhaustion of the priest who wears the smell of the sheep… but also smiles the smile of a father rejoicing in his children or grandchildren. It has nothing to do with those who wear expensive cologne and who look at others from afar and from above (cf. ibid., 97). We are the friends of the Bridegroom: this is our joy. If Jesus is shepherding the flock in our midst, we cannot be shepherds who are glum, plaintive or, even worse, bored. The smell of the sheep and the smile of a father…. Weary, yes, but with the joy of those who hear the Lord saying: “Come, O blessed of my Father” ( Mt 25:34).
There is also the kind of weariness which we can call “the weariness of enemies”. The devil and his minions never sleep and, since their ears cannot bear to hear the word of God, they work tirelessly to silence that word and to distort it. Confronting them is more wearying. It involves not only doing good, with all the exertion this entails, but also defending the flock and oneself from evil (cf. Evangelii Gaudium , 83). The evil one is far more astute than we are, and he is able to demolish in a moment what it took us years of patience to build up. Here we need to implore the grace to learn how to “offset”: to thwart evil without pulling up the good wheat, or presuming to protect like supermen what the Lord alone can protect. All this helps us not to let our guard down before the depths of iniquity, before the mockery of the wicked. In these situations of weariness, the Lord says to us: “Have courage! I have overcome the world!” ( Jn 16:33).
And finally – lest you be wearied by this homily itself! – there is also “weariness of ourselves” (cf. Evangelii Gaudium , 277). This may be the most dangerous weariness of all. That is because the other two kinds come from being exposed, from going out of ourselves to anoint and to do battle (for our job is to care for others). But this third kind of weariness is more “self-referential”: it is dissatisfaction with oneself, but not the dissatisfaction of someone who directly confronts himself and serenely acknowledges his sinfulness and his need for God’s mercy; such people ask for help and then move forward. Here we are speaking of a weariness associated with “wanting yet not wanting”, having given up everything but continuing to yearn for the fleshpots of Egypt, toying with the illusion of being something different. I like to call this kind of weariness “flirting with spiritual worldliness”. When we are alone, we realize how many areas of our life are steeped in this worldliness, so much so that we may feel that it can never be completely washed away. This can be a dangerous kind of weariness. The Book of Revelation shows us the reason for this weariness: “You have borne up for my sake and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first” ( Rev 2:3-4). Only love gives true rest. What is not loved becomes tiresome, and in time, brings about a harmful weariness.
The most profound and mysterious image of how the Lord deals with our pastoral tiredness is that, “having loved his own, he loved them to the end” ( Jn 13:1): the scene of his washing the feet of his disciples. I like to think of this as the cleansing of discipleship . The Lord purifies the path of discipleship itself. He “gets involved” with us ( Evangelii Gaudium , 24), becomes personally responsible for removing every stain, all that grimy, worldly smog which clings to us from the journey we make in his name.
From our feet, we can tell how the rest of our body is doing. The way we follow the Lord reveals how our heart is faring. The wounds on our feet, our sprains and our weariness, are signs of how we have followed him, of the paths we have taken in seeking the lost sheep and in leading the flock to green pastures and still waters (cf. ibid., 270). The Lord washes us and cleanses us of all the dirt our feet have accumulated in following him. This is something holy. Do not let your feet remain dirty. Like battle wounds, the Lord kisses them and washes away the grime of our labours.
Our discipleship itself is cleansed by Jesus, so that we can rightly feel “joyful”, “fulfilled”, “free of fear and guilt”, and impelled to go out “even to the ends of the earth, to every periphery”. In this way we can bring the good news to the most abandoned, knowing that “he is with us always, even to the end of the world”. Let us learn how to be weary, but weary in the best of ways!
(from Vatican Radio)…
The Cross is the luminous pinnacle of the love of God that safeguards
us. We too are called to be guardians through love. This is the theme of the
meditations of the 14 Stations of the Via Crucis, over which Pope Francis will
preside at the Colosseum on Holy Friday evening, 3 April. The author of the
meditations is H.E. Renato Corti, Bishop emeritus of Novara, who emphasizes in
the introductory note that the Via Crucis 2015 will make continual reference
“to the gift of being safeguarded by God’s love, especially by Jesus
Crucified, and to the task of being, in our turn, guardians through love
of the whole of Creation, of each person, especially of the poorest, of
ourselves and our families, so as to make the star of hope shine”. “We wish to participate in this Via Crucis in profound
communion with Jesus”, the Bishop writes. While remaining “attentive to what is
written in the Gospels”, the meditations will discreetly include “some of the sentiments
and thoughts which may have dwelt in Jesus’ mind and heart in those
trying hours. At the same time we will allow ourselves to be challenged by some
of the realities of life which – for
better or worse – characterize our days”. Thus we will express “our will to
emulate a few of the steps of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ”. Complete text of the meditations for the Via Crucis…
(Vatican Radio) The Holy See’s Permanent Observer to the United Nations in Geneva, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi says an “urgent and effective response” is needed to counter violent extremist groups like Boko Haram and the so-called Islamic State which “are growing like a cancer, spreading to other parts of the world and even attracting foreign militants to fight in their ranks”.
In a statement Wednesday at the 23rd Special Session of the Human Rights Council on the Situation of Human Rights in Nigeria – Boko Haram, Archbishop Tomasi called for “swift, decisive and combined action on the part of the Nigerian government, its bordering countries, the African Union and the United Nations” to contrast the violent extremism of Boko Haram militants who have killed, mutilated and kidnapped thousands of Nigerians and people from neighboring countries.
Below, we publish the text of Archbishop Tomasi’s statement:
Geneva, 1 April 2015
Mr. President,
The ongoing violence, persecution and murder at the hands of the Boko Haram group especially in Nigeria, but also in Cameroon, Benin, Chad and Niger, present serious transgressions under international law, including war crimes and crimes against humanity which require an urgent and effective response from the involved States, together with the solidarity of the international community. With the merciless acts of this terrorist group, we are witnessing the continued development and dissemination of a radical and ruthless type of extremism inspired by an ideology which attempts to justify its crimes in the name of religion. Furthermore, with the recent explicit allegiance of Boko Haram to the so-called Islamic State group (ISIS), one cannot be blind to the fact that such extremists groups are growing like a cancer, spreading to other parts of the world and even attracting foreign militants to fight in their ranks.
Nigeria, in particular, has “had to confront considerable problems, among them new and violent forms of extremism and fundamentalism on ethnic, social and religious grounds. Many Nigerians have been killed, wounded or mutilated, kidnapped and deprived of everything: their loved ones, their land, their means of subsistence, their dignity and their rights. Many have not been able to return to their homes.” These crimes perpetrated at the hands of Boko Haram have been continuing with impunity and, as witnessed in the last 12 months, have only increased in their intensity and destructive effects. As Pope Francis noted, the tragedy faced in Nigeria at the hands of these extremists “is a scourge which needs to be eradicated, since it strikes all of us, from individual families to the international community.”
Crimes in the “name of religion” are never justified. Massacring innocent people in the name of God is not religion but the manipulation of religion for ulterior motives. In fact, “believers, both Christians and Muslim, have experienced a common tragic outcome, at the hands of people who claim to be religious, but who instead abuse religion, to make of it an ideology for their own distorted interests of exploitation and murder.”
Mr. President,
Notwithstanding the military efforts of the Nigerian government to stop these terrorists, even with the recently formed alliance of a Multinational Joint Task Force composed of neighbouring countries also threatened by Boko Haram, the extremists continue their fury of violence, creating evermore instability in Western Africa. Such a situation clearly poses a dangerous uncertainty to the whole region and even beyond. Without swift, decisive and combined action on the part of the Nigerian government, its bordering countries, the African Union and the United Nations, the serious threat of violence will only continue to jeopardize the lives of millions of civilians throughout that region.
It appears that the time is ripe for the international community to assist in bringing an end to the violence, which has caused numerous civilian victims. Before such violations of international human rights and humanitarian laws, we cannot afford to have a posture of indifference that would lead to the widening contagion of violence and also set a dangerous precedent of “non-action” in response to such horrific crimes.
The Holy See encourages an international collaborative effort to address this crisis situation with urgency so as to prevent the extension of Boko Haram and other terrorist groups and their strategy of inflicting suffering on the local people and to destabilize Africa even further.
Thank you, Mr. President.
(from Vatican Radio)…