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Wednesday, November 30, 2016
GENERAL AUDIENCE POPE FRANCIS
Paul VI Audience Hall
Wednesday, 23 November 2016
PHOTO: L'OSSERVATORE ROMANO

37. To council and to instruct

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good morning!
Now that the Jubilee is over we shall return to usual, but there are still some reflections on the works of mercy, and so we shall continue with this. Today’s reflection on the spiritual works of mercy concerns two works which are firmly linked: council the doubtful and instruct the ignorant. That is, those who are uniformed. The word ignorant is too strong, but it means teaching those who do not know something. They are works which can live either in a dimension that is simple, familial, available to everyone, or — especially the second, that of teaching — on the most organized, institutional level. For instance, let us consider how many children still suffer from illiteracy, the lack of education. This is incomprehensible: in a world where technological-scientific progress has come so far, there are illiterate children! It is an injustice. How many children suffer from a lack of education. It is a condition of grave injustice which undermines the very dignity of the person. Without education, one easily falls prey to exploitation and various social disadvantages.

The Church, over the course of centuries, has felt the need to be committed to the area of education, since her mission of evangelization carries with it the responsibility of restoring dignity to the poorest. From the first instance of a “school” founded here in Rome in the second century by Saint Justin — so that Christians might better know Sacred Scripture —, to Saint Joseph Calasanctius — who opened the first public schools in Europe that offered free education —, we have a long list of saints who, in various eras, brought education to the most disadvantaged, knowing that through this path they would be able to overcome poverty and discrimination. How many Christians, lay people, consecrated brothers and sisters, priests have given their own lives to teaching, to the education of children and young people. This is great: I invite you to give them a big round of applause! [The faithful applaud.] These pioneers in education fully understood this work of mercy, and created a way of life in order to transform society itself. With ordinary work and few facilities, they were able to restore dignity to many people! And the education that they gave was often also work-oriented. Let us think about Saint John Bosco, who prepared young boys from the street to work, with the oratory and then with schools, offices. From this arose many different professional schools, which enabled them to work while being educated in human and Christian values. Education, therefore, is truly a unique form of evangelization.

The more education increases, the more people gain assurance and knowledge, which we all need in life. A good education teaches us the critical method, which also includes a certain kind of doubt, the kind used for asking questions and verifying the results achieved, with a view to greater knowledge. However, the work of mercy of counselling the doubtful is not about this kind of doubt. Rather, it is about expressing mercy towards those who doubt, alleviating that pain and suffering which comes from the fear and anguish caused by doubt. It is therefore an act of true love, whereby support is given to someone in their weakness which has been provoked by uncertainty.

I think that some of you might ask me: “Father, but I have many doubts about the faith; what should I do? Don’t you ever have doubts?”. I have many.... Of course, everyone has doubts at times! Doubts which touch the faith, in a positive way, are a sign that we want to know better and more fully God, Jesus, and the mystery of his love for us. “Still, I have this doubt: I seek, I study, I consult or ask advice about what to do”. These are doubts which bring about growth! It is good, therefore, that we ask questions about our faith, because in this way we are pushed to deepen it. Doubts, however, must also be overcome. For this, it is necessary to listen to the Word of God, and to understand what he teaches us. An important path that really helps with this is catechesis, in which the proclamation of the faith is encountered in the concreteness of individual and community life. And there is, at the same time, another equally important path, that of living the faith as much as possible. Let us not make of faith an abstract theory where doubts multiply. Rather, let us make of faith our life. Let us seek to practise it in service to our brothers and sisters, especially those who are most in need. And thus, many doubts disappear, because we feel the presence of God and the truth of the Gospel in love, which — without our deserving it — lives in us, and we share it with others.

As you can see, dear brothers and sisters, even these two works of mercy are not far from our lives. We can each commit ourselves to living them, to put into practise the Word of the Lord when he says that the mystery of God’s love is not revealed to the wise and the intelligent, but to the little ones (cf. Lk 10:21; Mt 11:25-26). Therefore, the most profound lesson which we are called to transmit, and the most certain way to get out of doubt, is the love of God with which we have been loved (cf. 1 Jn 4:10). A great love, free and given to us forever. God never goes back on his love! He always moves forward and waits: he forever gives us love, from which we must feel the steadfast responsibility to be witnesses, offering mercy to our brothers and sisters. Thank you.

Special greetings:
I greet the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors taking part in today’s Audience, particularly those from England, Scotland, the Philippines, the Solomon Islands and the United States of America. Upon all of you, and your families, I invoke an abundance of joy and peace in our Lord Jesus Christ. God bless you!


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Sunday, November 27, 2016
ANGELUS POPE FRANCIS
Saint Peter's Square
Sunday, 20 November 2016

 
PHOTO: ANSA
Dear Brothers and Sisters,

At the conclusion of this Celebration, we lift our praise and thanksgiving to God for the gift that the Holy Year of Mercy has been for the Church and for all persons of good will. I respectfully greet the President of the Italian Republic, and the official Delegations who are present. I express deep gratitude to the leaders of the Italian Government, and to the other Institutions for their collaboration and commitment. A warm thanks to the Police Force, to workers who have provided services in reception, information, health, and to the volunteers of every age and background. I thank in a special way the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization, its President, and those who have cooperated in their various capacities.

A grateful remembrance to all those who have contributed spiritually to the Jubilee: I think of the many elderly and sick people, who prayed unceasingly, even offering their suffering for the Jubilee. In a special way I would like to thank the cloistered nuns on the vigil of Pro Orantibus Day which will be celebrated tomorrow.

I invite everyone to especially remember these our Sisters who dedicate themselves completely to prayer, and who need spiritual and material solidarity.

Yesterday in Avignon, France, Fr Marie-Eugène of the Child Jesus, a member of the Order of Discalced Carmelites, Founder of the Secular Institute of “Notre-Dame de Vie”, a man of God, attentive to the spiritual and material needs of his neighbours. May his example and intercession support our journey of faith.

I wish to warmly greet all of you, who have come from various countries for the closing of the Holy Door of Saint Peter’s Basilica. May the Virgin Mary help all of us keep the spiritual gifts of the Jubilee of Mercy in our hearts and make them bear fruit.

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Sunday, November 27, 2016
HOLY MASS FOR THE CLOSING OF THE JUBILEE OF MERCY

PAPAL MASS
HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS
Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe
St Peter's Square
Sunday, 20 November 2016
 
PHOTO: religionnesw.com

The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, is the crown of the liturgical year and this Holy Year of Mercy. The Gospel in fact presents the kingship of Jesus as the culmination of his saving work, and it does so in a surprising way. “The Christ of God, the Chosen One, the King” (Lk 23:35,37) appears without power or glory: he is on the cross, where he seems more to be conquered than conqueror. His kingship is paradoxical: his throne is the cross; his crown is made of thorns; he has no sceptre, but a reed is put into his hand; he does not have luxurious clothing, but is stripped of his tunic; he wears no shiny rings on his fingers, but his hands are pierced with nails; he has no treasure, but is sold for thirty pieces of silver.

Jesus’ reign is truly not of this world (cf. Jn 18:36); but for this reason, Saint Paul tells us in the Second Reading, we find redemption and forgiveness (cf. Col 1:13-14). For the grandeur of his kingdom is not power as defined by this world, but the love of God, a love capable of encountering and healing all things. Christ lowered himself to us out of this love, he lived our human misery, he suffered the lowest point of our human condition: injustice, betrayal, abandonment; he experienced death, the tomb, hell. And so our King went to the ends of the universe in order to embrace and save every living being. He did not condemn us, nor did he conquer us, and he never disregarded our freedom, but he paved the way with a humble love that forgives all things, hopes all things, sustains all things (cf. 1 Cor 13:7). This love alone overcame and continues to overcome our worst enemies: sin, death, fear.

Dear brothers and sisters, today we proclaim this singular victory, by which Jesus became the King of every age, the Lord of history: with the sole power of love, which is the nature of God, his very life, and which has no end (cf. 1 Cor 13:8). We joyfully share the splendour of having Jesus as our King: his rule of love transforms sin into grace, death into resurrection, fear into trust.

It would mean very little, however, if we believed Jesus was King of the universe, but did not make him Lord of our lives: all this is empty if we do not personally accept Jesus and if we do not also accept his way of being King. The people presented to us in today’s Gospel, however, help us. In addition to Jesus, three figures appear: the people who are looking on, those near the cross, and the criminal crucified next to Jesus.

First, the people: the Gospel says that “the people stood by, watching” (Lk 23:35): no one says a word, no one draws any closer. The people keep their distance, just to see what is happening. They are the same people who were pressing in on Jesus when they needed something, and who now keep their distance. Given the circumstances of our lives and our unfulfilled expectations, we too can be tempted to keep our distance from Jesus’ kingship, to not accept completely the scandal of his humble love, which unsettles and disturbs us. We prefer to remain at the window, to stand apart, rather than draw near and be with him. A people who are holy, however, who have Jesus as their King, are called to follow his way of tangible love; they are called to ask themselves, each one each day: “What does love ask of me, where is it urging me to go? What answer am I giving Jesus with my life?”

There is a second group, which includes various individuals: the leaders of the people, the soldiers and a criminal. They all mock Jesus. They provoke him in the same way: “Save yourself!” (Lk 23:35,37,39). This temptation is worse than that of the people. They tempt Jesus, just as the devil did at the beginning of the Gospel (cf. Lk 4:1-13), to give up reigning as God wills, and instead to reign according to the world’s ways: to come down from the cross and destroy his enemies! If he is God, let him show his power and superiority! This temptation is a direct attack on love: “save yourself” (vv. 37,39); not others, but yourself. Claim triumph for yourself with your power, with your glory, with your victory. It is the most terrible temptation, the first and the last of the Gospel. When confronted with this attack on his very way of being, Jesus does not speak, he does not react. He does not defend himself, he does not try to convince them, he does not mount a defence of his kingship. He continues rather to love; he forgives, he lives this moment of trial according to the Father’s will, certain that love will bear fruit.

In order to receive the kingship of Jesus, we are called to struggle against this temptation, called to fix our gaze on the Crucified One, to become ever more faithful to him. How many times, even among ourselves, do we seek out the comforts and certainties offered by the world. How many times are we tempted to come down from the Cross. The lure of power and success seem an easy, quick way to spread the Gospel; we soon forget how the Kingdom of God works. This Year of Mercy invites us to rediscover the core, to return to what is essential. This time of mercy calls us to look to the true face of our King, the one that shines out at Easter, and to rediscover the youthful, beautiful face of the Church, the face that is radiant when it is welcoming, free, faithful, poor in means but rich in love, on mission. Mercy, which takes us to the heart of the Gospel, urges us to give up habits and practices which may be obstacles to serving the Kingdom of God; mercy urges us to orient ourselves only in the perennial and humble kingship of Jesus, not in submission to the precarious regalities and changing powers of every age.

In the Gospel another person appears, closer to Jesus, the thief who begs him: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (v. 42). This person, simply looking at Jesus, believed in his kingdom. He was not closed in on himself, but rather – with his errors, his sins and his troubles – he turned to Jesus. He asked to be remembered, and he experienced God’s mercy: “Today you will be with me in paradise” (v. 43). As soon as we give God the chance, he remembers us. He is ready to completely and forever cancel our sin, because his memory – unlike our own – does not record evil that has been done or keep score of injustices experienced. God has no memory of sin, but only of us, of each of us, we who are his beloved children. And he believes that it is always possible to start anew, to raise ourselves up.

Let us also ask for the gift of this open and living memory. Let us ask for the grace of never closing the doors of reconciliation and pardon, but rather of knowing how to go beyond evil and differences, opening every possible pathway of hope. As God believes in us, infinitely beyond any merits we have, so too we are called to instil hope and provide opportunities to others. Because even if the Holy Door closes, the true door of mercy which is the heart of Christ always remains open wide for us. From the lacerated side of the Risen One until the very end of time flow mercy, consolation and hope.

So many pilgrims have crossed the threshold of the Holy Doors, and far away from the clamour of the daily news they have tasted the great goodness of the Lord. We give thanks for this, as we recall how we have received mercy in order to be merciful, in order that we too may become instruments of mercy. Let us go forward on this road together. May our Blessed Lady accompany us, she who was also close to the Cross, she who gave birth to us there as the tender Mother of the Church, who desires to gather all under her mantle. Beneath the Cross, she saw the good thief receive pardon, and she took Jesus’ disciple as her son. She is Mother of Mercy, to whom we entrust ourselves: every situation we are in, every prayer we make, when lifted up to his merciful eyes, will find an answer.


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Friday, November 25, 2016

leggeva la bibbia mentre aspettando noi altri, FOTO: pixabayfree

Questa sera abbiamo fatto l’incontro alla parrocchia di famiglia di Nazareth. Era per preparare l’incontro della domenica 4 dicembre. Abbiamo deciso di mettere il tema della chiamata. Si tratta della chiamata che ci ispira dal vangelo di quel giorno cioè la chiamata di Giovanni battista.
Ho scoperto però una cosa bella di questo incontro. La cosa bella che ci ha mostrato un diacono. Prima di noi lui è già arrivato in parrocchia. Stava sedendo dentro la saletta della parrocchia quando noi siamo arrivati. Davanti a lui c’era la bibbia aperta. Forse l’ha letta prima. Ci ha salutato poi. Per me è un gesto d’amore. L’amore di un diacono verso Dio e verso gli altri. È sempre così quando facciamo l’incontro. Sempre arrivato prima. Si vede che lui prepara proprio per l’incontro.
Secondo gesto che ci ha mostrato è quando ci ha dato un passaggio nel ritorno. È la seconda volta che ci ha dato così. Volete un passaggio ragazzi, dice lui a noi due. Spontaneamente rispondiamo, si, bene grazie.
Benissimo gesto. Poi, abbiamo parlato le cose del quotidiano durante il viaggio breve. Come anche prima dell’incontro abbiamo parlato della nostra famiglia. I genitori, i nonni, il momento prezioso quando eravamo piccoli. È bello presentare la nostra storia agli altri. In mezzo c’è sempre Dio che ci ha donato e regalato questa famiglia.
Grazie a te.
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Thursday, November 24, 2016


Oggi è il primo incontro di novembre. Non ci siamo visti da due settimana. Però, per loro, oggi è il secondo incontro. Primo era due settimana fa, al nove novembre.

Erano in sette poi due sono tornati a casa prima quindi erano in cinque fino alla fine dell’incontro. Le due mi hanno detto che hanno impegno importante cioè preparare la verifica di domani alla scuola. Quindi, per loro è la scuola più importante di questo incontro. È vero anche questo. Però, bisogna tenere conto che questo incontro solo una volta alla settimana. Se perde oggi allora perde una settimana. Uno mi diceva anche lui ha la verifica il giorno dopo ma preferisce stare qui un’ora per questo incontro. Bello. Ognuno ha la possibilità di scegliere.

Poi, abbiamo guardato il nostro filmato piccolo. Dopo, c’è il dialogo per continuare il racconto nel film. Li ho fatto le domande e hanno risposto. A volte, giusto a volte no. Importante che seguono gioiosamente questo incontro. La risposta giusta o no viene dopo.

Grazie a tutti noi che avete la fedeltà per questo incontro.

Ho parlato e incontrato con tre dei genitori che hanno accompagnato i loro figli. Anche a loro devo dare il grazie per questo impegno. È vero che i genitori devono educare i loro figli. Bisogna educare con l’amore però non con la forza umana. L’amore è la forza che supera la forza umana. Questa è la forza di Dio. Quindi, alla fine grazie a Dio.


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Wednesday, November 23, 2016
GENERAL AUDIENCE POPE FRANCIS
Saint Peter's Square
Wednesday, 16 November 2016

PHOTO: L'OOSERVATORE ROMANO

36. Bearing wrongs patiently

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good morning!
We dedicate today’s catechesis to a work of mercy that we all know very well, but that perhaps we do not put into practice as we should: bearing wrongs patiently. We are all very good at identifying something that can be bothersome: it happens when we encounter someone on the street, or when we receive a phone call.... We immediately think: “How long will I have to listen to this person’s complaints, gossip, requests or boastings? It also happens, at times, that the bothersome people are those who are closest to us. There is always someone among our relatives; the workplace is not without them; not even in our free time are we spared. What are we supposed to do with people who annoy us? But often we also annoy others. Why was this also added among the works of mercy? Bear wrongs patiently.

In the Bible we see that God himself must employ mercy in order to bear the lamentings of his people. For example, in the Book of Exodus the people become truly unbearable: first they cry because they are slaves in Egypt, and God frees them; then, in the desert, they complain because there is nothing to eat (cf. 16:3), and God sends them quails and manna (cf. 16:13-16), but nevertheless the complaints do not cease. Moses served as mediator between God and the people, and several times he too would have annoyed the Lord. But God had patience and thus he taught Moses and also the people this essential dimension of faith.

Therefore a first question arises spontaneously: do we ever conduct an examination of conscience in order to see if we too, at times, might be annoying to others? It’s easy to point a finger against the faults and shortcomings of others, but we must learn to put ourselves in their shoes.

Above all let us look to Jesus: how much patience he had to have in the three years of his public life! Once, while he was walking with his disciples, he was stopped by James and John’s mother, who said to him: “Command that these two sons of mine may sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom” (Mt 20:21). The mother was lobbying for her sons, but she was their mother.... Even from that situation Jesus is inspired to give a fundamental lesson: his is not a kingdom of power, it is not a kingdom of glory like those on earth, but of service and charitable giving to others. Jesus teaches to always go to the essential and to look further in order to accept our mission responsibly. Here we can see the reference to two other spiritual works of mercy: that of admonishing sinners and that of instructing the ignorant. Let us think about the great effort that can be made when we help people to grow in faith and in life. I think, for example, of catechists — among whom are many mothers and many women religious — who devote time to teaching young people the basic elements of the faith. How much effort, especially when the kids would prefer to play rather than listen to the catechism!

To accompany in the search for the essential is beautiful and important, because it makes us share the joy of savouring the meaning of life. It often happens that we encounter people who linger on superficial, ephemeral and banal things; at times because they have never met anyone who spurs them to seek something else, to appreciate the true treasures. Teaching to look to the essential is a crucial help, especially in a time such as ours which seems to have lost its bearings and pursues short-lived satisfaction. Teaching to discover what the Lord wants from us and how we can correspond means setting out on the path to grow in our own vocation, the path of true joy. This is how Jesus’ words to James and John’s mother, and then to the whole group of disciples, points the way to avoid falling into envy, ambition and adulation, temptations which are always lurking even among us Christians. The need for counseling, admonition and teaching must not make us feel superior to others, but obligates us first and foremost to return to ourselves to verify whether we are coherent with what we ask of others. Let us not forget Jesus’ words: “Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?” (Lk 6:41). May the Holy Spirit help us to be patient in bearing [wrongs], and humble and simple in giving counsel.

APPEAL
Next Sunday, 20 November, Universal Children’s Day is being celebrated. I appeal to the conscience of all, institutions and families, that children may always be protected and their well-being be defended, so that they never fall into forms of slavery, into recruitment by armed groups or into mistreatment. I hope that the international community may watch over their life, guaranteeing to every girl and boy the right to school and to education, so that their growth may be peaceful and they may look confidently to the future.

Special greetings:
I greet the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors taking part in today’s Audience, particularly those from Great Britain, Ireland, Denmark, Iceland, Malta, Nigeria, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, New Zealand, Canada and the United States of America. With prayerful good wishes that these final days of the Jubilee of Mercy will be a moment of grace and spiritual renewal for you and your families, I invoke upon all of you joy and peace in our Lord Jesus Christ.

I extend a special greeting to young people, to the sick and to newlyweds. In the month of November the liturgy invites us to pray for the deceased. Let us not forget those who loved us and those who preceded us in the faith, as well as those whom no one remembers: the suffrage in the Eucharistic Celebration is the best spiritual help that we can offer their souls. Let us remember with particular affection the victims of the recent earthquake in central Italy: let us pray for them and for their families and let us continue to be in solidarity with those who have suffered losses.


© Copyright - Libreria Editrice Vaticana


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Sunday, November 20, 2016
ANGELUS POPE FRANCIS
Saint Peter's Square
Sunday, 13 November 2016

PHOTO: neweuropeo.eu

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good morning!

Today’s Gospel passage contains the first part of Jesus’ discourse on the end times, [according to] the writing of Saint Luke (21:5-19). Jesus made this proclamation while standing before the Temple of Jerusalem, and was prompted by the peoples’ words of admiration for the beauty of the sanctuary and its decorations (cf. v. 5). Then Jesus said: “the days will come when there shall not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down” (v. 6). We can imagine the effect these words had on Jesus’ disciples. However, he did not want to insult the temple, but rather make it understood — to them as well as to us today — that human structures, even the most sacred, are fleeting, and we should not place our security in them. How many supposedly definitive certainties have we had in our lives, which later were revealed to be ephemeral! On the other hand, how many problems have appeared to be a dead end, and then were overcome!

Jesus knows that there are always those who speculate about the human need for safety. For this reason, he says: “Take heed that you are not led astray” (v. 8), and guard against the many false Messiahs who will appear (v. 9). Even today there are these! And, he adds, do not be frightened and bewildered by wars, revolutions, and disasters, since even these are part of the world’s reality (cf. vv. 10-11). The history of the Church is rich with examples of people who withstood tribulations and terrible suffering with serenity, because they were aware that they were firmly in God’s hands. He is a faithful Father, an attentive Father, who does not abandon his children. God never abandons us! We must have this certainty in our heart: God never abandons us!

Remaining firm in the Lord, in this certainty that he does not abandon us, walking in hope, working to build a better world, despite the difficulties and sad circumstances which mark our personal and collective existence, is what really counts; it is how the Christian community is called to encounter the “day of the Lord”. It is precisely within this context that we want to place the undertaking that we have lived with faith during these months of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, which concludes today in the Dioceses of the world with the closing of the Holy Doors in the cathedral Churches. The Holy Year impelled us, on the one hand, to fix our gaze toward the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God and, on the other, to build a future on this earth, working to evangelize the present, so we can make it a time of salvation for everyone.

In the Gospel Jesus encourages us to keep firmly in mind and in heart the certainty that God guides our history, and that he knows the final end of things and events. Under the the Lord’s merciful gaze, history unravels in flowing uncertainty, and weaves between good and evil. However, all that happens is contained within him. Let us pray to the Virgin Mary that she may help us, through the happy and sad events of this world, to firmly maintain hope in eternity and in the Kingdom of God. Let us pray to the Virgin Mary, that she may help us deeply understand this truth: that God never abandons his children!
  
After the Angelus:
Dear brothers and sisters, during this week, the oldest wooden Crucifix of Saint Peter’s Basilica, dating back to the 14th century, was restored for the devotion of the faithful. After arduous restorations, it was brought back to its ancient splendour, and will be placed in the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament as a reminder of the Jubilee of Mercy.

Today, Italy celebrates the traditional Day of Thanksgiving for the fruits of the earth and the work of human hands. I join the bishops in hoping that mother earth may always be cultivated in a sustainable way. The Church, with congeniality and gratitude, stands alongside the agricultural world, and encourages us not to forget how many are deprived of basic goods, like food and water, in various parts of the world.

I extend my greeting to you, families, parishes, associations and individual faithful, who have come from Italy and from many parts of the world. I especially greet and thank the associations which, in these days, have enlivened the Jubilee for marginalized persons. Many thanks for your work and your help! I greet the pilgrims from Rio de Janeiro, Salerno, Piacenza, Veroli and Acri, as well as consultors of “The Family” of Milan, and the Italian Societies of the secular Order of the Trinity.

Wishing all of you happy Sunday. Please, do not forget to pray for me. Have a good lunch. Arrivederci!

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Sunday, November 20, 2016


FOTO: pixabayfree

Tre parole per il catechismo di oggi: storia, gioco e incontro. Prima, abbiamo iniziato con la preghiera e continua con il racconto delle nostre attività durante la settimana. Secondo, abbiamo fatto un gioco. Drammatizzare una delle beatitudini. Interessante qui perché un gruppo fa il dramma e l’altro guarda. Terzo, abbiamo fatto l’incontro con i genitori. Il mio amico Carlos ha partecipato qui mentre io ho accompagnato i bambini a giocare calcetto e pingpong dentro la saletta.
Una cosa bella oggi è l’istruzione dei genitori ai bambini quando abbiamo fatto il gioco fuori sala. I genitori hanno visto che i bambini non hanno indossato la giacca pesante. Poi, uno ha chiesto ai bambini di mettere la giacca. Ne anche noi non siamo accorti di metterci la giacca. Io ero con la giacca abbastanza per affrontare il freddo.
È bello questo. È il segno d’amore dai genitori ai bambini. Ma anche per me è una cosa bella. Mi hanno ricordato di fare questa istruzione ai bambini. Anche io con la mamma a casa mia quando ero bambino, mia mamma mi faceva così.

Grazie a voi i genitori.
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Saturday, November 19, 2016
JUBILEE AUDIENCE POPE FRANCIS
St Peter's Square
Saturday, 12 November 2016

EXTRAORDINARY JUBILEE OF MERCY

PHOTO: L'OSSERVATORE ROMANO

Mercy and inclusion

Dear brothers and sisters, Good morning!
In this last Saturday Jubilee Audience, I would like to present an important aspect of mercy: inclusion. Indeed, God, in his design of love, does not want to exclude anyone, but wants to include everyone. For example, through Baptism, he makes us his children in Christ, members of his Body which is the Church. And we Christians are invited to use the same criteria: mercy is the way one acts, that style, with which we try to include others in our lives, and avoid closing in on ourselves and our selfish securities.

In the passage from the Gospel of Matthew that we have just heard, Jesus addresses a truly universal invitation: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (11:28). No one is excluded from this call, because Jesus’ mission is to reveal the Father’s love to everyone. Our task is to open our hearts, to trust in Jesus and accept this message of love, which makes us enter into the mystery of salvation.

This aspect of mercy, inclusion, is manifested in opening one’s arms wide to welcome, without excluding; without labeling others according to their social status, language, race, culture or religion: there is, before us, only a person to be loved as God loves them. The person whom I find at my work, in my neighbourhood, is a person to love, as God loves. “But he is from that country, or that other country, or of this religion, or another... He is a person whom God loves and I have to love him”. This is to include, and this is inclusion.

We encounter so many weary and oppressed people today! In the street, in public offices, in medical practices... Jesus’ gaze rests on each one of those faces, even through our eyes. And how is our heart? Is it merciful? And our way of thinking and acting, is it inclusive? The Gospel calls us to recognize, in the history of humanity, the design of a great work of inclusion, which fully respects the freedom of every person, every community, every nation, and calls everyone to form a family of brothers and sisters, in justice, solidarity and peace, and to be part of the Church, which is the Body of Christ.

How true are Jesus’ words, which invite those who are tired and weary to come to Him to find rest! His arms outstretched on the cross show that no one is excluded from his love and his mercy, not even the greatest sinner: no one! We are all included in his love and in his mercy. The most immediate expression with which we feel welcomed and included in him is that of forgiveness. We all need to be forgiven by God. And we all need to encounter brothers and sisters who help us to go to Jesus, to open ourselves to the gift he has given us on the cross. Let us not hinder each other! Let us not exclude anyone! Rather, with humility and simplicity let us become instruments of the Father’s inclusive mercy. The inclusive mercy of the Father: it is like this. The Holy Mother Church prolongs in the world the great embrace of Christ who died and rose. Also this Square, with its colonnade, expresses this embrace. Let us engage in this movement of including others, to be witnesses of the mercy with which God has accepted and welcomed each one of us.

Special greetings:
I greet the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors taking part in today’s Audience, particularly those from Ireland and Pakistan. With prayerful good wishes that the present Jubilee of Mercy will be a moment of grace and spiritual renewal for you and your families, I invoke upon all of you joy and peace in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Dear brothers and sisters, live this last Saturday Audience of the Jubilee with faith, in order to experience forgiveness, mercy and the love of God in your life. I greet with particular affection you volunteers of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy. You have been great! You all have come from different countries, and I thank you for the valuable service you have provided so that pilgrims could live this experience of faith well. Over the course of these months, I have noticed your discreet presence in the Square with the Jubilee logo and have admired the dedication, patience and enthusiasm with which you have carried out your work. Thank you very much!

In particular, I extend a greeting to young people, the sick and newlyweds. Yesterday we commemorated Saint Martin of Tours, the patron saint of beggars, whose 17th centenary of the birth we celebrate this year. May his example inspire in you, dear young people, especially you Erasmus students in Europe, the desire to perform acts of solidarity; may his faith in Christ the Lord sustain you, dear sick people, in the trials of disease; and may his moral rectitude remind you, dear newlyweds, of the importance of values in the education of children.


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Wednesday, November 16, 2016
GENERAL AUDIENCE POPE FRANCIS
Saint Peter's Square
Wednesday, 9 November 2016

PHOTO: L'OSSERVATORE ROMANO

35. To visit the sick and the imprisoned

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good morning!
Jesus’ life, especially during the three years of his public ministry, was a continual encounter with people. Among them, the sick had a special place. How many pages of the Gospel tell of these encounters! The paralytic, the blind man, the leper, the possessed man, the epileptic, and the countless people suffering from illnesses of every kind.... Jesus made himself close to each of them, and cured them with his presence and his healing power. Therefore, among the works of mercy, we cannot fail to visit and assist those who are sick.

Together with this, we can also include being close to those who are in prison. Indeed, both the sick and the imprisoned live in conditions which limit their freedom. It is precisely when we lack [freedom] that we realize how precious it is! Jesus has given us the possibility of being free regardless of the limitations of illness and of restrictions. And he offers us the freedom which comes from an encounter with him, and the new sense which this brings to our personal conditions.

With this work of mercy, the Lord invites us to make an act of great humanity: sharing . Let us remember this word: sharing. Those who are sick often feel alone. We cannot hide the fact that, especially in our days, in sickness one experiences greater loneliness than at other times in life. A visit can make a person who is sick feel less alone, and a little companionship is great medicine! A smile, a caress, a handshake are simple gestures, but they are very important for those who feel abandoned. How many people dedicate themselves to visiting the sick in hospitals or in their homes! It is a priceless voluntary work. When it is done in the Lord’s name, moreover, it also becomes an eloquent and effective expression of mercy . Let us not leave the sick alone! Let us not prevent them from finding consolation, or ourselves from being enriched by our closeness to those who suffer. Hospitals are true “cathedrals of suffering” where, however, the power of supportive and compassionate charity is also made evident.

In the same way, I think of those who are locked up in prison. Jesus has not forgotten them either. By including the act of visiting of those in prison among the works of mercy, he wanted first and foremost to invite us to judge no one. Of course, if someone is in prison it is because he has done wrong, and did not respect the law or civil harmony. Therefore, in prison, he is serving his sentence. However, whatever a detainee may have done, he remains always beloved by God. Who is able to enter the depths of [an inmate’s] conscience to understand what he is experiencing? Who can understand his suffering and remorse? It is too easy to wash our hands, declaring that he has done wrong. A Christian is called, above all, to assume responsibility, so that whoever has done wrong understands the evil he has carried out, and returns to his senses. The absence of freedom is, without a doubt, one of the hardest pills for a human being to swallow. Add this to degradation arising from the conditions which are often devoid of humanity in which these persons live, it is then truly the case in which a Christian is motivated to do everything to restore his dignity.

Visiting people in prison is a work of mercy which, especially today, takes on a particular value due to the various forms of “justicialism” to which we are exposed. Therefore, let no one point a finger at another. Instead, let us all be instruments of mercy, and have attitudes of sharing and respect. I often think about detainees... I think of them often, I carry them in my heart. I wonder what led them to delinquency, and how they managed to succumb to various forms of evil. Yet, along with these thoughts, I feel that they all need closeness and tenderness, because God’s mercy works wonders. How many tears I have seen shed on the cheeks of prisoners who had perhaps never wept before in their lives; and this is only because they feel welcomed and loved.

And let us not forget that even Jesus and his Apostles experienced imprisonment. In the account of the Passion, we know of the suffering which the Lord endured: captured, dragged about like a criminal, derided, scourged, crowned with thorns.... He, the sole Innocent! And even Saint Peter and Saint Paul were in prison (cf. Acts 12:5; Phil 1:12-17). Last Sunday afternoon — which was the Sunday of the Jubilee for Prisoners — a group of detainees from Padua came to visit me. I asked them what they were going to do the following day, before returning to Padua. They told me: “We will go to the Mamertine prison to share the experience of Saint Paul”. It was beautiful; hearing this did me good. These detainees wanted to find the imprisoned Paul. It was a beautiful thing, and it did me good. And even there, in prison, [Saints Peter and Paul] prayed and evangelized. The page from the Acts of the Apostles, which recounts Paul’s imprisonment, is moving: he felt alone, and wished that some of his friends would pay him a visit (cf. 2 Tim 4:9-15). He felt alone because the vast majority had left him alone... the great Paul.

These works of mercy, as you can see, are age-old, yet ever timely. Jesus left what he was doing to go and visit Peter’s mother-in-law; an age-old work of charity. Jesus did it.

Let us not fall into indifference, but become instruments of God’s mercy. All of us can be instruments of God’s mercy, and this will do more good to us than to others because mercy passes through a gesture, a word, a visit, and this mercy is an act of restoring the joy and dignity which has been lost.

Special greetings:
I greet the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors taking part in today’s Audience, particularly those from England, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Vietnam, Canada and the United States of America. With prayerful good wishes that the present Jubilee of Mercy will be a moment of grace and spiritual renewal for you and your families, I invoke upon all of you joy and peace in our Lord Jesus Christ.

May the passage through the Holy Door remind each of you that only through Christ is it possible to enter into the love and mercy of the Father, who welcomes and forgives everyone.

I extend a particular greeting to young people, to the sick, and to newlyweds. Today, we celebrate the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica, the Cathedral of Rome. Pray for the Successor of the Apostle Peter, dear young people, in order that he may always confirm his brothers and sisters in the faith; may you feel the closeness of the Pope in prayer, dear sick people, in order to confront the trials of illness; may you teach your children the faith with simplicity, dear newlyweds, nourishing it with love for the Church and her shepherds.


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Sunday, November 13, 2016
ANGELUS POPE FRANCIS
Saint Peter's Square
Sunday, 6 November 2016


PHOTO: ANSA-en.radiovaticana.va

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good morning!
Within just days of the Solemnity of All Saints and of the Commemoration of the faithful departed, this Sunday’s Liturgy invites us once again to reflect upon the mystery of the resurrection of the dead. The Gospel (cf. Lk 20:27-38) presents Jesus confronted by several Sadducees, who did not believe in the resurrection and considered the relationship with God only in the dimension of earthly life. Therefore, in order to place the resurrection under ridicule and to create difficulty for Jesus, they submit a paradoxical and absurd case: that of a woman who’d had seven husbands, all brothers, who died one after the other. Thus came the malicious question posed to Jesus: in the resurrection, whose wife will the woman be (v. 33)?

Jesus does not fall into the snare and emphasizes the truth of the resurrection, explaining that life after death will be different from that on earth. He makes his interlocutors understand that it is not possible to apply the categories of this world to the realities that transcend and surpass what we see in this life. He says, in fact: “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are accounted worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage” (vv. 34-35).

With these words, Jesus means to explain that in this world we live a provisional reality, which ends; conversely, in the afterlife, after the resurrection, we will no longer have death as the horizon and will experience all things, even human bonds, in the dimension of God, in a transfigured way. Even marriage, a sign and instrument of God in this world, will shine brightly, transformed in the full light of the glorious communion of saints in Paradise.

The “sons of heaven and of the resurrection” are not a few privileged ones, but are all men and all women, because the salvation that Jesus brings is for each one of us. And the life of the risen shall be equal to that of angels (cf. v. 36), meaning wholly immersed in the light of God, completely devoted to his praise, in an eternity filled with joy and peace. But pay heed! Resurrection is not only the fact of rising after death, but is a new genre of life which we already experience now; it is the victory over nothing that we can already anticipate.

Resurrection is the foundation of the faith and of Christian hope. Were there no reference to Paradise and to eternal life, Christianity would be reduced to ethics, to a philosophy of life. Instead, the message of Christian faith comes from heaven, it is revealed by God and goes beyond this world. Belief in resurrection is essential in order that our every act of Christian love not be ephemeral and an end in itself, but may become a seed destined to blossom in the garden of God, and to produce the fruit of eternal life.

May the Virgin Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth, confirm us in the hope of resurrection and help us to make fruitful in good works her Son’s word sown in our hearts.


After the Angelus:
Dear brothers and sisters, on the occasion of today’s Jubilee for Prisoners, I would like to address an appeal in favour of improving the living conditions in prisons throughout the world, that the human dignity of detainees be fully respected. In addition, I would like to emphasize the importance of reflecting on the need for a criminal justice system that is not exclusively punitive, but open to hope and the prospect of reintegrating the offender into society. In a special way, I submit for the consideration of the competent civil authorities of every country the possibility that, in this Holy Year of Mercy, an act of clemency be carried out for those prisoners who are held to be eligible to benefit from such a provision.

Two days ago the Paris Agreement on the world climate was ratified. This important step forward shows that humanity has the capacity to collaborate for the protection of creation (cf. Laudato Si’, n. 13), in order to place the economy at the service of people and to build peace and justice. Then tomorrow, in Marrakech, Morocco, the new session of the Climate Change Conference will begin, aimed among other things at the implementation of the Agreement. I hope that this whole process may be guided by the awareness of our responsibility for the care of our common home.

Yesterday in Scutari, Albania, 30 martyrs were proclaimed Blessed: two bishops, many priests and religious, a seminarian and several lay people, victims of the terribly harsh persecution by the atheist regime that long controlled that country in the last century. They preferred to submit to prison, torture and finally death, in order to remain faithful to Christ and to the Church. May their example help us to find in the Lord strength that supports in moments of difficulty and that inspires attitudes of goodness, forgiveness and peace.

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