VILLA SANTA MARIA GIAIANO-PARMA
VILLA SANTA MARIA GIAIANO-PARMA
IL RITIRO E LA VERIFICA A VILLA SANTA MARIA, GIAIANO-PARMA
IL RITIRO E LA VERIFICA A VILLA SANTA MARIA, GIAIANO-PARMA
 |
| La villa da fuori |
Giovedì 25 febbraio abbiamo fatto la verifica e il ritiro mensile alla vila santa Maria, giaiano-parma. Circa 45 minuti in macchina da Parma. È un bel posto. Un pò più in alto rispetto a Parma, come in un mezzo colline. Lì abbiamo incontrato una famiglia pakistana che gestisce la casa.
Il programma di oggi è la verifica, il pranzo e la messa. Partendo dalle 9.15 fino al 11.30, la prima condivisione, intervallo 15 minuti poi continuiamo la condivisone fino al pranzo alle 12.30. Dopo pranzo dalle 14.30 fino 16.00 abbiamo ancora un altro incontro. Poi, concludiamo con la messa. Dopo messa siamo tornati a Parma.
Ho fatto qualche foto così i lettori possono godere questa casa.
le altre foto, qui
JUBILEE AUDIENCE 20 FEBRUARY 2016
EXTRAORDINARY JUBILEE OF
MERCY
JUBILEE AUDIENCE POPE
FRANCIS
Saturday,
20 February 2016
Mercy and commitment
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Good morning!
The Jubilee of Mercy is a
true opportunity to enter deeply into the mystery of the goodness and love of
God. In this Season of Lent, the Church invites us to learn to know the Lord
Jesus ever better, and to live the faith in a consistent way with a lifestyle
that expresses the mercy of the Father. It is a commitment that we are called
to take on in order to offer to those we meet the concrete sign of God’s
closeness. My life, my attitude, the way of going through life, must really be
a concrete sign of the fact that God is close to us. Small gestures of love, of
tenderness, of care, that make people feel that the Lord is with us, is close
to us. This is how the door of mercy opens.
Today I would like to
pause briefly to reflect with you on the theme of this expression I used: the
theme of commitment. What is a commitment? What does it mean to be committed?
When I commit myself, it means that I assume a responsibility, a task, for
someone; it also means the way, the attitude of faithfulness and dedication, the
particular care with which I carry out this task. Each day we are asked to put
our heart and soul into what we do: prayer, work, study, but also in sport and
recreation.... Committing ourselves, in other words, means making every effort
to do our best in order to improve life.
God too has committed
himself to us. His first commitment was that of creating the world, and despite
our attempts to ruin it — and there are many — He is committed to keeping it
alive. But his greatest commitment was that of giving us Jesus. This is God’s
great commitment! Yes, Jesus is really the supreme commitment that God has
assumed for us. St Paul also recalled this when he wrote that God “did not
spare his own Son but gave him up for us all” (Rom 8:32). Accordingly, together
with Jesus, the Father will give us everything that we need.
How is God’s commitment to
us made manifest? It is very easy to verify it in the Gospel. In Jesus, God
completely committed himself in order to restore hope to the poor, to those who
were deprived of dignity, to strangers, to the sick, to captives, and to
sinners, whom he welcomed with kindness. In all this, Jesus was the living
expression of the Father’s mercy. I would like to touch upon this: Jesus
welcomed sinners with kindness. If we think in a human way, a sinner would be
an enemy of Jesus, an enemy of God, but he approached them with kindness, he
loved them and changed their hearts. We are all sinners: everyone! We all have
some fault before God, but we must not harbour doubt. He approaches us in order
to give us comfort, mercy, forgiveness. This is God’s commitment and this is
why he sent Jesus: to draw close to us, to all of us, and to open the door of
his love, of his heart, of his mercy. This is really beautiful. Very beautiful!
Starting with the merciful
love through which Jesus expressed God’s commitment, we too can and must
reciprocate his love with our commitment, and do so above all in serious
situations of need, where there is a greater thirst for hope. I think, for
example, of our commitment to forsaken people, to those who have severe
disabilities, to the most seriously ill, to the dying, to those who are unable
to express gratitude.... In all these situations we convey God’s mercy through
life-giving commitment, which witnesses to our faith in Christ. We must always
bring God’s tender caress — because God has caressed us with his mercy —
bringing it to others, to those who are in need, to those who have anguish in
their hearts or are sad: approach them with God’s caress, which is the same
that he gave to us.
May this Jubilee Year help
our mind and our heart to experience God’s commitment to each one of us and,
thanks to this, to transform life into a commitment of mercy for all.
Special greetings:
I greet the
English-speaking pilgrims present at today’s Audience, especially those from
Scotland, Norway and Latvia. With fervent wishes that the current Jubilee of
Mercy may be for you and for your families a time of grace and spiritual
renewal. I invoke upon all of you the joy and peace of the Lord Jesus. May God
bless you!
I address a special
thought to young people, to the sick and to newlyweds.
Monday, 22 February, will be the Feast of the Chair of the Apostle Peter, a
special day of communion of believers with the Successor of St Peter and with
the Holy See. This event, in this Holy Year, will be a Jubilee Day for the
Roman Curia, which works daily at the service of the Christian people. I exhort
you to continue to pray for my universal Ministry and I thank you for your
commitment to the daily building up of the ecclesial community.
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Editrice Vaticana
ANGELUS POPE FRANCIS 14 FEBRUARY 2016 IN MEXICO
ANGELUS POPE FRANCIS
Study Center of Ecatepec
First Sunday of Lent, 14 February 2016
First Sunday of Lent, 14 February 2016
My Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In
the first reading of this Sunday, Moses offers a directive to the people. At
harvest time, a the time of abundance and first fruits, do not forget your
beginnings, do not forget where you came from. Thanksgiving is something which
is born and grows among a people capable of remembering. It is rooted in the
past, and through good and bad times, it shapes the present. In those moments
when we can offer thanks to God for the earth giving us its fruits and thereby
helping us make bread, Moses invites his people to remember by enumerating the
difficult situations through which it has passed (cf. Deut 26:5-11).
On
this festive day we can celebrate how good the Lord has been to us. Let us give
thanks for this opportunity to be together, to present to our Good Father the
first fruits of our children, our grandchildren, of our dreams and our plans;
the first fruits of our cultures, our languages and our traditions, the first
fruits of our concerns.... How much each one of you has suffered to reach this
moment, how much you have “walked” to make this day a day of feasting, a time
of thanksgiving. How much others have walked, who have not arrived here and yet
because of them we have been able to keep going. Today, at the invitation of
Moses, as a people we want to remember, we want to be the people that keeps alive
the memory of God who passes among his People, in their midst. We look upon our
children knowing that they will inherit not only a land, a culture and a
tradition, but also the living fruits of faith which recalls the certainty of
God’s passing through this land. It is a certainty of his closeness and of his
solidarity, a certainty which helps us lift up our heads and ardently hope for
the dawn.
I
too join you in this remembrance, in this living memory of God’s passing
through your lives. As I look upon your children I cannot but make my own the
words which Blessed Pope Paul VI addressed to the Mexican people: “A Christian
cannot but show solidarity... to solve the situation of those who have not yet
received the bread of culture or the opportunity of an honourable job... he
cannot remain insensitive while the new generations have not found the way to
bring into reality their legitimate aspirations”. And then Blessed Paul VI
continued, offering this invitation to “always be on the front line of all
efforts... to improve the situation of those who suffer need”, to see in every
man a brother and, in every brother Christ” (Radio Message on the
75th Anniversary of the Crowning of Our Lady of Guadalupe, 12 October 1970).
I
invite you today to be on the front line, to be first in all the initiatives
which help make this blessed land of Mexico a land of opportunities, where
there will be no need to emigrate in order to dream, no need to be exploited in
order to work, no need to make the despair and poverty of many the opportunism
of a few, a land that will not have to mourn men and women, young people and
children who are destroyed at the hands of the dealers of death.
This
land is filled with the perfume of la Guadalupana who
has always gone before us in love. Let us say to her, with all our hearts:
Blessed
Virgin, “help us to bear radiant witness to communion, service, ardent and
generous faith, justice and love of the poor, that the joy of the Gospel may
reach to the ends of the earth, illuminating even the fringes of our world” (EG 288).
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ANGELUS POPE FRANCIS 7 FEBRUARY 2016
ANGELUS POPE
FRANCIS
Saint Peter's Square
Sunday, 7 February 2016
Sunday, 7 February 2016
Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good morning!
This
Sunday’s Gospel tells us — in St Luke’s narrative — of the call of Jesus’ first
disciples (5:1-11). The event takes place in the context of everyday life:
there are several fishermen on the shore of the lake of Galilee, who, after
working all night and catching nothing, are washing and arranging their nets.
Jesus gets into one of the boats, that of Simon, called Peter, whom he asks to
put out a little from the shore, and he starts to preach the Word of God to the
crowd of people who had gathered. When he is finished speaking, he tells them
to put out into the deep and cast the nets. Simon had previously met Jesus and
felt the prodigious power of his word. Therefore, he responds: “Master, we
toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets”
(v. 5). And this faith of his did not disappoint: indeed, the nets filled with
so many fish that they nearly broke (cf. v. 6). Facing this extraordinary
event, the fishermen are greatly astonished. Simon Peter throws himself at
Jesus’ feet, saying: “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord” (v. 8).
That prodigious sign convinces him that Jesus is not only a formidable master whose
word is true and powerful, but he is the Lord, he is the manifestation of God.
For Peter this close presence brings about a strong sense of his own pettiness
and unworthiness. From a human point of view, he thinks that there should be
distance between the sinner and the Holy One. In truth, his very condition as a
sinner requires that the Lord not distance Himself from him, in the same way
that a doctor cannot distance himself from those who are sick.
Jesus’
response to Simon Peter is reassuring and decisive: “Do not be afraid;
henceforth you will be catching men” (v. 10). Once again the fisherman of
Galilee, placing his trust in this word, leaves everything and follows the one
who has become his Lord and Master. Simon’s workmates, James and John, do the
same. This is the logic that guides Jesus’ mission and the mission of the
Church: go in search, “fish” for men and women, not to proselytize, but to
restore full dignity and freedom to all, through the forgiveness of sins. This
is the essential point of Christianity: to spread the free and regenerative
love of God, with a welcoming and merciful attitude toward everyone, so that
each person can encounter God’s tenderness and have the fullness of life. Here,
in a particular way, I think of confessors: they are the first who must give
the Father’s mercy, following Jesus’ example, as did the two holy Brothers, Fr
Leopold and Padre Pio.
Today’s
Gospel challenges us: do we know how to truly trust in the Word of the Lord? Or
do we let ourselves become discouraged by our failures? In this Holy Year of
Mercy we are called to comfort those who feel they are sinners, unworthy before
the Lord, defeated by their mistakes, by speaking to them the very words of
Jesus: “Do not be afraid. The Father’s mercy is greater than your sins! It is
greater, do not be afraid!”. May the Virgin Mary help us to ever better
understand that being disciples means placing our feet in the footsteps left by
the Master: they are the footprints of divine grace that restore life for all.
APPEAL
With
deep concern I am following the dramatic circumstances of the civilian
populations involved in the violent conflicts in beloved Syria, forced to
abandon everything in order to escape the horrors of war. I hope that with
generous solidarity, the necessary help is given to them in order to secure
their survival and dignity, while I appeal to the international community to
spare no effort to urgently bring the concerned parties to the negotiating
table. Only a political solution to the conflict will be able to guarantee a
future of reconciliation and peace to that dear and martyred country, for which
I invite fervent prayer; now let us also pray together to Our Lady for beloved Syria:
Hail Mary,....
After the Angelus:
Dear
brothers and sisters, today in Italy the Day for Life is being celebrated, with
the theme “Mercy makes life blossom”. I join with the Italian Bishops to hope
for, on the part of the various educational and social institutions, a renewed
commitment in favour of human life from conception to its natural end. Our
society must be helped to heal from all the attacks on life, by daring to make
an inner change, which is also manifested through works of mercy. I greet and
encourage the university professors in Rome and those who are committed to
testify to the culture of life.
Tomorrow
the Day of Prayer and Awareness against Human Trafficking will be celebrated.
It will give everyone the opportunity to help the victims of today’s new forms
of slavery to break the heavy chains of exploitation in order to take back
their freedom and dignity. I think in particular of the many women and men, and
the many children! It is important to make every effort to destroy this crime
and this intolerable shame.
Again
tomorrow, in the Far East and in various parts of the world, millions of men
and women will celebrate the lunar new year. I wish that all may experience
peace and serenity in the heart of their families, which is the first place in
which we live and pass on the values of love and fraternity, of coexistence and
sharing, of attention and care for others. May the new year bear the fruits of
compassion, mercy and solidarity. With a round of applause from here, let us
greet these brothers and sisters of the Far East, who tomorrow will be
celebrating the lunar new year!
I
greet all the pilgrims, parish groups and associations from Italy, Spain,
Portugal, Ecuador, Slovakia and other countries. There are too many to list
them all!
I
greet the priestly community of the Mexican College of Rome, with other
Mexicans: thank you for your commitment to accompany with prayer the apostolic journey
to Mexico that I will be
making in a few days, as well as the meeting that I will have in Havana with my
dear brother Kirill.
I
wish everyone a happy Sunday. Please, do not forget to pray for me. Enjoy
your lunch! Arrivederci!
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GENERAL AUDIENCE POPE FRANCIS 3 FEBRUARY 2016
GENERAL AUDIENCE POPE FRANCIS
Saint
Peter's Square
Wednesday, 3 February 2016
Wednesday, 3 February 2016
6. Mercy and justice
Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good morning,
Sacred Scripture presents God to us as infinite mercy
and as perfect justice. How do we reconcile the two? How does one reconcile the
reality of mercy with the demands of justice? It might appear that the two
contradict each other; but in fact it is not so, for it is the very mercy of
God that brings true justice to fulfilment. But what kind of justice are we
talking about?
If we think of the legal administration of justice, we
see that those who consider themselves victims of injustice turn to a judge in
a tribunal and ask that justice be done. It is retributive justice, which
inflicts a penalty on the guilty party, according to the principle that each
person must be given his or her due. As the Book of Proverbs says: “He who is
steadfast in righteousness will live, but he who pursues evil will die”
(11:19). Jesus, too, speaks about it in the parable of the widow who went
repeatedly to the judge and asked him: “Vindicate me against my adversary” (Lk
18:3). This path however does not lead to true justice because in reality it
does not conquer evil, it merely checks it. Only by responding to it with good
can evil be truly overcome.
There is then another way of doing justice, which the
Bible presents to us as the royal road to take. It is a process that avoids recourse
to the tribunal and allows the victim to face the culprit directly and invite
him or her to conversion, helping the person to understand that they are doing
evil, thus appealing to their conscience. In this way, by finally repenting and
acknowledging their wrong, they can open themselves to the forgiveness that the
injured party is offering them. And this is beautiful: after being persuaded
that what was done was wrong, the heart opens to the forgiveness being offered
to it. This is the way to resolve conflicts in the family, in the relationship
between spouses or between parents and children, where the offended party loves
the guilty one and wishes to save the bond that unites them. Do not sever that
bond, that relationship.
Certainly, this is a difficult journey. It requires
that those who have been wronged be ready to forgive and desire good and
salvation for their offender. Only in this way can justice triumph, because
thus, if the culprit acknowledges the evil done and ceases to do it, the evil is
no more; and he who was unjust becomes just, because he is forgiven and is
helped to rediscover the path of goodness. And this is where forgiveness and
mercy come in.
This is how God acts towards us sinners. The Lord
continually offers us his pardon and helps us to accept it and to be aware of
our wrong-doing so as to free us of it. For God wants not our condemnation, but
our salvation. God does not want to condemn anyone! One of you might ask me:
“But Father, didn’t Pilate deserve condemnation? Did God want that?” No! God
wanted to save Pilate as well as Judas, everyone! He, the Lord of Mercy, wants
to save everyone! The difficulty is in allowing him to enter our hearts. Every
word of the prophets is a passionate appeal full of love which seeks our conversion.
This is what the Lord says through the Prophet Ezekiel: “Have I any pleasure in
the death of the wicked... and not rather that he should turn from his way and
live?” (18:23; cf. 33:11), that’s what pleases God!
This is the heart of God, the heart of a Father who
loves and wants his children to live in goodness and in justice, and thus that
they might live to the fullest and be happy. The heart of a Father who goes
beyond our little concept of justice to open us to the limitless horizons of
his mercy. His is the heart of a Father who does not treat us according to our
sins nor repay us according to our faults, as the Psalm says (103[102]:9-10).
His is precisely the heart of the father whom we want to encounter when we go
to the confessional. Perhaps he will say something to help us better understand
our sin, but we all go to find a father who helps us to change our lives; a
father who gives us the strength to go on; a father who forgives us in the name
of God. That is why being a confessor is such an important responsibility,
because that son, that daughter who comes to you is only looking for a father.
And you, priest in the confessional, you are there in the place of the Father
who does justice with his mercy.
Special greetings:
I offer an affectionate greeting to all the
English-speaking pilgrims and visitors present at today’s Audience, including
those from the United States of America. May you open your lives to the Lord’s
gift of mercy, and share this gift with everyone you know. May you be children
of the Good Father, missionaries of his merciful love. May God bless you all!
A warm welcome to the Italian-speaking pilgrims! I am
delighted to welcome the faithful from the Diocese of Livorno, with Bishop
Simone Giusti; participants of the seminar hosted by the University of Santa
Croce; students of the Swiss School of Rome and artists of the American Circus.
And I thank you! I would like to repeat what I said a week ago, when there was
a show like this. You create beauty, and beauty brings us ever closer to God.
Thank you for this. But there is another thing that I would like to stress:
this is not improvised; behind this spectacle of beauty, there are hours and
hours of training that is exhausting. Training is exhausting! The Apostle Paul
tells us that in order to arrive at the end and in order to overcome we must
train; and this is an example for us all, that the seduction of the easy life,
finding a good outcome without making any effort, is a temptation. With what
you have done today, and with all the training behind it, you bear witness to
us that life without continuous effort is a mediocre life. Thank you so much
for your example.
I address an affectionate thought to young
people, to the sick and to newlyweds. Today we
remember St Blaise, the martyr of Armenia. This holy bishop reminds us of the
commitment to proclaim the Gospel even in difficult conditions. Dear young
people, become courageous witnesses of your faith; dear sick people, offer up
your cross every day for the conversion of those far from the light of Christ;
and you, dear newlyweds, be proclaimers of his love, beginning in your family.
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ANGELUS POPE FRANCIS 31 JANUARY 2016
ANGELUS POPE
FRANCIS
Saint Peter's Square Sunday, 31 January 2016
Dear
Brothers and Sisters, Good morning!
Today’s Gospel account once
again, like last Sunday, brings us to the synagogue of Nazareth, the village in
Galilee where Jesus was brought up in a family and was known by everyone. He,
who left not long before to begin his public life, now returns and for the
first time presents himself to the community, gathered in the synagogue on the
Sabbath. He reads the passage of the Prophet Isaiah, who speaks of the future
Messiah, and he declares at the end: “Today this scripture has been fulfilled
in your hearing” (Lk 4:21). Jesus’ compatriots, who were at first astonished
and admired him, now begin to look sideways, to murmur among themselves and
ask: why does he, who claims to be the Lord’s Consecrated, not repeat here in
his homeland the wonders they say he worked in Capernaum and in nearby
villages? Thus Jesus affirms: “no prophet is acceptable in his own country”,
and he refers to the great prophets of the past, Elijah and Elisha, who had
worked miracles in favour of the pagans in order to denounce the incredulity of
their people. At this point those present are offended, rise up, indignant, and
cast Jesus out and want to throw him down from the precipice. But he, with the
strength of his peace, “passed through the midst of them and went away” (cf. v.
30). His time has not yet come.
This passage of Luke the
Evangelist is not simply the account of an argument between compatriots, as
sometimes happens even in our neighbourhoods, arising from envy and jealousy,
but it highlights a temptation to which a religious man is always exposed — all
of us are exposed — and from which it is important to keep his distance. What
is this temptation? It is the temptation to consider religion as a human
investment and, consequently, “negotiate” with God, seeking one’s own interest.
Instead, true religion entails accepting the revelation of a God who is Father
and who cares for each of his creatures, even the smallest and most
insignificant in the eyes of man. Jesus’ prophetic ministry consists precisely
in this: in declaring that no human condition can constitute a reason for
exclusion — no human condition can constitute a reason for exclusion! — from
the Father’s heart, and that the only privilege in the eyes of God is that of
not having privileges, of not having godparents, of being abandoned in his
hands.
“Today this scripture has been
fulfilled in your hearing” (Lk 4:21). The ‘today’, proclaimed by Christ that
day, applies to every age; it echoes for us too in this Square, reminding us of
the relevance and necessity of the salvation Jesus brought to humanity. God
comes to meet the men and women of all times and places, in their real life
situations. He also comes to meet us. It is always he who takes the first step:
he comes to visit us with his mercy, to lift us up from the dust of our sins;
he comes to extend a hand to us in order to enable us to return from the abyss
into which our pride made us fall, and he invites us to receive the comforting
truth of the Gospel and to walk on the paths of good. He always comes to find
us, to look for us.
Let us return to the
synagogue. Surely that day, in the synagogue of Nazareth, Mary, his Mother, was
also there. We can imagine her heart beating, a small foreboding of what she
will suffer under the Cross, seeing Jesus, there in the synagogue, first
admired, then challenged, then insulted, threatened with death. In her heart,
filled with faith, she kept every thing. May she help us to convert from a god
of miracles to the miracle of God, who is Jesus Christ.
After
the Angelus:
Dear brothers and sisters,
today we celebrate World Leprosy Day. This disease, although in regression,
unfortunately continues to afflict especially people who are the poorest and
most marginalized. It is important to keep solidarity alive with these brothers
and sisters, disabled as a result of this disease. Let us assure them of our
prayers and let us assure our support to those who assist them. Good lay
people, good sisters, good priests.
I affectionately greet all of
you, dear pilgrims from various parishes in Italy and other countries, as well
as associations and groups.
Now I greet the young people
of Catholic Action of the Diocese of Rome! Now I understand why there was such
a clamour in the Square! Dear young people, again this year, accompanied by the
Cardinal Vicar and by your leaders, you have come in great numbers at the end
of your “Caravan of Peace”.
This year your witness of
peace, enlivened by faith in Jesus, shall be even more joyful and aware,
because it is enriched by the gesture you have just made by passing through the
Holy Door. I encourage you to be instruments of peace and mercy among your
peers! Now let us listen to the message that your friends, here beside me, will
read to us...
And now the young people in
the Square will let loose the balloons, a sign of peace.
I wish to all a good Sunday
and a good lunch. Please do not forget to pray for me. Arrivederci!
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FARE L’ACCOLITTO IN CHIESA
FARE L’ACCOLITTO IN CHIESA
 |
| una foto durante la visita in parrochia sacre stimatte, Parma |
È la prima volta per me fare l’accolitato in chiesa delle sacre stimate. Non a caso che non ci siano i due accoliti della parrocchia. Stanno facendo il ritiro. Il parroco Padre Sergio ci ha chiesto di fare questo servizio insieme con lui. Io e Pacifique dal Congo, il mio amico, facciamo volentieri. Per Pacifique non è la prima volta fare l’accolito in questa chiesa perché già da 2 anni che qui. Lui come me quando ero ancora in parrocchia santa Cristina di don Luciano.
Tutto nuovo per me. Dall’altare si vede bene a tutto intorno della chiesa. L’altare è sopra di tutti. La posizione è più alto perciò io posso vedere tutti i fedeli. Invece, i fedeli ci vedono. Magari mi vedono con l’attenzione perché sono nuovo in questa altare. Non c’è problema. Sono abituato anche fare questo servizio in chiesa santa Cristina. Non ci sono stati gli errori durante la celebrazione. Anche perché il mio compito solo per aiutare Padre Sergio e Pacifique che è più bravo di me.
Durante la comunione ho partecipato anche insieme Padre Sergio, Pacifique, e una signora a dare il corpo di Cristo ai fedeli. È il momento più prezioso per me perchè portare il Signore agli altri. Anzi, dare il Signore agli altri. Se vediamo come in una relazione con Dio, sono come ponte che porta la gente al Signore e insieme il Signore fare avvicinarsi con la gente.
Grazie per Padre Sergio che ci ha dato questo servizio per il bene di tutti. Dopo la messa—come di solito—salutiamo la gente, poi, torniamo.
Parma, domenica 7 febbraio 2016
Gordi
JUBILEE AUDIENCE 30 JANUARY 2016
EXTRAORDINARY JUBILEE OF
MERCY
JUBILEE AUDIENCE POPE
FRANCIS
St
Peter's Square Saturday, 30 January 2016
Mercy and mission
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Day by day we enter more
deeply into the Holy Year of Mercy. By his grace, the Lord guides our footsteps
as we pass through the Holy Door and he comes to meet us and stay with us
always, despite our failings and contradictions. Let us never tire of feeling
in need of his forgiveness. For when we are weak, being close to him
strengthens us and enables us to live the faith with greater joy.
Today I wish to speak to
you about the close relationship between mercy and mission.
As St John Paul II reminds us: “The Church lives an authentic life when she
professes and proclaims mercy... and when she brings people close to the
sources of the Savior’s mercy” (Dives in Misericordia, n. 13). As
Christians, we are called to be missionaries of the Gospel. When we receive
good news, or when we experience beautiful moments, we naturally seek to share
them with others. We feel inside that we cannot hold back the joy that we have
been given; and we want to spread it. The joy that stirs within is such that it
drives us to share it.
It ought to be the same
when we encounter the Lord: the joy of this encounter and of his mercy, share
the mercy of the Lord. Indeed, the concrete sign that we have truly encountered
Jesus is the joy that we show in communicating it to others. And this is not
“proselytizing”, this is giving a gift: I give you what gives me joy. Reading
the Gospel we see that this was the experience of the first disciples: after
their first encounter with Jesus, Andrew went immediately to tell his brother
Peter (cf. Jn 1:40-42), and Philip did the same with Nathanael (cf. Jn
1:45-46). To encounter Jesus is to experience his love. This love transforms us
and makes us able to transmit to others the power it gives. In a way we could
say that from the day of our Baptism each one of us is given a new name in
addition to the one given to us by our mom and dad; this name is “Christopher”.
We are all “Christophers”. What does that mean? “Bearers of Christ”. It is the
name of our attitude, the attitude of a bearer of the joy of Christ, of the
mercy of Christ. Every Christian is a “Christopher”, that is, a bearer of
Christ!
The mercy that we receive
from the Father is not given as a private consolation, but makes us instruments
that others too might receive the same gift. There is a wonderful interplay
between mercy and mission. Experiencing mercy renders us missionaries of mercy,
and to be missionaries allows us to grow ever more in the mercy of God.
Therefore, let us take our Christian calling seriously and commit to live as
believers, because only then can the Gospel touch a person’s heart and open it
to receive the grace of love, to receive this great, all-welcoming mercy of
God.
Special greetings:
I cordially welcome the
English speaking pilgrims here at this Audience. May your stay in the Eternal
City confirm you in the love of Christ, and may he make us his missionaries of
mercy, especially for all those who feel distanced from God. May God bless you
all!
Some of you might have
wondered what the Pope’s house is like, where the Pope lives. The Pope lives
behind here, in the Casa Santa Marta. It is a large home where about 40 priests
and a few bishops — who work with me in the Curia — live, and there are also a
few visiting guests: cardinals, bishops, laymen who come to Rome for meetings
in the Dicasteries, and such things.... There is a group of men and women who
carry out the housework, whether in cleaning, cooking, in the dining room. This
group of men and women are a part of our family, they form a family: they are
not distant employees, because we consider them part of our family. I would
like to tell you that today the Pope is rather sad because yesterday a woman
who has helped us so much for years passed away. Her husband also works here,
with us, in this house. After a long illness, the Lord called her to him. Her
name is Elvira. I ask you today, to do two works of mercy: to pray for the
deceased and to comfort the suffering. I invite you to pray a Hail Mary for
Elvira’s eternal peace and eternal joy, and that the Lord comfort her husband
and her children.
Lastly, I address young
people, the sick and newlyweds. Tomorrow we
will remember St John Bosco, Apostle of Youth. Look to him, dear young
people, as the exemplary educator. You, dear sick people, learn
from his spiritual experience in order to always trust in Christ crucified. And
you, dear newlyweds, refer to his intercession in order to take on
your conjugal mission with generous commitment.
© Copyright - Libreria
Editrice Vaticana
GODERE LA BELLEZZA DELLA NATURA
GODERE LA BELLEZZA DELLA NATURA
Oggi, sabato 6 gennaio del mattino, sono andato a camminare in via lungo Parma. Solo per godere la bellezza della natura. In questa via, ci sono tanti alberi che non hanno le foglie. Beh...come al solito nel inverno, gli alberi cadono le loro foglie. Praticamente la bellezza che stavo godendo oggi è questo. Gli alberi senza foglie che hanno la capacità di trasmettere in me la bellezza della loro vita.
Qualcuno mi ha detto nel inverno, la terra e gli alberi riposano. È vero. La terra non si lavora per crescere l’erba e le altre piante che al solito gli uomini piantano. Come anche gli alberi non si muovano troppo perché non hanno le foglie. Anzi, se ci sono le foglie il vento fa muovere gli alberi. Anche questo è la bellezza della natura.Ho fatto questo cammino in 45 minuti. Pochissimi. Non per il cammino come lo sport ma solo per godere la natura come dicevo prima. È vero che ci sia la bellezza in questa natura, in questi alberi che crescono intorno al torrente di Parma? Direi di sì, ma, per chiarire potete vedere le foto che ho fatto.
Grazie per la natura, per il Creatore, per questa bellezza.
Parma, 6 febbraio 2016
Gordi
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