Halloween party ideas 2015
Tweet Share Share Share Share Share

Thursday, February 23, 2017
GENERAL AUDIENCE POPE FRANCIS
Paul VI Audience Hall -- Wednesday, 15 February 2017

PHOTO: pinterest.com

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good morning!
From the time we were small we are taught that it is not nice to boast. In my land, those who boast are called ‘pavoni’ (peacocks). It is right, because boasting about what one is or what one has, apart from a certain arrogance, also reveals a lack of respect toward others, especially toward those who are less fortunate than we are. In this passage from the Letter to the Romans, however, the Apostle Paul surprises us, as at least twice he exhorts us to boast. Of what, then, is it right to boast? Because if he exhorts us to boast, it is right to boast about something. And how is it possible to do this, without offending others, without excluding someone?

In the first case, we are invited to boast of the abundance of the grace with which we are permeated in Jesus Christ, by way of the faith. Paul wants to make us understand that, if we learn to read everything in the light of the Holy Spirit, we realize that everything is grace! Everything is a gift! If we pay attention, in fact — in history, as in our life — it is not only we who are acting, but above all it is God. He is the absolute protagonist who creates every thing as a gift of love, who weaves his plan of salvation and who leads it to fulfillment for us, through his Son Jesus. We are asked to recognize all this, to welcome it with gratitude and to make it become a source of praise, of blessing and of great joy. If we do this, we are at peace with God and we experience freedom. This peace is then extended to all areas and to all the relationships of our life: we are at peace with ourselves, we are at peace in our family, in our community, at work and with the people we encounter each day on our journey.

Paul, however, exhorts us to boast even in tribulation. This is not easy to understand. This is more difficult for us and it may seem to have nothing to do with the condition of peace just described. However, it constitutes its truest, most authentic premise. Indeed, the peace the Lord offers us and guarantees us is not to be understood as the absence of worry, of disappointment, of failure, of reasons for suffering. If it were so, supposing we had managed to be at peace, that moment would end quickly, and we would inevitably fall prey to unease. Instead, the peace that springs from faith is a gift: it is the grace of feeling that God loves us and that he is always beside us; he does not leave us on our own even for a moment of our life. This, as the Apostle states, generates patience, because we know that, even at the hardest and most disturbing moment, the Lord’s mercy and goodness are greater than everything, and nothing will tear us from his hands and from communion with him.

Here then is why Christian hope is steadfast; here is why it does not disappoint. Never does it disappoint. Hope does not disappoint! It is not based on what we can do or be, nor even on what we may believe in. Its foundation, that is, the foundation of Christian hope, is what we can be most faithful and certain of, that is to say, the love that God himself has for each of us. It is easy to say: God loves us. We all say it. But think a bit: each one of us is able to ask: am I sure that God loves me? It is not so easy to say it. But it is true. This is a good exercise, to say to oneself: God loves me. This is the root of our certainty, the root of hope. The Lord has abundantly poured into our hearts the Spirit — which is the love of God — as artisan, as guarantor, precisely so that he may nourish the faith within us and keep this hope alive. This is a certainty: God loves me. ‘But in this difficult moment?’ — God loves me. ‘I, who have done this bad and cruel thing?’ — God loves me. No one can take this certainty away. We must repeat it as a prayer: God loves me. I am sure that God loves me. I am sure that God loves me.

Now we can understand why the Apostle Paul exhorts us to always boast about all this. I boast of God’s love because he loves me. The hope that we have been given never divides us from others, much less does it lead us to discredit or marginalize them. Instead it is an extraordinary gift of which we are called to make ourselves ‘channels’, with humility and simplicity, for everyone. So our boastfulness is because we have as Father a God who is impartial, who does not exclude anyone, but who opens his house to all human beings, beginning with the least and the most distant, so that as his children we may learn to console and support one another. And never forget: hope does not disappoint.

Special greetings:
I greet the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors taking part in today’s Audience, particularly those from England, Denmark and the United States of America. Upon all of you, I invoke the grace of the Lord Jesus, that you may be a sign of Christian hope in your homes and communities. May God bless you!

I offer a special greeting to young people, to the sick and to newlyweds. Yesterday we celebrated the Feast of Saints Cyril and Methodius, evangelizers of the Slavs and Co-patrons of Europe. May their example help you, dear young people, to become missionary disciples in every environment; may their tenacity encourage you, dear sick people, to offer up your suffering for the conversion of those who are distant; and may their love of the Lord enlighten you, dear newlyweds, to place the Gospel as the fundamental rule of your family life.
     

© Copyright - Libreria Editrice Vaticana


Read more »
Tweet Share Share Share Share Share

Monday, February 20, 2017
ANGELUS POPE FRANCIS
Saint Peter's Square--Sunday, 12 February 2017

PHOTO: successfullady.in

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good morning!
Today’s liturgy presents us with another passage of the Sermon on the Mount, which we find in the Gospel of Matthew (cf. 5:17-37). In this passage, Jesus wants to help his listeners to reread the Mosaic law. What had been said in the ancient covenant was true, but that was not all: Jesus came to bring to fulfillment and to promulgate in a definitive way the Law of God, up to the last iota (cf. v. 18). He manifests its original aims and fulfils its authentic aspects, and he does all this through his preaching and, even more, with the offering of himself on the Cross. In this way, Jesus teaches how to fully carry out God’s will, and he uses these words: with a ‘righteousness’ that ‘exceeds’ that of the scribes and the Pharisees (cf. v. 20). A righteousness enlivened by love, charity, mercy, and hence capable of fulfilling the substance of the commandments, avoiding the risk of formalism. Formalism: this I can, this I cannot; up to this point I can, up to this point I cannot.... No: more, more.

In particular, in today’s Gospel, Jesus examines three aspects, three commandments [that regard] murder, adultery and swearing.

With regard to the commandment ‘you shall not kill’, he states that it is violated not only by murder in effect, but also by those behaviours that offend the dignity of the human person, including insulting words (cf. v. 22). Of course, these insulting words do not have the same gravity and culpability as killing, but they are set along the same line, because they are the pretext to it and they reveal the same malevolence. Jesus invites us not to establish a ranking of offences, but to consider all of them damaging, inasmuch as they are driven by the intent to do harm to one’s neighbour. Jesus gives an example. Insulting: we are accustomed to insulting; it is like saying “good morning”. And that is on the same line as killing. One who insults his brother, in his heart kills his brother. Please do not insult! We do not gain anything....

Another fulfillment is generated by the matrimonial law. Adultery was considered a violation of man’s property right over the woman. Instead, Jesus goes to the root of the evil. As one comes to killing through injuries, offences and insults, in this way one reaches adultery through covetous intentions in regard to a woman other than one’s own wife. Adultery, like theft, corruption and all the other sins, are first conceived in the depth of our being and, once the wrong choice is made in the heart, it is carried out in concrete behaviour. Jesus says: one who looks with a covetous spirit at a woman who is not his own is an adulterer in his heart, has set off on the path towards adultery. Let us think a little bit about this: about the wicked thoughts that go along this line.

Jesus then tells his disciples not to swear, as swearing is a sign of the insecurity and duplicity with which human relationships unfold. God’s authority is exploited so as to guarantee our human narrative. Instead, we are called to establish among ourselves, in our families and in our communities, a climate of clarity and mutual trust, so that we can be considered sincere without resorting to greater tactics in order to be believed. Mistrust and mutual suspicion always threaten peace!

May the Virgin Mary, a woman of listening and joyful obedience, help us to draw ever closer to the Gospel, to be Christians not ‘of façade’, but of substance! This is possible with the grace of the Holy Spirit, who allows us to do everything with love, and thus to wholly fulfil the will of God.

After the Angelus:
Dear brothers and sisters, I greet all of you pilgrims present, the families, parish groups, associations.

I wish everyone a happy Sunday. Do not forget: do not insult; do not look with covetous eyes at a neighbour’s wife; do not swear. Three things that Jesus says. It is so easy! Please, do not forget to pray for me. Enjoy your lunch. Arrivederci!


© Copyright - Libreria Editrice Vaticana


Read more »
Tweet Share Share Share Share Share

Thursday, February 16, 2017
GENERAL AUDIENCE POPE FRANCIS
Paul VI Audience Hall -- Wednesday, 8 February 2017

Christian hope - 10. Hope, Source of Mutual Comfort and Peace (1Thess 5:12-22)

PHOTO: everystudent.com

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good morning!
Last Wednesday we saw that Saint Paul, in the First Letter to the Thessalonians, exhorts them to remain deeply rooted in the hope of resurrection (cf. 5:4-11), with that beautiful phrase: “we shall always be with the Lord” (4:17). In the same context, the Apostle shows that Christian hope has not only a personal, individual scope, but a communitary, ecclesial one. We all hope; we all have hope, also as a community.

For this reason, the gaze is immediately broadened by Paul to all the situations that comprise the Christian community, asking them to pray for one another and to support each other. That we help each other. But not only that we help each other in need, in the many needs of daily life, but help each other to hope, support one another in hope. It is not a coincidence that we begin precisely by referring to those who are entrusted with responsibility and pastoral guidance. They are the first to be called to nourish hope, and this is not because they are better than the others, but by virtue of a divine ministry that goes far beyond their strength. For this reason, they need, more than ever, everyone’s respect, understanding and benevolent support.

Attention is then placed on the brothers and sisters most at risk of losing hope, of succumbing to despair. We always hear news of people who succumb to despair and do bad things.... Despair leads them to many bad things. The reference is to one who is discouraged, who is weak, who feels discouraged by the burden of life and of his own faults, and no longer manages to pick himself up. In these cases, the closeness and warmth of the entire Church must be even more intense and loving, and must take on the exquisite form of compassion, which is not simply sympathy: compassion is to endure with the other, to suffer with the other, to draw near to the one who is suffering. A word, a caress, but given from the heart; this is compassion. For the one who needs comfort and consolation. This is more important than ever: Christian hope cannot do without genuine and concrete charity. The Apostle to the Gentiles himself, in the Letter to the Romans, affirms with his heart in his hand: “We who are strong” — for we have faith, hope, or we do not have many difficulties — “ought to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves” (15:1). To bear with, to bear with the weaknesses of others. This witness, then, does not remain closed within the confines of the Christian community: it echoes in all its vigour even outside it, in the social and civil context, as an appeal not to build walls but bridges, not to exchange evil for evil, but to conquer evil with good, offence with forgiveness — a Christian must never say: ‘you will pay for this!’. Never; this is not a Christian gesture; offence is defeated by forgiveness — to live in peace with everyone. This is the Church! And this is what motivates Christian hope, when it takes a strong line while maintaining love at the same time. Love is strong and tender. It is beautiful.

Thus one understands that one does not learn to hope alone. No one learns to hope alone. It is impossible. Hope, to be nourished, necessarily needs a ‘body’, in which the various members support and revive each other. This means, then, that if we hope, it is because many of our brothers and sisters have taught us to hope and have kept our hope alive. Distinguishable among these are the little ones, the poor, the simple, and the marginalized. Yes, because one who is enclosed within his own wellbeing does not know hope: he hopes only in his wellbeing and this is not hope: it is relative security; one who is enclosed in his own fulfillment, who always feels that all is well, does not know hope. Instead, those who hope are those who each day experience trials, precariousness and their own limitations. These brothers and sisters of ours give us the strongest, most beautiful witness, because they stand firm, trusting in the Lord, knowing that, beyond the sadness, oppression and inevitability of death, the last word will be his, and it will be a word of mercy, of life and of peace. Whoever hopes, hopes to one day hear this word: “Come, come to me, brother; come, come to me, sister, for all eternity”.

Dear friends, if — as we have said — the natural dwelling of our hope is a supportive ‘body’, in the case of Christian hope this body is the Church, while the vital breath, the soul of this hope is the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit one cannot have hope. Here then is why the Apostle Paul invites us to continuously invoke it to the end. If it is not easy to believe, it is far less easy to hope. It is more difficult to hope than to believe; it is more difficult. But when the Holy Spirit abides in our hearts, it is he who makes us understand that we must not fear, that the Lord is near and takes care of us; and it is he who forms our communities, in a perennial Pentecost, as a living sign of hope for the human family. Thank you.

Special greetings:
Yesterday, in Osaka, Japan, Justo Takayama Ukon, a faithful Japanese layman martyred in Manila in 1615, was beatified. Rather than compromise, he renounced honours and comforts, accepting humiliation and exile. He remained faithful to Christ and to the Gospel; for this reason, he represents an admirable example of fortitude in the faith and dedication in charity. Today we celebrate the Day of Prayer and Awareness against Human Trafficking, this year dedicated in particular to children and adolescents. I encourage all those who in various ways help enslaved and abused minors to free themselves from such oppression. I hope that those who have government responsibility firmly fight this scourge, giving voice to the littlest of our brethren, humiliated in their dignity. We must make every effort to eradicate this shameful and intolerable crime.

Next Saturday, the Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lourdes, will be the 25th World Day of the Sick. The main celebration will take place in Lourdes, and will be presided over by the Cardinal Secretary of State. I invite you to pray, through the intercession of our Blessed Mother, for all the sick, especially those most critically ill and most lonely, and also for all those who care for them.

I return to today’s celebration, the Day of Prayer and Awareness against Human Trafficking, which is celebrated today because today is the Feast of Saint Josephine Bakhita [he shows a leaflet that speaks about her]. This young woman enslaved in Africa, exploited, humiliated, did not lose hope, and ended up coming to Europe as a migrant. Here she heard the Lord’s call and became a nun. Let us pray to Saint Josephine Bakhita for all migrants, refugees, the exploited who suffer so very, very much.

In speaking about migrants being driven away, exploited, I would like to pray with you today in a special way for our Rohingya brothers and sisters: driven out of Myanmar, they go from one place to another, because they are not wanted.... They are good, peaceful people. They are not Christians; they are good; they are our brothers and sisters! They have been suffering for years. They have been tortured, killed, simply because they carry on their traditions, their Muslim faith. Let us pray for them. I invite you to pray for them, ‘Our Father who art in Heaven’, everyone together, for our Rohingya brothers and sisters.

[Our Father....]

Saint Josephine Bakhita, pray for us. A round of applause for Saint Josephine Bakhita!
I address a cordial welcome to the Italian-speaking pilgrims. I greet the Committee of the International Day of Prayer and Awareness against Human Trafficking. I want to see you, stand up! There they are. Thank you for what you do, thank you! I greet the young people participating in the meeting sponsored by the Youth of the European People’s Party and the school band of Negrar, whom I thank for their appreciated performance, and I invite them to continue to play.

Lastly, I greet young people, the sick and newlyweds. May today’s commemoration of Sr Josephine Bakhita, who from childhood was a victim of trafficking, grow in you, dear young people, attention for your peers who are most disadvantaged and in difficulty; help you, dear sick people, to offer your suffering for the Christian education of the younger generations; and encourage you, dear newlyweds, to trust in the help of Providence and not only in your abilities. Marriage without God’s help does not go forward; we must ask for it every day. And you, dear sick people, next Saturday is the Day of Prayer for you to Our Lady of Lourdes: we will all observe it together. Thank you.


© Copyright - Libreria Editrice Vaticana


Read more »
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

Contact Form

Name

Email *

Message *

LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL © 2010. All Rights Reserved. "FROM INDONESIA TO THE WORLD, ADESSO SONO IN THAILANDIA"
Powered by Blogger
Powered by Blogger.