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God Prepares Us To Accomplish Our Mission

June 13, 2014 Pope Francis Comments Off on God Prepares Us To Accomplish Our Mission

2014-06-13 Vatican Radio (Vatican Radio) When the Lord wants to entrust a mission to us, “He prepares us” to do it well. And our response should be based on prayer and fidelity. That was the main thrust of Pope Francis’ homily at the Mass celebrated Friday morning at the Casa Santa Marta. It can happen that one day we are courageous opponents of idolatry in the service of God, and afterwards we become depressed to the point where we want to die because someone, in the course of our mission, has frightened us. It is, and always will be, up to God to balance these two extremes of strength and human frailty, as long as we are faithful to Him.…Continue Reading

Pope Francis At Daily Mass For Thursday

June 12, 2014 Pope Francis Comments Off on Pope Francis At Daily Mass For Thursday

2014-06-12 Vatican Radio (Vatican Radio) Pope Francis celebrated Mass on Thursday morning in the chapel of the Santa Marta residence in the Vatican. In his remarks following the readings of the day, the Holy Father said that Our Lord teaches us three criteria to overcome conflict: realism, coherence, and the [spirit of fraternity rooted in sonship]. How ought we to love one another, according to Jesus? This was the question around which the Holy Father developed his reflections following the Gospel reading, which recounted the Lord’s conversation with His disciples about brotherly love (Mt 5:20-26). Pope Francis observed that Jesus tells us that we must love our neighbor, but not after the manner of the Pharisees, who were not coherent…Continue Reading

Pope Francis At His Weekly General Audience

June 11, 2014 Pope Francis Comments Off on Pope Francis At His Weekly General Audience

2014-06-11 Vatican Radio (Vatican Radio) Pope Francis warned corrupt persons in positions of power that they would do well to fear God’s justice and repent on Wednesday, during the course of the catechetical portion of his weekly General Audience, dedicated to the seventh and final of the gifts of the Holy Spirit: fear of the Lord. Departing repeatedly from his prepared text in Italian for emphasis, the Holy Father spoke of the fear of the Lord, not as a servile or supine disposition before the Lord, but as the grateful response of people who have first been loved by the infinite love of God the Father. “The fear of the Lord is also an alarm,” he said. “When a person…Continue Reading

The Beatitudes, A Practical Programme For Holiness

June 9, 2014 Pope Francis Comments Off on The Beatitudes, A Practical Programme For Holiness

2014-06-09 Vatican Radio (Vatican Radio) Pope Francis says the Beatitudes spell out a programme for Christian life. During his homily at Monday morning Mass at Casa Santa Marta, the Pope focused on the Beatitudes; on the day following the historic meeting for peace in the Vatican, he called for the courage of meekness to defeat hatred. Reflecting on the Gospel reading of the day which focusses on the Beatitudes, Pope Francis described them as a “programme”, the “identity card of a Christian”.  If you ask yourself how to become a good Christian,  this is where you can find Jesus’s answer, an answer – he said – that points to an attitude that is currently very much against the tide: Blessed…Continue Reading

Pope Francis Celebrates Pentecost Mass, Prays Regina Coeli

June 8, 2014 Pope Francis Comments Off on Pope Francis Celebrates Pentecost Mass, Prays Regina Coeli

2014-06-08 Vatican Radio (Vatican Radio) Pope Francis celebrated Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on Sunday, the Solemnity of Pentecost. His homily focused on the Holy Spirit as Master of Life. The Holy Father identified four principal ways in which the Spirit is active in the life of every Christian and in the Church. “The Holy Spirit reaches us the way,” said Pope Francis, “the Spirit reminds us of the words of Jesus and explains them to us, He enables us to pray and to call God ‘Father’, He enables us to speak to our fellows in fraternal dialogue and enables us to speak in prophecy.” It was a theme to which Pope Francis returned in his remarks to the faithful…Continue Reading

Priests, Never Forget Your First Love

June 7, 2014 Pope Francis Comments Off on Priests, Never Forget Your First Love

2014-06-06 Vatican Radio (Vatican Radio) Priests must be pastors first, scholars second, and they should never forget Christ, their “first love”.  This was Pope Francis’ message to all men consecrated to God in the priesthood, at Friday morning Mass in Casa Santa Marta. “How is your first love?”. That is, are they still as in love with you as the first day? Are they happy with you or so they ignore you?These are universal questions which we should all ask ourselves regularly, says Pope Francis.And not just couples, but priests, bishops too, in front of Jesus.  Because He asks us just as he one day asked Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”. The Pope began his homily reflecting on…Continue Reading

The Pope’s Mass at Santa Marta A House That’s Not For Rent

June 6, 2014 Pope Francis Comments Off on The Pope’s Mass at Santa Marta A House That’s Not For Rent

2014-06-05 L’Osservatore Romano “Uniformists, alternativists and advantagists” are three buzz words that Pope Francis coined [in Italian] — “martyring the Italian language a bit” as he himself admitted — in order to describe the 3 types of Christians who create divisions in the Church. The Pope spoke of this in his homily during Holy Mass on Thursday, 5 June, wherein he also reflected upon the day’s reading from the Gospel of John (17:20-26). With the Gospel as his starting point, the Holy Father paused on the image “of Jesus in prayer: he prays for his disciples; he prays for all those who will be coming, coming to hear the preaching of the Apostles; he prays for the Church. And what…Continue Reading

Pope Francis At Thursday Morning Mass In Santa Marta

June 5, 2014 Pope Francis Comments Off on Pope Francis At Thursday Morning Mass In Santa Marta

2014-06-05 Vatican Radio (Vatican Radio) Pope Francis celebrated Mass in the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta residence in the Vatican on Thursday. In remarks following the readings of the day, the Holy Father focused on the need to cultivate a real sense of belonging in and to the Church, and spoke of three temptations into which people who call themselves Christians often fall: “uniformism”, “alternative-ism” and “exploitation-ism”. Taking his cue from the Gospel reading of the day, which was from the 17th chapter of the Gospel according to St John, and contains Our Lord’s prayer for the unity of the Church, the Holy Father spoke of some people, who seem to have “one foot inside” and one foot outside the…Continue Reading

Pope Francis On The Gift Of Piety

June 4, 2014 Pope Francis Comments Off on Pope Francis On The Gift Of Piety

2014-06-04 Vatican Radio (Vatican Radio) Pope Francis at his General Audience on Wednesday continued his catechesis on the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, this week focusing on the gift of piety. Below are the Pope’s words read aloud in English at Wednesday’s audience. Dear Brothers and Sisters:  In our continuing catechesis on the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, we now turn to the gift of piety.  Through this spiritual gift, we experience ever anew, with joy and gratitude, the loving relationship with God our Father which has been granted us in Jesus his Son.  It is this loving relationship which grounds and perfects our authentic worship of God.  The love poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit…Continue Reading

Jesus Intercedes For Us Before The Father

June 3, 2014 Pope Francis Comments Off on Jesus Intercedes For Us Before The Father

(Vatican Radio) Despite our many sins, Jesus always intercedes for us before the Father. He shows Him his wounds, through which we are saved. The daily readings at Mass at Casa Santa Marta Tuesday morning gave Pope Francis the opportunity to dwell on the power of intercessory prayer. The readings spoke of Jesus taking leave of his disciples and St. Paul taking leave of the Christian community to return to Jerusalem. Emer McCarthy reports: The people are saddened by St. Paul’s departure from Miletus as were the disciples when Jesus took his leave of them before “going to Gethsemane and beginning His Passion”. The Pope noted that the Lord consoles them and “there is a small sentence of dismissal …that…Continue Reading