(Rome Reports) The pope met with dozens of present and future priests who participated in a course about confession. He reminded them that one becomes a good confessor by learning from life lessons. He shared three tips with them on how to do so:
- That they cultivate prayer to be friends of God. In this way, they will realize that they too are sinners, and will not deal harshly with penitents.
- That they be "men of discernment", and not apply the same prescription to everyone.
- That confession is a moment of formation. Give people advice that brings them closer to God.
POPE FRANCIS
"The confessor, in fact, is called daily to go to the peripheries of evil and sin - this is an ugly periphery! - and his work represents a true pastoral priority."
Before leaving, the pope asked them to always be available to listen to confessions. Do not be priests who "only confess” on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays ", but rather every time someone asks for it, whenever it may be.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA7JclzpLKs
Confession: prayer, discernment, formation
Pope Francis, on getting angry
"I get angry, but I do not bite! Sometimes I get angry when someone does something that is not good, it makes me a little '... But it helps me to stop and think about the times that I have angered others. And I think, and I wonder: Have I angered others? Yes, many times. Then you have no right to be angry. But he this did ... Yes, but if he did something that is bad, that is not good, call him and talk to him like a brother, like brother and sister talk, talk, talk. But without getting angry, because anger is poisonous, it poisons the soul. So often I have seen children frightened. Why? Because parents, or at school, scold them. And when one is angry and scolds it hurts, it hurts: scolding another is like stabbing the soul, it is not good. You got it right? I get angry, yes, sometimes I get angry, but it helps me to think about the times in which I have made others angry, this reassures me a bit ', it clams me a little. Getting angry is something that hurts not only the other person, it hurts you too, it poisons you. And there are people, that you surely know, who have a bitter soul, always bitter, angry. It’s as if they washed their teeth each morning with vinegar they are so angry! People who are like this ... it's a disease. Of course, if there's something I do not like, I get angry a bit '. But this, the habit of getting angry, the habit of shouting, the habit of scolding the other, this is poison! I ask you, to ask yourselves this each in your own language and answer: Was the soul of Jesus, sweet or bitter? [Reply: 'Sweet!']. It was sweet, why? Because when he got angry it did not enter his soul, it was only to correct, and then he returned to peace. 'What are your resolutions for the new year?'. I made one, when I took a bit 'of time to make a retreat: To pray more. Because I realized that the bishops and priests - I am a bishop - must govern the people of God above all with prayer, it is our first service".
--Pope Francis, on 31 Dec 2015, with Pueri Cantores
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Pope:-I-get-angry,-but-do-not-bite-and-%E2%80%9Cif-I-sing-I-sound-like-an-ass-36289.html
Do I listen to my guardian angel?
“Ask yourself this question today: How is my relationship with my guardian angel? Do I listen to him? Do I say good morning to him in the morning? Do I ask him: Watch over me when I sleep?’ Do I speak with him? Do I ask his advice?” ...
“If anyone believes that they can walk on their own, they would be greatly mistaken,” said the pontiff, adding that such people would fall “into that terrible trap of arrogance: Believing we are great, and fully self-sufficient.”
— Pope Francis, Homily, October 2, 2015
http://aleteia.org/2015/10/02/pope-francis-god-has-given-everyone-a-guardian-angel/?utm_campaign=NL_en&utm_source=topnews_newsletter&utm_medium=mail&utm_content=NL_en-10/03/2015
Off-the-cuff remarks in Sarajevo
(Vatican Radio) On Saturday June 6 (2015) Pope Francis was set to deliver a speech during a meeting in Sarajevo with men and women religious. But after listening to first hand testimonies of persecution suffered by people during the recent war and the challenges facing people in the region today he decided to speak off the cuff. This is Vatican Radio's translation of what he said:
I prepared a discourse for you but after hearing the testimony of the priests and woman religious, I feel I need to speak to you off the cuff. They told us about their experiences, good and bad things, so I shall leave my discourse with the Cardinal Archbishop. It’s a good discourse! The witnesses spoke for themselves. This is the memory of your people. A people that has no memory has no future. This is the memory of your fathers and mothers in the Faith. Only three people spoke but behind them are many others who suffered as well.
Dear sisters and brothers, you must not forget your history, not in order to hold grudges, but in order to create peace. Not to consider that history as something strange, but to love as they loved. In your blood, in your vocation, is the vocation and blood of these three martyrs. There is the blood and the vocation of many religious, priests and seminarians. The Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Hebrews, tells us not to forget those who have gone before us, those who have transmitted the Faith to us. These people have transmitted the Faith to you, and taught you how to live the Faith. The Apostle Paul tells us not to forget Jesus Christ, the first martyr. These people have followed in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. We need to restore memory in order to make peace.
A few words are lodged in my heart: one of these is “forgiveness”. A man and a woman who consecrate their lives to the Lord, but don’t know how to forgive, are worth nothing. Forgiving an enemy who says something bad to you, or a sister who is jealous, isn’t difficult. But forgiving someone who kicks you and hurts you, who threatens your life with a gun, that is hard to forgive. Yet they did this, and they tell us we should do the same. Something else that stays with me is the 120 days in the concentration camp. How many times the spirit of the world causes us to forget those who have preceded us with their suffering? Those days in the concentration camp were counted by the minute because every minute, every hour, was torture: living together, filthy, without food or water, in the heat and the cold, and for so long. And we who complain when our tooth hurts, or because we want a TV in our room, or more creature comforts, or we gossip about the superior because the food isn’t good enough. Don’t forget the testimonies of those who went before. Think how much they suffered. Think about the six-litre blood transfusion the first priest received in order to keep him alive. Carry a cross that is worthy of Jesus Christ. Worldly sisters, priests and bishops are caricatures who are worth nothing because they do not remember the martyrs. They don’t remember Jesus Christ crucified who is our only glory.
I think of (the story we were told about) the militiaman who gave a pear to the sister, and the Muslim woman who lives in America now, and who fed the priest. We are all brothers and sisters, even that cruel man. I don’t know what he was thinking, but he felt the Holy Spirit. Maybe he remembered his mother when he gave that pear to the sister. And that Muslim woman who went beyond religious difference, she believed in God. Seek the God of all. We all have the possibility to seek the seeds of Good, because we are all Children of God. Blessed are you who have these witnesses so close to you. Please never forget them. May our lives grow though these memories. I think of the priest whose parents and sister died, he was left alone but he was the fruit of love, marital love. I think of the sister, she too was a daughter. I think of what the Cardinal Archbishop said: what happens to the Garden of Life? Why doesn’t it flourish? Pray for families so that they may flourish with many children and that there may be many vocations. Finally, I would like to tell you that what we have heard is a story of cruelty. Today, in wars around the world, we see so much cruelty. Be the opposite of cruel: be tender, fraternal, forgiving. And carry the cross of Jesus Christ. That’s what Holy Mother Church wants of you: to be small martyrs, small witnesses of the Cross of Christ. May God bless you and please pray for me.
Pope Francis: sanctifying priestly tiredness and priestly rest
Holy Thursday Chrism Mass
2 April 2015
“My hand shall ever abide with him, my arms also shall strengthen him” (Ps 89:21).
This is what the Lord means when he says: “I have found David, my servant; with my holy oil I have anointed him” (v. 20). It is also what our Father thinks whenever he “encounters” a priest. And he goes on to say: “My faithfulness and my steadfast love shall be with him… He shall cry to me, ‘You are my Father, my God and the rock of my salvation”’ (vv. 24, 26).
It is good to enter with the Psalmist into this monologue of our God. He is talking about us, his priests, his pastors. But it is not really a monologue, since he is not the only one speaking. The Father says to Jesus: “Your friends, those who love you, can say to me in a particular way: ‘You are my Father’” (cf. Jn 14:21). If the Lord is so concerned about helping us, it is because he knows that the task of anointing his faithful people is demanding; it can tire us. We experience this in so many ways: from the ordinary fatigue brought on by our daily apostolate to the weariness of sickness, death and even martyrdom.
The tiredness of priests! Do you know how often I think about this weariness which all of you experience? I think about it and I pray about it, often, especially when I am tired myself. I pray for you as you labour amid the people of God entrusted to your care, many of you in lonely and dangerous places. Our weariness, dear priests, is like incense which silently rises up to heaven (cf. Ps 141:2; Rev 8:3-4). Our weariness goes straight to the heart of the Father.
Know that the Blessed Virgin Mary is well aware of this tiredness and she brings it straight to the Lord. As our Mother, she knows when her children are weary, and this is her greatest concern. “Welcome! Rest, my child. We will speak afterwards…”. “Whenever we draw near to her, she says to us: “Am I not here with you, I who am your Mother?” (cf. Evangelii Gaudium, 286). And to her Son she will say, as she did at Cana, “They have no wine” (Jn 2:3).
It can also happen that, whenever we feel weighed down by pastoral work, we can be tempted to rest however we please, as if rest were not itself a gift of God. We must not fall into this temptation. Our weariness is precious in the eyes of Jesus who embraces us and lifts us up. “Come to me, all who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest” (Mt 11:28). Whenever a priest feels dead tired, yet is able to bow down in adoration and say: “Enough for today Lord”, and entrust himself to the Father, he knows that he will not fall but be renewed. The one who anoints God’s faithful people with oil is also himself anointed by the Lord: “He gives you a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit” (cf. Is 61:3).
Let us never forget that a key to fruitful priestly ministry lies in how we rest and in how we look at the way the Lord deals with our weariness. How difficult it is to learn how to rest! This says much about our trust and our ability to realize that that we too are sheep. A few questions can help us in this regard.
Do I know how to rest by accepting the love, gratitude and affection which I receive from God’s faithful people? Or, once my pastoral work is done, do I seek more refined relaxations, not those of the poor but those provided by a consumerist society? Is the Holy Spirit truly “rest in times of weariness” for me, or is he just someone who keeps me busy? Do I know how to seek help from a wise priest? Do I know how to take a break from myself, from the demands I make on myself, from my self-seeking and from my self-absorption? Do I know how to spend time with Jesus, with the Father, with the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph, with my patron saints, and to find rest in their demands, which are easy and light, and in their pleasures, for they delight to be in my company, and in their concerns and standards, which have only to do with the greater glory of God? Do I know how to rest from my enemies under the Lord’s protection? Am I preoccupied with how I should speak and act, or do I entrust myself to the Holy Spirit, who will teach me what I need to say in every situation? Do I worry needlessly, or, like Paul, do I find repose by saying: “I know him in whom I have placed my trust” (2 Tim 1:12)?
Let us return for a moment to what today’s liturgy describes as the work of the priest: to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim freedom to prisoners and healing to the blind, to offer liberation to the downtrodden and to announce the year of the Lord’s favour. Isaiah also mentions consoling the broken-hearted and comforting the afflicted.
These are not easy or purely mechanical jobs, like running an office, building a parish hall or laying out a soccer field for the young of the parish… The tasks of which Jesus speaks call for the ability to show compassion; our hearts are to be “moved” and fully engaged in carrying them out. We are to rejoice with couples who marry; we are to laugh with the children brought to the baptismal font; we are to accompany young fiancés and families; we are to suffer with those who receive the anointing of the sick in their hospital beds; we are to mourn with those burying a loved one… All these emotions can exhaust the heart of a pastor. For us priests, what happens in the lives of our people is not like a news bulletin: we know our people, we sense what is going on in their hearts. Our own heart, sharing in their suffering, feels “com-passion”, is exhausted, broken into a thousand pieces, moved and even “consumed” by the people. Take this, eat this… These are the words the priest of Jesus whispers repeatedly while caring for his faithful people: Take this, eat this; take this, drink this… In this way our priestly life is given over in service, in closeness to the People of God… and this always leaves us weary.
I wish to share with you some forms of weariness on which I have meditated.
There is what we can call “the weariness of people, the weariness of the crowd”. For the Lord, and for us, this can be exhausting – so the Gospel tells us – yet it is a good weariness, a fruitful and joyful exhaustion. The people who followed Jesus, the families which brought their children to him to be blessed, those who had been cured, those who came with their friends, the young people who were so excited about the Master… they did not even leave him time to eat. But the Lord never tired of being with people. On the contrary, he seemed renewed by their presence (cf. Evangelii Gaudium, 11). This weariness in the midst of activity is a grace on which all priests can draw (cf. ibid., 279). And how beautiful it is! People love their priests, they want and need their shepherds! The faithful never leave us without something to do, unless we hide in our offices or go out in our cars wearing sun glasses. There is a good and healthy tiredness. It is the exhaustion of the priest who wears the smell of the sheep… but also smiles the smile of a father rejoicing in his children or grandchildren. It has nothing to do with those who wear expensive cologne and who look at others from afar and from above (cf. ibid., 97). We are the friends of the Bridegroom: this is our joy. If Jesus is shepherding the flock in our midst, we cannot be shepherds who are glum, plaintive or, even worse, bored. The smell of the sheep and the smile of a father…. Weary, yes, but with the joy of those who hear the Lord saying: “Come, O blessed of my Father” (Mt 25:34).
There is also the kind of weariness which we can call “the weariness of enemies”. The devil and his minions never sleep and, since their ears cannot bear to hear the word of God, they work tirelessly to silence that word and to distort it. Confronting them is more wearying. It involves not only doing good, with all the exertion this entails, but also defending the flock and oneself from evil (cf. Evangelii Gaudium, 83). The evil one is far more astute than we are, and he is able to demolish in a moment what it took us years of patience to build up. Here we need to implore the grace to learn how to “offset”: to thwart evil without pulling up the good wheat, or presuming to protect like supermen what the Lord alone can protect. All this helps us not to let our guard down before the depths of iniquity, before the mockery of the wicked. In these situations of weariness, the Lord says to us: “Have courage! I have overcome the world!” (Jn 16:33).
And finally – lest you be wearied by this homily itself! – there is also “weariness of ourselves” (cf. Evangelii Gaudium, 277). This may be the most dangerous weariness of all. That is because the other two kinds come from being exposed, from going out of ourselves to anoint and to do battle (for our job is to care for others). But this third kind of weariness is more “self-referential”: it is dissatisfaction with oneself, but not the dissatisfaction of someone who directly confronts himself and serenely acknowledges his sinfulness and his need for God’s mercy; such people ask for help and then move forward. Here we are speaking of a weariness associated with “wanting yet not wanting”, having given up everything but continuing to yearn for the fleshpots of Egypt, toying with the illusion of being something different. I like to call this kind of weariness “flirting with spiritual worldliness”. When we are alone, we realize how many areas of our life are steeped in this worldliness, so much so that we may feel that it can never be completely washed away. This can be a dangerous kind of weariness. The Book of Revelation shows us the reason for this weariness: “You have borne up for my sake and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first” (Rev 2:3-4). Only love gives true rest. What is not loved becomes tiresome, and in time, brings about a harmful weariness.
The most profound and mysterious image of how the Lord deals with our pastoral tiredness is that, “having loved his own, he loved them to the end” (Jn 13:1): the scene of his washing the feet of his disciples. I like to think of this as the cleansing of discipleship. The Lord purifies the path of discipleship itself. He “gets involved” with us (Evangelii Gaudium, 24), becomes personally responsible for removing every stain, all that grimy, worldly smog which clings to us from the journey we make in his name.
From our feet, we can tell how the rest of our body is doing. The way we follow the Lord reveals how our heart is faring. The wounds on our feet, our sprains and our weariness, are signs of how we have followed him, of the paths we have taken in seeking the lost sheep and in leading the flock to green pastures and still waters (cf. ibid., 270). The Lord washes us and cleanses us of all the dirt our feet have accumulated in following him. This is something holy. Do not let your feet remain dirty. Like battle wounds, the Lord kisses them and washes away the grime of our labours.
Our discipleship itself is cleansed by Jesus, so that we can rightly feel “joyful”, “fulfilled”, “free of fear and guilt”, and impelled to go out “even to the ends of the earth, to every periphery”. In this way we can bring the good news to the most abandoned, knowing that “he is with us always, even to the end of the world”. Let us learn how to be weary, but weary in the best of ways!
Good Friday with Pope Francis
3 April 2015
Colosseum
O Crucified and victorious Christ.
Your Way of the Cross is the synthesis of your life, the icon of your obedience to the Father’s will, it is the fulfillment of your infinite love for us sinners.
It is the ordeal of your mission.
It is the definitive fulfillment of the revelation and history of salvation.
The weight of your cross frees us from all of our burdens.
In your obedience to the Father’s will, we notice our rebellion and disobedience.
In you, sold, betrayed, crucified by your people and those dear to you, we see our daily betrayals and our habitual unfaithfulness.
In your innocence, immaculate lamb, we see our guilt.
In your face, that has been slapped, spat on and disfigured, we see the brutality of our sins.
In the cruelty of your Passion, we see the cruelty of our heart and our actions.
In your feeling abandoned, we see all those who have been abandoned by their family, by society, by people’s attention and solidarity.
In your sacrificed, lacerated and tormented body, we see the body of our brothers and sisters abandoned along the roadside, disfigured by our negligence and our indifference.
In you thirst Lord, we see the thirst of your merciful Father who wanted — through you — to embrace, forgive and save all of humanity.
In you, Divine Love, we still see today our brothers and sisters who are persecuted, decapitated and crucified for their faith in you, in front of our eyes or often with our silent complicity.
Let the feelings of faith, hope, charity and sorrow for our sins be ingrained in our hearts, Lord, and lead us to repent for our sins that have crucified you.
Lead us to transform our conversion made of words into a conversion of life and deeds.
Lead us to safeguard inside of us a vivid memory of your disfigured face, so as to never forget the enormous price you paid to free us.
Crucified Jesus, strengthen the faith in us so that it not give in before temptations, rekindle hope in us, so that it not get lost by following the world’s seductions.
Protect charity in us, so that it not be deceived by corruption and worldliness.
Teach us that the cross is the way to resurrection.
Teach us that Good Friday is the path towards the Easter of light.
Teach us that God never forgets any of his children and he never tires of forgiving us and embracing us with his infinite mercy.
But also teach us to not get tired of asking Him for forgiveness and to believe in the Father’s limitless mercy.
Pope Francis' devotion to St Joseph -- a detail
"I would like to tell you something very personal. I have great love for Saint Joseph, because he is a man of silence and strength. On my table I have an image of Saint Joseph sleeping. Even when he is asleep, he is taking care of the Church! Yes! We know that he can do that. So when I have a problem, a difficulty, I write a little note and I put it underneath Saint Joseph, so that he can dream about it! In other words I tell him: pray for this problem!"
Pope Francis, Meeting with Families, Mall of Asia Arena, Manila,
Friday, 16 January 2015
Pope Francis on Benedict XVI in the Vatican
There is something that qualifies my relation with Benedict: I love him so much. I’ve always loved him. For me he is a man of God, a humble man, a man who prays. I was so happy when he was elected Pope. Also when he gave his resignation, it was for me an example of greatness! A great man. Only a great man does this! A man of God is a man of prayer. He now lives in the Vatican, and some say to me: but how can this be? Two Popes in the Vatican! But, doesn’t he encumber you? Doesn’t he make a revolution against you? All these things that are said, no? I’ve found a phrase to say this: “It’s like having a grandfather at home,” but a wise grandfather. When a grandfather is at home with a family, he is venerated, loved, listened to. He is a man of prudence! He doesn’t meddle. I’ve said to him so many times: “Holiness, you receive, make your life, come with us.” He came for the inauguration and blessing of the statue of Saint Michael. There, that phrase says everything. For me he is like having a grandfather at home: my father. If I had a difficulty or something I didn’t understand, I would telephone him: “But, tell me, can I do that?” And when I went to talk about that big problem of Vatileaks, he told me everything with a simplicity … at the service. It’s something I don’t know if you know, I think so, but I’m not sure: when he spoke to us, in his farewell address on February 28, he said to us: “The next Pope is among you: I promise obedience to him.” But he’s a great man, he is a great!
(29 July 2013)
The beauty of the Orthodox liturgy
POPE FRANCIS (during plane Q&A with journalists) on the LITURGY OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH: "They have conserved that pristine liturgy, no? So beautiful. WE [i.e., the Latin Christians] have LOST A BIT THE SENSE OF ADORATION, they conserve it, they praise God, they adore God, they sing, time does not count. The center is God and that is A RICHNESS THAT I WOULD LIKE TO EMPHASIZE ON THIS OCCASION as you ask me this question."
Young people, have big hearts
"I can see there are many young people in the Square…is this true?” Pope Francis said to the crowd of faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square today. “Are there many young people? Where are they?” the Pope asked, triggering a wave of applause and cheers among the young people present. “Your lives are only just beginning and so I ask you this: Have you thought about the talents God has given you? Have you thought about how to use them to serve others? Don’t bury your talents, set your sights on great ideals that will allow your talents to grow! Life was not given to us for us to guard it jealously and keep it to ourselves, but to give it to others. Dear youth, you have big hearts, don’t be afraid to dream of great things.”
http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/the-vatican/detail/articolo/papa-el-papa-pope-ior-chiesa-iglesia-church-24293/
Faith cannot be negotiated
Pope: "Faith cannot be negotiated, it requires courageous testimony"
VATICAN INSIDER STAFF
http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/the-vatican/detail/articolo/23861/
Courageously testifying faith in its entirety: this is the invitation Pope Francis sent out during the mass he presided in St. Martha's House this morning. The Pope stressed that although some live faith superficially, martyrs of the Church do exist in today's world. The mass was attended by an Argentinean family and some nuns from the Daughters of St. Camillus and the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity.
In his homily -- Vatican Radio reports -- the Pope commented on the reading in which Peter and John courageously testify the faith before Jewish leaders despite the threats made against them, while in the Gospel, the Risen Jesus condemns the apostles' disbelief. So the Pope asked this question: "How is our faith going? Is it strong? Or is it sometimes a little bit superficial?" When the going gets tough "are we courageous like Peter or a bit lukewarm?" Peter -- he pointed out -- did not keep his faith on the low and did not make any compromises because "faith cannot be negotiated." "Throughout history, the people of God have always been tempted to chop a piece off faith," the Pope said. More or less everyone is tempted "not to be too rigid." "But when we start to cut down on faith, to negotiate faith, selling it to the highest bidder -- he emphasised -- we take the path of apostasy, we begin to lack faith, lack faith in the Lord."
Pope Francis emphasised that the Church has had many martyrs throughout its history, "because to find martyrs one doesn't have to go down to the catacombs or to the Colosseum: martyrs are alive now, in many countries. Christians -- Pope Francis stated "are persecuted for their faith. In some countries they cannot wear a cross: if they do so they are punished. Today, in the 21st century, our Church is a Church of martyrs."
http://zh.radiovaticana.va/news/2013/04/06/
教宗方濟各：信德不能妥協，因此教會至今仍是殉道者的教會
（梵蒂岡電台訊）教宗方濟各4月6日在聖瑪爾大之家的小堂主持了復活八日慶期第七天的彌撒。阿根廷一個家庭，以及聖卡米洛修女會和善牧修女會的一些修女參加了禮儀。教宗在彌撒中表示：基督徒應該勇敢見証信德的完整性。
教宗在簡短的彌撒講道中，講解了復活八日慶期第七天的彌撒讀經和福音。讀經記載了聖伯多祿和聖若望不畏恐嚇，在猶太首領面前勇敢見証信仰；而福音則講述了復活的耶穌責斥那些不相信見証他復活的人。
教宗方濟各問道：“我們的信德如何？堅固嗎？或者有時候有點薄弱呢？”當困難來臨時，“我們是否像聖伯多祿一樣勇敢，或者有些遲疑不定呢？”教宗說，伯多祿不掩蓋信仰，也沒有妥協讓步，“因為信德是不容討價還價的”。然而“在天主子民的歷史中，常常有削減信德的誘惑”、“隨大流”的誘惑，以及“不要過於剛直”的誘惑。教宗強調說“當我們開始削減信德時，為信德討價還價時，在某種程度上我們是在向出高價者出賣信仰，我們也開始走上了叛教的道路，背叛上主的道路”。
教宗進一步指出：“聖伯多祿和聖若望的榜樣給了我們力量，但是在教會歷史中有許多的殉道者，直至今日也是如此，“我們並不需要到羅馬的地下墓穴或羅馬斗獸場去尋找殉道者，因為殉道者此刻還活著，在許多國家都有。教宗方濟各說，基督徒因信仰的緣故遭受迫害。一些國家不允許信徒佩戴十字架，若有人這麼做會受到懲罰。在二十一世紀的今天，我們的教會仍然是一個殉道者的教會”，仍然屬於那些像聖伯多祿和聖若望一樣宣稱“我們不得不說我們所見所聞”的人們。教宗繼續說，是這些殉道者“給了我們力量”，讓我們用生命見証“我們所領受的信仰，這信仰是上主賜給祂所有子民的禮物”。
教宗明確指出：“我們不能憑自己做這事，因為這是一個恩寵，信德的恩寵。我們應該每日呼求上主說：‘主啊，求檷保護我的信德，讓它成長，願我的信德堅固、勇敢，並在我必須如同聖伯多祿和聖若望一樣公開信德時幫助我，賜我勇氣’”。
教宗最后說，在今天，美好的祈禱詞或許是這樣的：願上主幫助我們守護信德，使它成長，讓我們成為有信德的人。
Conservative?
Interviewer: What do you think about the election of the new Pope?
Me (Fr Carlos Martins): I am just delighted and grateful to God that the Church once again has a man to fulfill the Office of Peter. I look forward to the opportunity to receive his ministry and to grow in my love of him.
Interviewer: What do you think about his being so conservative?
Me: I think he is a pope of the Catholic Church.
Interviewer: Can you explain that?
Me: I think he has proven himself as a priest, teacher, and governor, and because of that his peers, the Cardinals, have elected him to oversee them and the entire Church.
Interviewer: But do you think that he will take the Church in a new direction, like many people have been calling for?
Me: Like what?
Interviewer: Well, people that think the Catholic Church should accept contraception, accept that gay people can marry, and become more liberal in its outlook?
Me: No, Pope Francis will not change the Church’s stance on those issues.
Interviewer: Why?
Me: Because that question is equivalent to asking me whether I think Jesus Christ is a liar. Jesus is not a liar, but the Truth itself (John 14:6). Jesus Christ never wrote a word. But he did found a Church. This is clear in Matthew 16:18 and 1 Timothy 3:15. He also guaranteed that the Church would be free of error in its teaching when He promised He would send it the Holy Spirit: “When the Spirit of truth comes he will guide you to all truth.” (John 16:13) Thus, if the Church, founded by the Truth Himself, is led by the Spirit of Truth, then the “business” of the Church is to be a teacher of the truth. To believe that the Church is free to change the truth—to make people feel good, to get with the times, to be inclusive of democratic opinion, etc.—is to make Jesus into a liar.
Interviewer: But is there no room for disagreement, for other opinions?
Me: Not in those matters where the Church has already declared the truth. For the Church to stop its proclamation of what it knows to be true is to ask it to cease being what it is. It would be the equivalent of asking Ford to stop selling Fords and to sell Chryslers instead. Or to ask McDonald’s to start selling Whoppers in place of its Big Macs. It is not going to happen, because in doing so, the entity in question would cease to be the very thing that it is. If Ford starts selling Chryslers, you might as well order Ford’s coffin. For the Church to operate with any other motive than to be God’s mouthpiece of truth, then it is not the Church of Jesus Christ.
Interviewer: [long silence … I could tell he followed my argument but the answer went in a direction he did not anticipate and now did not know what to ask.]
Me: Look, name for me an institution or corporation, other than the Catholic Church, that has existed for 2000 years and has never changed its mission statement, its manner of governance, or its brand, and yet has thrived over its opponents? Or, to place it in corporate lingo, name for me an institution that has maintained a sustained competitive advantage over every one of its opponents for 20 centuries?
Interviewer: [Provided no answer]
Me: I can’t either. Then I think that the function and formula of the Catholic Church is a winner, don’t you? Why would we change it?
Interviewer: [No answer and now wearing a grin]
Me: The issue of belief in the Holy Eucharist, or lack thereof, among Christians, illustrates this well. For 1,500 years every single Christian church in the world believed in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. Not just symbolically, but substantially. Literally. Now this was a most fundamental belief—in fact, the most fundamental—about what it meant to be Church. When the Protestant and Anglican revolt happened 500 years ago that ceased being a belief for those groups. Now in that change we are not talking about changing the wearing of a particular color during a liturgical season, but something intrinsic to the very identity of the Church: the Body and Blood of the Lord Himself, which in the 6th chapter of John’s Gospel, Christ states one needs to eat and drink of, in order to possess salvation. To make that change, like the Protestants and Anglicans did, cannot be done without their simultaneously making a statement about Jesus Christ: that He is a liar who, contrary to what He promised, allowed the Church to believe and operate in error for its first 1,500 years.
I was thanked for the interview and the journalist left. It was never published.
-- http://www.courageouspriest.com/jesus-liar?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+courageouspriest%2FqTKF+%28Courageous+Priest%29
Cardinal Bergoglio: what the Church needs
The archbishop of Havana, Cardinal Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino, on Saturday read from a document given him by Pope Francis, outlining the speech he gave during the pre-conclave General Congregation meetings of the Cardinals.Cardinal Ortega had been so impressed with the speech he asked the then-Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio for a copy of the intervention.Cardinal Ortega received permission from Pope Francis to share the information.
Here is an unofficial translation of the text
Evangelizing implies Apostolic Zeal
1. - Evangelizing pre-supposes a desire in the Church to come out of herself. The Church is called to come out of herself and to go to the peripheries, not only geographically, but also the existential peripheries: the mystery of sin, of pain, of injustice, of ignorance and indifference to religion, of intellectual currents, and of all misery.
2. - When the Church does not come out of herself to evangelize, she becomes self-referential and then gets sick. (cf. The deformed woman of the Gospel). The evils that, over time, happen in ecclesial institutions have their root in self-referentiality and a kind of theological narcissism. In Revelation, Jesus says that he is at the door and knocks. Obviously, the text refers to his knocking from the outside in order to enter but I think about the times in which Jesus knocks from within so that we will let him come out. The self-referential Church keeps Jesus Christ within herself and does not let him out.
3. - When the Church is self-referential, inadvertently, she believes she has her own light; she ceases to be the mysterium lunae and gives way to that very serious evil, spiritual worldliness (which according to De Lubac, is the worst evil that can befall the Church). It lives to give glory only to one another.
Put simply, there are two images of the Church: Church which evangelizes and comes out of herself, the Dei Verbum religiose audiens et fidente proclamans; and the worldly Church, living within herself, of herself, for herself. This should shed light on the possible changes and reforms which must be done for the salvation of souls.
4. - Thinking of the next Pope: He must be a man who, from the contemplation and adoration of Jesus Christ, helps the Church to go out to the existential peripheries, that helps her to be the fruitful mother, who gains life from “the sweet and comforting joy of evangelizing.”
--http://en.radiovaticana.va/m_articolo.asp?c=677269