miniZibaldone

You can become a neighbor to anyone you meet in need, and you will be so if you have compassion in your heart, that is, if you have that capacity to suffer with the  other. From the general audience And here the parable offers us a first teaching: it is not automatic that one who frequents God’s house and knows His mercy is able to love his neighbor. It is not  automatic! One can know the whole Bible, one can know all the liturgical rubrics, one can know all the theology, but from knowing, loving is not automatic: loving  has another way, intelligence is needed but also something more … The priest and the Levite saw, but ignored; looked but did not provide. Yet true worship does not  exist if it is not translated into service to one’s neighbor. Let us never forget it: in the face of the suffering of so many people destroyed by hunger, by violence  and by injustices, we cannot remain spectators. What does it mean to ignore man’s suffering? It means to ignor...

To look continually at the People of God saves us from certain slogans that are beautiful phrases but which do not succeed in supporting the life of our communities. From a message What does it mean for us, Pastors, that the laity is working in public life? It means to seek a way to be able to encourage, accompany and stimulate all their  attempts and efforts, which already today are carried out, to keep hope and faith alive in a world full of contradictions especially for the poorest, especially with  the poorest. It means that, as Pastors, we must be committed in the midst of our people and, with our people, sustain their faith and their hope – opening doors,  working with them, dreaming with them, reflecting and especially praying with them. We need to recognize the city – and hence all the areas where the life of our  people unfolds – from a contemplative look, a look of faith that discovers the God that dwells in their homes, in their streets, in their squ...

To look continually at the People of God saves us from certain slogans that are beautiful phrases but which do not succeed in supporting the life of our communities. From a message To look at the Holy People faithful of God and to feel an integral part of them positions us in life and, therefore, in the subjects we address in a different way.  This helps us not to fall into reflections that can be very good in themselves but that end up by functionalizing the life of our people or theorizing so much that  speculation ends by killing action. To look continually at the People of God saves us from certain slogans that are beautiful phrases but which do not succeed in  supporting the life of our communities. [...]  To look at the People of God is to remember that we all entered the Church as lay people. The first Sacrament, the one that seals our identity forever and of which  we should always be proud is Baptism. By it and with the anointing of the Holy Spiri...

T he biggest threat to growing up well comes from thinking that no one cares about us - and that is always a sadness - from feeling that we are all alone. The Lord, on the other hand, is always with you and he is happy to be with you. From the homily Dear young friends, at this stage in your lives you have a growing desire to demonstrate and receive affection. The Lord, if you let him teach you, will show you how to make tenderness and affection even more beautiful. He will guide your hearts to “love without being possessive”, to love others without trying to own them but letting them be free. Because love is free! There is no true love that is not free! The freedom that the Lord gives to us is his love for us. He is always close to each one of us. There is always a temptation to let our affections be tainted by an instinctive desire to “have to have” what we find pleasing; this is selfishness. Our consumerist culture reinforces this tendency. Yet when we hold on too tightly to so...

It’s good for the Christian heart to memorize my journey, my personal journey: just like the Lord who accompanied me up to here and held me by the hand. From the homily We must look back to see how God has saved us, follow – with our hearts and minds – this  path with its memories and in this way arrive at Jesus’s side. It’s the same Jesus, who in the greatest moment of his life – Holy Thursday and Good Friday, in the (Last) Supper - gave us his Body and his Blood and said to us ‘Do this in memory of me.’ In memory of Jesus. To remember how God saved us.... And the times I said to our Lord: No! Go away! I don’t want you! Our Lord respects (our wishes).  He is respectful. But we must memorize our past and be a memorial of our own lives and our own journey.  We must look back and remember and do it often. ‘At that time God gave me this grace and I replied in that way, I did this or that… He accompanied me.’ And in this way we arrive at a new encounter, an encounter of...

Therefore, by entering in relation with the sinful woman, Jesus puts an end to that condition of isolation to which the merciless judgment of the Pharisee and of his fellow citizens, who insulted her, condemned her From the general audience The Pharisee cannot conceive that Jesus lets Himself be “contaminated” by sinners, that is how they thought. He thought that if was really a prophet, He should recognize them and keep them at a distance, so as not to be stained, as if they were lepers.  This attitude is typical of a certain way of understanding religion, and it is motivated by the fact that God and sin are radically opposed. However, the Word of God teaches how to distinguish between sin and the sinner: one must not descend to compromises with sin, while sinners – that is, all of us! – are like the sick that are cured, and to cure them the doctor must come close to them, visit and touch them. And, of course, to be cured, the sick person must admit that he is in need of a ...

April 2016 Issue Contents Editorial A Boundless Question Letters Edited by Paola Bergamini Close up Latin America The Revolution by Alessandra Stoppa Time to Learn by Alessandra Stoppa Belgium Brussels The Moment After by Luca Fiore Only Mercy Is the True Reaction to Evil by Julián Carrón Witnesses Syria Return to Damascus by Luca Fiore Year of Mercy Witnesses The Happy Life of Jean by Maurizio Vitali

Humanum : Issues in Family, Culture & Science Spring 2013 - A Mother's Work Contents EDITORIAL Stratford Caldecott: Editorial: A Mother's Work FEATURE ARTICLES Margaret Harper McCarthy: A Mother's Work Is Never Done! Mary Eberstadt: The Real Trouble with Day Care WITNESS Nicky Rowdon: Witness: Motherhood – All Is Grace BOOK REVIEWS Micheala Van Versendaal: Modern Woman Crittenden, Danielle, What Our Mothers Didn’t Tell Us: Why Happiness Eludes the Modern Woman (Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 1999, 191 pages). Carla Galdo: The Mother’s Mission Clarkson, Sally, The Mission of Motherhood: Touching Your Child’s Heart for Eternity (Colorado Springs, CO: Waterbrook Press, 2004, 224 pages). Stephen McGinley: Most Important Job in the World Crittenden, Ann, The Price of Motherhood: Why the Most Important Job in the World is Still the Least Valued (Picador, 2010, 322 pages). Catherine Sienkiewicz: Ru...

The humble prayer we can say is: ‘Father, lead me to Jesus, help me to know Jesus’ and the Father will send the Spirit to open our hearts and lead us to Him. From the homily The hardness of the Scribes and Pharisees’ hearts, the Pope said, “is a drama which continues all the way to Calvary.” the Pope said, noting various examples of those who witnessed Jesus’ miracles, but refused to believe. And this, the Pope explained, has its consequences, “because they are orphans who have denied their Father.”  “These doctors of the law,” he highlighted, “had closed hearts, they thought they were their own masters but in fact they were orphans because they had no relationship with the Father. They talked about their fathers, Abraham and the patriarchs, but these were distant figures and in their hearts they were orphans because they would not let themselves be drawn to the Father.”   [link]

The Eucharist Alexander Schmemann   Introduction to Liturgical Theology by Alexander Schmemann   Church World Mission by Alexander Schmemann   Ultimate Questions: An Anthology of Modern Russian Religious Thought by Alexander Schmemann    The Journals of Alexander Schmemann

The Christian life is really quite easy: Jesus is the door; He guides us along the Way, and we know His voice in the Beatitudes, in the works of mercy and when it teaches us to say ‘Father’ From the homily Pope Francis went on to note the simplicity of the language with which Jesus addresses His teachings to the people – a simplicity of imagery that conveys profound truths in a powerful way. “Jesus,” he said, “always spoke to people with simple images: all those people knew what a shepherd’s life was like, because they saw it every day.” They also understood, therefore, what it meant to say, “you enter only through the gate of the sheep pen,” and that anyone trying to get in by any other way was up to no good: “The Lord thus clearly says: you cannot enter eternal life by any entryway that is not the door – that is not Jesus. He is the door of our life – and not only of eternal life, but also of our daily lives. Any decision I take, I take either in the name of Jesus, passing by ...

Dear Life Alice Munro  Stories of the Old South Patrick Samway  Small Change Yehudit Hendel  

“I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of my hand.” Who can speak like that? Only Jesus, because the “hand” of Jesus is one with the “hand” of the Father, and the Father is “greater than all.” From Regina Caeli These words convey a sense of absolute security and immense tenderness. Our life is completely safe in the hands of Jesus and the Father, Who are one, one love, one mercy, revealed once and for all in the sacrifice of the Cross. To save the lost sheep that is all of us, the Pastor became Lamb and let Himself be sacrificed to take upon Himself, and take away, the sin of the world. In this way, He has given us life, but life in abundance (cf. Jn 10:10)! This mystery is renewed, in an always surprising humility, the Eucharistic table. That’s where the sheep gather to feed themselves; that’s where they become one single [thing], among themselves and with the Good Shepherd.   [full text]

H:eS1f, H:cS1f, H:CS2b, H:fS3b, H:fS3f Men and Saints Charles Peguy  An Armenian Sketchbook by Vasily Grossman gratis Robert Chandler The Road by Vasily Grossman   Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman   Everything Flows by Vasily Grossman Temporal and Eternal  by Charles Peguy The Portal of the Mystery of Hope by Charles Peguy

Docility to the Spirit is a source of joy. From a homily "In days past, the Church has shown us how there can be a drama of resisting the Spirit: closed, hard, foolish hearts resisting the Spirit. We’ve seen things - the healing of the lame man by Peter and John at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple; the words and the great things Stephen was doing … but they were closed off to these signs of the Spirit and resisted the Spirit. They were seeking to justify this resistance with a so-called fidelity to the law, that is, to the letter of the law."  In referring to the reading, Pope Francis said that "the Church proposes the opposite: no resistance to the Spirit, but docility to the Spirit, which is precisely the attitude of the Christian.” He continued: “Being docile to the Spirit, this docility is the yes that the Spirit may act and move forward to build up the Church.”   [link]   From an address We too are living in a time of martyrdom, and in the midst of a culture...

Thomist Realism Etienne Gilson  Christian Philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas by Etienne Gilson   The Spirit of Thomism by Etienne Gilson   Methodical Realism by Etienne Gilson Three Quests in Philosophy by Etienne Gilson Being and Some Philosophers by Etienne Gilson The Philosopher and Theology by Etienne Gilson The Spirit of Medieval Philosophy by Etienne Gilson The Unity of Philosophical Experience by Etienne Gilson  

The Church is not a community of the perfect, but of disciples on the way, who follow the Lord because they recognize themselves sinners and in need of His forgiveness. Therefore, the Christian life is a school of humility that is open to grace. From the general audience If the Pharisees see only sinners in the guests and refuse to sit with them, Jesus on the contrary reminds them that they are also God’s table companions. So, to sit at table with Jesus means to be transformed and saved by Him. Jesus’ table is twofold in the Christian community: there is the table of the Word and there is the table of the Eucharist (cf. Dei Verbum, 21). These are the medicines with which the Divine Doctor heals and nourishes us. With the first – the Word – He reveals Himself and invites us to a dialogue between friends. Jesus was not afraid to dialogue with sinners, publicans, prostitutes. No, he was not afraid; He loved all! His Word penetrates us and, as a scalpel, operates in depth to free us f...

H:cStb, H:bGKC, H:eS3b Tea Time for the Traditionally Built Alexander McCall Smith  Saturday by Ian McEwan   Enduring Love by Ian McEwan The World According to Bertie by Alexander McCall Smith Love Over Scotland by Alexander McCall Smith The Lost Art of Gratitude by Alexander McCall Smith

L:kLB3, H:aStb, H:dSt, H:aSt, H:cS2b The First Man Albert Camus The Plague by Albert Camus  The Stranger by Albert Camus Lyrical and Critical Essays by Albert Camus The Diary of a Country Priest by Georges Bernanos Monsieur Ouine by Georges Bernanos The Impostor by Georges Bernanos Under Satan's Sky by Georges Bernanos gratis Giles Bernanos

Persecution, I would say, is the daily bread of the Church. Jesus said so himself. From the homily Pope Francis said “there are bloody persecutions, like being torn to pieces by wild beasts to the delight of the audience in the stands or being blown up by a bomb at the end of Mass” and there are “velvet-gloved” persecutions that are “cloaked in politeness": the ones that marginalize you, take your job away if you fail to adapt to laws that "go against God the Creator."  Pope Francis pointed out that the martyrdom of Stephen sparked a cruel anti-Christian persecution in Jerusalem similar to the persecution suffered by those who are not free to profess their faith in Jesus today. “But – he noted - there is another persecution which is not much spoken about," a persecution "camouflaged by culture, by  modernity, by progress in disguise":   "It is a persecution I would 'ironically describe as polite” he said.   [link]

Let us ask the Lord to look to the large and to the small follies of our hearts with the same tenderness, to caress us gently and to say to us: ‘Oh you foolish and  slow of heart’ and begin to explain things to us. From the homily Pope Francis said: "It hurts when I read that small passage from the Gospel of Matthew, when Judas, who has repented, goes to the priests and says: ‘I have sinned'  and wants to give ... and gives them the coins. ‘Who cares! - they say to him: it’s none of our business!’ They closed their hearts before this poor, repentant man,  who did not know what to do. And he went and hanged himself. And what did they do when Judas hanged himself? They spoke amongst themselves and said: 'Is he a poor  man? No! These coins are the price of blood, they must not enter the temple... and they referred to this rule and to that… The doctors of the letter. " The life of a person did not matter to them, the Pope observed, they did not care about Judas’ re...

The Master and Margarita Mikhail Bulgakov Cold Mountain Charles Frazier Babycakes Armistead Maupin The Night Listener Armistead Maupin  Girl With Curious Hair David Foster Wallace  

Dear Brothers and Sisters: In our continuing catechesis for this Holy Year of Mercy, we now consider the practice of almsgiving. Our English word “alms” comes from an ancient Greek word itself meaning “mercy”. Giving “alms” is more than simply giving money; it is a matter of heart-felt concern for those in genuine need. The Bible speaks of almsgiving as a God-given duty, which must be carried out freely and joyfully, but also with a sense of responsibility. We need to distinguish the truly poor from the various forms of begging which do not help them. Jesus himself encourages a quiet and sincere concern for others who need our help, but warns against acts of charity performed to gain the approval of others. In our efforts to be merciful, let us take to heart his words: “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35).   [full text]

Canti Giacomo Leopardi     The Victories of Love and Other Poems Coventry Patmore