miniZibaldone

Patience in our work, in our sufferings...The Kingdom of God grows and what must we do? Guard it. Grow through hope and guard that hope. Because we have been saved through hope. From the audience The Kingdom of God is not a ‘show’ religion: one that is always seeking new things, revelations, messages … God spoke through Jesus Christ: this is the last Word of God. The other one is like fireworks that lit you up for a moment and then what is left behind?  Nothing. There is no growth, there is no light, there’s nothing: just an instant. And we have been tempted many times by this entertainment religion of seeking things that are extraneous to the revelation, to the meekness of the Kingdom of God that is among us and which grows. For this is not about hope, this is about the desire to have something in our hands. Our salvation comes from hope, the hope of a man who sows the seed or the woman who makes the bread, mixing yeast and flour: a hope that grows. Instead, this artificial...

Christians are not tired and lazy in awaiting the final encounter with the Lord, but they go to encounter Him every day, recognizing His face in that of the many individuals who ask for help. From the audience Today we reflect on this word of Jesus: “I was a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me” (Matthew 25:35-36)...  [L]et us not fall into the trap of withdrawing into ourselves, indifferent to the needs of brothers and concerned only about our interests. It is precisely in the measure in which we open to others that life becomes fecund, societies re-acquire peace and individuals recover their full dignity. And do not forget that lady, do not forget that migrant who stank and do not forget the driver whose soul was changed by the migrant.   [full text]

We are being asked not to tire of keeping the key message of the faith front and centre: the Lord is risen.  Nothing is more important;  nothing is clearer or more  relevant than this.  Everything in the faith becomes beautiful when linked to this centrepiece. From the homily It is by loving that the God-who-is-Love is proclaimed to the world: not by the power of convincing, never by imposing the truth, no less by growing fixated on some  religious or moral obligation.  God is proclaimed through the encounter between persons, with care for their history and their journey.  Because the Lord is not an  idea, but a living person: his message is passed on through simple and authentic testimony, by listening and welcoming, with joy which radiates outward.  We do not  speak convincingly about Jesus when we are sad; nor do we transmit God’s beauty merely with beautiful homilies.  The God of hope is proclaimed by living out the  ...

In fact, sometimes our exhaustion is caused by having put our trust in things that are not essential, because we have distanced ourselves from what is really valuable in life. The Lord teaches us not to be afraid to follow Him, because the hope we place in Him will not be disappointed. From the audience Jesus projects to His disciples a path of knowledge and of imitation. Jesus is not a teacher who imposes on others with severity burdens that He does not carry: this was the accusation He made to the Doctors of the Law. He addresses the humble and little ones, the poor and the needy because He Himself made Himself little and humble. He understands the poor and the suffering because He Himself is poor and tried by sorrows. Jesus did not follow an easy way to save humanity; on the contrary, his path was painful and difficult. As the Letter to the Philippians reminds: “He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross” (2:8). The yoke that the poor and the oppr...

Upon entering the gate of Jesus, the door of faith and of the Gospel, we can get out from worldly attitudes, bad habits, by selfishness and by our own closures. When there is contact with the love and mercy of God, there is a real change. And our life is illuminated by the light of the Holy Spirit: an inextinguishable light! From the angelus He leads us into fellowship with the Father, where we find love, understanding and protection. But why is this door narrow? One can ask. Why is it narrow?  It is a narrow door not because it is oppressive – no, but because it asks us to restrict and limit our pride and our fear, to open ourselves with humble and trusting heart to Him, recognizing ourselves as sinners, in need of His forgiveness. For this [reason], it is narrow: to contain our pride, which bloats us.  The door of God’s mercy is narrow but always wide open, wide open for everyone! God has no favorites, but always welcomes everyone, without distinction.  A door, th...

For Jesus to feel mercy was equivalent to sharing in the sadness of the one He met but at the same time working personally to transform it into joy. From the audience Among the many aspects of mercy, there is one that consists in feeling compassion or being moved in face of those who are in need of love. Pietas – piety – is a  concept that was present in the Greco-Roman world, where, however, it indicated an act of submission to superiors: first of all the devotion owed to the gods, then  the respect of children for their parents, especially the elderly. Today, instead, we must be careful not to identify piety with that rather defused pietism, which  is only a superficial emotion and offends the other’s dignity. In the same way, this piety is not to be confused either with the compassion we feel for the animals  that live with us, and remaining indifferent in face of the sufferings of brothers. How often do we see people attached to cats and dogs, who then leav...

From the general audience At times, we too can live a sort of exile, when loneliness, suffering, and death make us think that God has abandoned us. How many times we have heard this word:  “God has forgotten me”: they are persons that suffer and feel themselves abandoned. Instead, how many of our brothers are living at this time a real and tragic  situation of exile, far from their homeland, with their eyes still beholding the ruin of their homes, with fear in their heart and often, unfortunately, sorrow for  the loss of dear persons! In such cases, one can ask oneself: where is God? How is it possible that so much suffering can befall men, women and innocent children?  And when they seek to enter somewhere they see the doors close. And they are there, at the border because so many doors and so many hearts are closed. The immigrants  of today that suffer cold, are without food and cannot enter, do not experience hospitality. It pleases me so much when I see ...

From the homily The serpent, the Pontiff clarified, is a “symbol of sin, the serpent that kills. But the serpent that saves: this is the mystery of Christ”. St Paul, the Pope  recalled, also spoke of this mystery. “He said that Jesus emptied himself, humbled himself, annihilated himself in order to save us”. Moreover, the Apostle offers an  even stronger expression: “he became sin”. Thus, using the biblical symbol, we could say: “he became serpent”. This, Francis said, is “the prophetic message of  today’s readings. The Son of man, who like a serpent ‘became sin’, is lifted up in order to save us”. [...]  This, the Pope concluded, is “the history of our redemption”, this is “the history of God’s love”. This is why, “if we want to know the love of God, we look at the  Crucifix”. There we meet “a man who is tortured, died, who is God, ‘emptied of divinity’, tarnished, who ‘became sin’”. Then came the final prayer: “May the Lord  grant us the grace to ...

Think today about our life, about the problems we have, and ask for the grace to entrust ourselves to God’s hands ... The only thing that gives me some light — not to  the mind, to the soul — is Jesus in Gethsemane: ‘Father, not this cup. But your will be done’. From the homily A homeless man who died of exposure in Rome, four sisters of Mother Teresa’s congregation killed in Yemen, the rising incidence of illness in “Terra dei Fuochi” — an  area in southern Italy plagued with toxic waste — and refugees abandoned in the cold. These recent tragedies echoed in Francis’ prayers during Mass at Santa Marta on  Monday, 14 March. [...]  Thus, Jesus “entrusts himself to the Father’s will. [...]  It is a true act of faith, “entrusting myself to God who walks with me, who walks with my people, who walks with the Church”. So perhaps “I entrust myself” by  saying: “I don’t know why this happens, but I entrust myself: You will know why”. And “this is what Jesu...

He wants that our freedom is converted from evil to good, and this is possible – you can! – with His grace. From the Angelus Only the woman and Jesus remained there: misery and mercy, facing each other. And this, as often happens to us when we stop in front of the confessional, with shame,  to make seen our misery and ask forgiveness! “Woman, where are they?” (V. 10), Jesus says to her. And just this fact, and His eyes full of mercy, full of love, to  make that person feel – perhaps for the first time – that she has a dignity, that she is not her sin, but has the dignity of a person; that she can change her life,  can exit from her bondage and walk in a new way.  Dear brothers and sisters, this woman represents all of us, that we are sinners, adulterers before God, traitors of His loyalty. And her experience is God’s will for  each of us: not our condemnation, but our salvation through Jesus.   [full text]

Together on the Road by Massimo Camisasca gratis CL The Epiphany of Love by Livio Melina gratis Eerdmans The Story of Taize by J. L. G Balado Something Beautiful for God by Malcolm Muggeridge Loving Jesus by Mother Teresa Authenticity by Thomas Dubay The Imitation of Christ by Thomas Kempis   That All Men Be One by Chiara Lubich

Let us voice our truest desire: “[Jesus], let me receive my sight!” From a homily Sin also has this effect: it impoverishes and isolates us. [...]  But Jesus is passing by; he is passing by, and he halts: the Gospel tells us that “he stopped” (v. 49). Our hearts race, because we realize that the Light is gazing upon us, that kindly Light which invites us to come out of our dark blindness.  Jesus’ closeness to us makes us see that when we are far from him there is something important missing from our lives. His presence makes us feel in need of salvation, and this begins the healing of our heart. Then, when our desire to be healed becomes more courageous, it leads to prayer, to crying out fervently and persistently for help, as did Bartimaeus: “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (v. 47). [...]  Unfortunately, like the “many” in the Gospel, there is always someone who does not want to stop, who does not want to be bothered by someone else crying out in pain, prefe...

May those who dedicate themselves to the defense and promotion of life be able to show first of all its beauty. In fact, [as] “the Church does not grow by proselytism but ‘by attraction.’” From an address The good that man does is not the result of calculations or strategies, nor is it the product of the genetic order or of social conditionings, but it is the fruit of a well disposed heart, of the free choice that tends to true good. Science and technology are not enough: to do good, wisdom of the heart is necessary. [...]  “You have eyes and heart only for your dishonest gain, for shedding innocent blood, and for practicing oppression and violence” (22:17). This condition cannot change either in virtue of theories, or by the effect of social or political reforms. Only the work of the Holy Spirit can reform our heart, if we collaborate: God Himself, in fact, has assured His effective grace to one who seeks Him and is converted “with all his heart” (Cf. Galatians 2:12 ff.)....

What is a commitment? What does it mean to be committed? When I am committed, it means that I assume a responsibility — a task towards someone, and it also means the  style, the attitude of fidelity and dedication, of the particular care with which I carry out this task. Every day we are asked to put commitment in the things we do:  in prayer, in work, in study, but also in sport, in free time. In sum, to be committed means to put our good will and our strengths to improve life.  And God is also committed to us. His first commitment was to create the world and, despite our attempts to ruin it — and there are so many –, He is committed to  maintaining it alive. However, His greatest commitment was to give us Jesus. This is God’s great commitment! Yes, Jesus is in fact the extreme commitment that God  assumed in his dealings with us. Saint Paul reminds us of it when he writes that God “did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all” (Romans 8:32). And, in...

From the homily No one could be left out in the building of that other shrine, the shrine of life, the shrine of our communities, our societies and our cultures. We are all necessary, especially those who normally do not count because they are not “up to the task” or because “they do not have the necessary funds” to build all these things. God’s Shrine is the life of his children, of everyone in whatever condition, especially of young people without a future who are exposed to endless painful and risky situations, and the elderly who are unacknowledged, forgotten and out of sight. The Shrine of God is our families in need only of the essentials to develop and progress. The Shrine of God is the faces of the many people we encounter each day…  Do not let trials and pains overwhelm you, she tells us. Today, she sends us out anew; as she did Juanito, today, she comes to tell us again: be my ambassador, the one I send to build many new shrines, accompany many lives, wipe awa...

This is the essence of Christianity: to spread the regenerating and gratuitous love of God, with the attitude of acceptance and mercy to everyone.  From the angelus Simon Peter fell at Jesus’ feet, and said: “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” It was a miraculous sign that convinced him that Jesus is not only a terrific teacher, Whose word is true and powerful, but that He is the Lord, the manifestation of God. And this close presence arouses in Peter’s a strong sense of his own pettiness and unworthiness. From a human point of view, one could think there should be distance between the sinner and the saint. In truth, his own sinful condition requires the Lord to not distance himself from him, the same way a doctor cannot create distance from he who is sick.  [full text]

Our life [that] might always be a place that Christ might grow greater, and we might come down, even to the very end . From the homily “John the Baptist, ‘the greatest man born of a woman’ – so says the formula for the canonization of John. But this formula was used not of a Pope, or even of Jesus. That man is the greatest man born of a woman: The greatest saint: Thus Jesus canonized him. [...]  “To diminish, diminish, diminish.” That “was the life of John,” Pope Francis repeated. “A great man who did not seek his own glory, but the glory of God”; a man who died in such a prosaic manner, in anonymity. But with this attitude, the Pope concluded, John “prepared the way for Jesus,’ who, in a similar manner, “died in agony, alone, without the disciples’: [...]  Reading this passage, seeing how God triumphs: the style of God is not the style of man. Asking the Lord for the grace of humility that John had, and not leaning on our own merits or the glory of others. And above a...

From the homily Jesus is the novelty and the fulfillment: He presents Himself to us as the endless surprise of God. In this Child, born for all, the past — made of memory and promise –, and the future — full of hope come together. [...]  The vocation, in fact, does not take the movements of a plan of ours thought “at table,” but from a grace of the Lord who reaches us through an encounter that changes our life. He is the novelty that makes all things new. One who lives this encounter becomes a witness and makes possible the encounter for others; and makes him also a promoter of the culture of encounter, avoiding self-reference that makes us remain closed in ourselves. [...]  Our Founders were moved by the Spirit and were not afraid to soil their hands in daily life, with the people’s problems, going with courage to the geographic and existential fringes. They did not stop in face of obstacles and the incomprehension of others, because they kept in their heart the wonder of...

The concrete sign that we have truly encountered Jesus is the joy we experience in communicating it also to others. To encounter Jesus is the same as encountering His love. This love transforms us and enables us to transmit to others the strength that it gives us. In some way, we  can say that from the day of Baptism each one of us was given a new name, in addition to the one already given by our mother and father, and this name is  “Cristoforo”: we are all “Cristofori.” What does it mean? “Bearers of Christ.” [...] The mercy we receive from the Father is not given to us as a private consolation, but it makes us instruments, so that others can also receive the same gift. There is  a stupendous circularity between mercy and mission. [full text]

Turn from a god of miracles to the miracle of God, which is Jesus Christ. From the angelus address This account of the Evangelist Luke is not simply the story of a fight within a community, like can sometimes happen in our neighborhoods, caused by envy and jealousies. Rather it brings to light a temptation that a religious person is always vulnerable to — all of us are vulnerable to it — and which we must decidedly avoid. What is this temptation? It is the temptation to think of religion as a human investment and consequently, to begin to “negotiate” with God, seeking our own interests. Instead, the true religion is about receiving the revelation of a God who is Father and who is concerned with each one of his creatures, also with the smallest and most significant in the eyes of man. [...] N o human condition can be a motive for exclusion — no human condition can be a motive for exclusion — from the heart of the Father, and that the only privilege in the eyes of God is that of n...