miniZibaldone

But fear paralyzes us, it always paralyzes us; it makes us close in on ourselves, closed to God’s surprises. This detail speaks to us of a constant temptation for  the Church, that of closing in on herself in the face of danger. But we also see the small openings through which God can work. From the homily The reading from the Acts of the Apostles (12:1-11) shows us three examples of “closing”: Peter is cast into prison; the community gathers behind closed doors in  prayer; and – in the continuation of our reading – Peter knocks at the closed door of the house of Mary, the mother of John called Mark, after being set free.  In these three examples of “closing”, prayer appears as the main way out. It is a way out for the community, which risks closing in on itself out of persecution and  fear.  It is a way out for Peter who, at the very beginning of the mission given him by the Lord, is cast into prison by Herod and risks execution.  And while Peter...

From an address to seminarians and priests However, a temptation appears on the way that must be rejected: that of “normality,” of a Pastor for whom a “normal” life is enough. Thus this priest begins to be contented with some attention received, he judges the ministry on the basis of his successes and he abandons himself to research of what pleases him, becoming tepid and without a real interest in others. Instead, for us “normality” is pastoral holiness, the gift of life. If a priest chooses to be only a normal person, he will be a mediocre priest or worse. [...]  Entrusted to you during these years is the mission to train yourselves in this dialogue of life: knowledge of the various disciplines that you study is not an end in itself, but is concretized in the colloquy of prayer and in a real encounter with persons. It does no good to be formed “in watertight compartments”; prayer, education and pastoral care are bearer stones of one building. [...]  In fact, evangelizatio...