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...

Announce the Easter message, to awaken and resurrect hope in hearts burdened by sadness, in those who struggle to find meaning in life. This is so necessary today. However, we must not proclaim ourselves. Rather, as joyful servants of hope, we must announce the Risen One . From the Easter Vigil homily Peter was looking for Jesus, not himself. He preferred the path of encounter and trust. And so, he got up, just as he was, and ran towards the tomb from where he would return “amazed” (v. 12). This marked the beginning of Peter’s resurrection, the resurrection of his heart. [...]  We, like Peter and the women, cannot discover life by being sad, bereft of hope. Let us not stay imprisoned within ourselves, but let us break open our sealed tombs to the Lord so that he may enter and grant us life. Let us give him the stones of our rancour and the boulders of our past, those heavy burdens of our weaknesses and falls. Christ wants to come and take us by the hand to bring us out of...

From a homily At this moment, the Lord Jesus repeats to each one of us His question: “Who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15). [...]  May our thought and our gaze be fixed on Jesus Christ, beginning and end of every action of the Church. He is the foundation and no one can place a different one (1  Corinthians 3:11). He is the “rock” on which we must build. Saint Augustine reminds of this when he writes that the Church, although agitated and shaken by the events  of history, “does not collapse because she is founded on the rock, from which Peter derives his name. It is not the rock that gets its name from Peter, but Peter that  gets it from the rock, just as the name Christ does not derive from the Christian, but the name Christian derives from Christ. […] Christ is the rock, on whose  foundation Peter was also built” (In Joh 124, 5:PL 35, 1972).   [full text]

Living the Truth in Love by +Benedict Ashley On Heaven and Earth by Jorge Mario Bergoglio Generating Traces in the History of the World by Luigi Giussani The Risk of Education by Luigi Giussani Simon, Called Peter by Mauro Lepori Temporal and Eternal  by Charles Peguy Faith Hope Love by Josef Pieper