miniZibaldone

The testimony of this sinner has sowed restlessness in the heart of  the innkeeper. What happened to this innkeeper the Gospel does not say – and doesn’t even record his name. But surely this man’s curiosity grew, his restlessness has  been allowed to grow in his heart. From the address Pope Francis, Vatican Radio reports, gave a catechesis on Luke’s gospel passage of the Good Samaritan. There are many characters in this passage, he said, but who  qualifies as a neighbour? The robber, the poor man who was left for dead on the road, the priest, the doctor of the law, the lawyer? Or the innkeeper? Perhaps none  of these knew how to answer such a question. The priest was in a hurry, like all priests and no doubt he’s looking at his watch and saying to himself that he must  celebrate the Mass, or that he’s left the door of the church open and he must close it. The doctor of the law, a practical man, said “But if I meddle in this,  tomorrow I must go to c...

We must not wait for prodigious events to be converted, but we must open our heart to the Word of God, which calls us to love God and our neighbor. The Word of God  can make an arid heart revive and heal it of its blindness. From the audience Jesus says that one day that rich man will die: the poor and the rich die, they have the same destiny, as do all of us; there are no exceptions to this. And then  that man turns to Abraham, begging him with the appellation of “father” (vv. 24.27). He claims, therefore, to be his son, belonging to the People of God. Yet in life  he showed no consideration to God; instead, he made himself the center of everything, shut-in in his world of luxury and waste. Excluding Lazarus, he did not take  into account either the Lord or His Law. To ignore the poor is to scorn God! We must learn this well: to ignore the poor is to scorn God. [...]  There is a particular point in the parable to be noted: the rich man does not have a name...

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...

And that which unites my Christian life to our Christian life, from one moment to another, in order to always go forward — sinners, but going forward — is hope. From the homily When there is no human hope, there is that hope that carries us forward, humble, simple—but it gives a joy, at times a great joy, at times only of peace, but the  security that hope does not disappoint: hope doesn’t disappoint. This “thread of hope” begins with Abraham, who spoke with God, and ends with Jesus. Pope Francis dwelt on the characteristics of this hope. If, in fact, one can say  that he has faith and charity, it is more difficult to speak about hope:  We are able to say this [about faith and charity] easily, but when we are asked, ‘Do you have hope? Do you have the joy of hope?’ ‘But, father, I don’t understand,   can you explain?’ Hope, that humble virtue, that virtue which flows under the water of life, but that bears us up so we don’t drown in so many difficulties, so ...

“Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors [is] an equation.” In other words, “if you are not capable of forgiveness, how can God forgive you?” From a homily [Forgiveness] dynamic is the following: “I turn to God, remind him of his mercy and ask his forgiveness” — but “forgiveness as God gives it”.  The Pontiff then expanded on a characteristic of the forgiveness of God, whose perfection is so incomprehensible to us men and women: he reaches the point of  “forgetting” our sins. “When God forgives”, the Pope said, “his forgiveness is so great that it is as if ‘he has forgotten’”. Thus, “once we are at peace with God  through his mercy”, if we ask the Lord: “Do you remember that bad thing that I did?”, he might answer: “Which one? I don’t remember...”.  Francis explained that this is “completely the opposite of what we do”, and which often comes out in our “gossip."   [link]

It [prayer] is the greatest strength of the Church which we must never abandon . From an address Prayer, therefore, is not a good practice to get some peace of heart; nor is it a devout means to obtain from God what is useful to us. If it were so, it would be moved by a subtle egoism: I pray to be well, as if I took an aspirin. No, it’s not so. I pray to obtain this thing. But this is to do business. It is not so. Prayer is something else, it’s something else. Prayer, instead, is a work of spiritual mercy, which wishes to lead everything to God’s heart. “You take charge, who are a Father.” It should be this way, to say it simply. Prayer is to say: “You take charge, who are Father. Look at us, who are Father.” This is relation with the Father. Prayer is this. It is a gift of faith and of love, an intercession of which there is need as of bread. In a word, it means to entrust... Prayer, therefore, as Padre Pio loved to say, is “the best weapon we have, a key that opens God’s h...