miniZibaldone

Maria has suffered so much in her life. It makes us think of these women, who are suffering so much. We ask that the Lord to take them to Himself and liberate them from such bondage. From the angelus The Lord looks down on the humble to raise them and we heard this in Mary's song of the Magnificat. And that song reminds us, in particular, of the women overwhelmed by the weight of life and the drama of violence, the women who are slaves of the arrogance of the powerful, the little girls forced into inhuman work, the women forced to surrender themselves in body and spirit to the greed of some men. May the beginning of a life of peace, of justice, of love, come as soon as possible for them, waiting for the day when they may finally feel gripped by hands that do not humble them, but with tenderness raise and lead them along the path of life, to heaven.  The Assumption of Mary is a great mystery that concerns all of us, our future. Mary, in fact, precedes us on the path of those...

“The poor are the treasure of the Church.” Abstract theories lead us to ideologies and ideologies lead us to deny that God became flesh, he became one of us! It is a life shared with the poor that transforms and converts us. From an address to poor pilgrims Since Jesus wanted to share in your condition, out of love he became one of you: despised by men, forgotten, one who does not count for much. When you happen to experience all of this, do not forget that Jesus also experienced it like you. It is proof that you are precious in his eyes, and that he is near to you. You are in the heart of the Church, as Father Giuseppe Wresinski said, because Jesus, in his life, always gave priority to people who were like you, who lived similar situations.  And the Church, who loves and prefers what Jesus loved and preferred, cannot rest until she has reached all those who experience rejection, exclusion, and feel that they do not matter to anyone. In the heart of the Church, you allow us ...

Others make us question ourselves. And when others do not have this effect on us, something there is not right; something in such hearts is not Christian. From the angelus And He says to each of us: “Go and do likewise,” especially to the brother or sister you see in trouble. “Go and do likewise.'” Do good works, do not just say words that go to the wind. A song comes to mind: “Words, words, words.” No. Please, do. Act. And by the good works that we do with love and joy for others, our faith grows and bears fruit. Let us ask ourselves – each of us responding in our heart – let us ask ourselves: Is our faith fruitful? Does our faith produce good works? Or it is rather sterile, and therefore more dead than alive? Am I ‘the neighbor’ or do I simply just pass along? Or am I among those who select people according to their own pleasure? It’s good to ask ourselves these questions and often because, in the end, we will be judged on the works of mercy. The Lord will say to us: ‘But y...

What does it mean to look at the essential? To look at Jesus, to look at Jesus in the hungry, the imprisoned, the sick, the naked, in the one who has no work and  must lead his family forward. To look at Jesus in these brothers and sisters of ours; to look at Jesus in one who is alone, sad, in one who errs and is in need of  counsel, in one who needs to walk with Him in silence, to feel he is in company. From the audience Mercy is not an abstract word, but a style of life: a person can be merciful or not merciful; it’s a style of life. I choose to be merciful or I choose not to be  merciful. It is one thing to speak of mercy and another to live mercy. ...  Requested of us is that particular attention that leads us to be aware of the state of suffering and need in which so many brothers and sisters are. Sometimes we  pass before dramatic situations of poverty and it seems that they do not touch us; everything continues as if there were nothing, in an indif...

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We need to be reminded that food discarded is, in a certain sense stolen, from the table of poor and the starving. From the address We need to be reminded that food discarded is, in a certain sense stolen, from the table of poor and the starving.We live in an interconnected world marked by instant communications.  Geographical distances seem to be shrinking.  We can immediately know what is happening on the other side of the planet.  Communications technologies, by bringing us face to face with so many tragic situations, can help, and have helped, to mobilize responses of compassion and solidarity.  Paradoxically though, this apparent closeness created by the information highway seems daily to be breaking down.  An information overload is gradually leading to the “naturalization” of extreme poverty.  In other words, little by little we are growing immune to other people’s tragedies, seeing them as something “natural”.  We are bombarded by so man...

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...

Philippine Star  "Violent contests" Police have noted that election violence is highest in local races. Violence, however, is not the only problem that authorities must monitor and prevent as the local  races kick off. Candidates for local government positions also tend to be the most brazen in flouting election rules, from the posting of campaign materials to  spending limits.  The Commission on Elections and Metropolitan Manila Development Authority have been active in taking down campaign materials illegally posted around the metropolis.  But just outside Metro Manila, in nearby towns of Southern Tagalog and Central Luzon, trees and lampposts are slowly being covered again with campaign posters and  streamers. If the candidates are incumbent officials, the campaign materials are unlikely to be taken down.   [full text] Sun.Star Cebu  "Heart and discipline" The days seem longer and hotter. Few children mind that there seems to be more hours...

Ermes Ronchi: The Pope's 2016 Lenten Retreat Master The Church must not shine the spotlight on herself but instead on Christ, and She still has some work to do in this regard. Christ is not giving lessons or suggesting replies based on what other people say about Him, but rather urges His Apostles to look into their own hearts.  Think of the beauty of a Church that does not shine the spotlight on herself but instead on Christ... [link] Some people are so hungry that for them God cannot but have the form of a loaf of bread. Life – he said – begins with hunger; to be alive is to be hungry. And if you take that a step further one must consider the hunger of millions of people in the world: the siege of the poor, millions of outstretched hands asking for something to eat does not – he said –  ask for a religious definition. How does the Church respond? Jesus has a very practical approach when he tells the disciples to sum up what they have in hand. He said that all ...

Philippine Star  "IS at the Door" Despite military denials about the terrorist Islamic State gaining a foothold in Mindanao, IS is seen to have at least inspired the assassination attempt on a Saudi  Arabian cleric and a Saudi diplomat Tuesday night in Zamboanga City. Mindanao is already plagued by several violent groups: the Abu Sayyaf, Jemaah Islamiyah, Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and, in several areas, the communist New  People’s Army. The leadership of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front has promised to continue observing a truce with the government despite the failure of Congress to  pass a law creating the Bangsamoro. But IS can inspire adherents among any of the Islamic groups, including the MILF.   [full text] Sun.Star Cebu  "New Supplemental Budget" CEBU City Mayor Michael Rama is again putting the majority Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK) councilors on the defensive after he submitted a proposed supplemental  budget, the first...

From an address The Church is Mother because she always generates new children in the faith; the Church is Mother because she nourishes the faith; and the Church is also Mother  because she offers God’s forgiveness, regenerating to a new life, fruit of conversion. We cannot run the risk of a penitent not perceiving the maternal presence of  the Church, which receives and loves him. [...]  This passage makes me say how important our role is in confession. Before us is a “naked” person, and also a person that doesn’t know how to speak and doesn’t know  what to say, with his weakness and his limitations, with the shame of being a sinner, and so many times unable to say it. [...]  To be a confessor according to the heart of Christ means to cover the sinner with the cover of mercy, so that he is no longer ashamed and is able to regain the joy of  his filial dignity, and is also able to know where it is found again.     [full text] From the audie...

From the address to diplomatic corps [E]very authentic practice of religion cannot fail to promote peace.  Our recent celebration of Christmas reminds us of this: we contemplated the birth of a vulnerable child who is “named Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace” (cf. Is 9:5).  The mystery of the Incarnation shows us the real face of God, for whom power does not mean force or destruction but love, and for whom justice is not vengeance but mercy.  It is in light of this that I wished to proclaim the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy. [...]  Sadly, we recognize the numerous challenges presently facing families, “threatened by growing efforts on the part of some to redefine the very institution of marriage by relativism, by the culture of the ephemeral, by a lack of openness to life”. [...]  An individualistic spirit is fertile soil for the growth of that kind of indifference towards our neighbours which leads to viewing them in p...

From the homily If you want to find God, seek Him in humility, seek Him in poverty, seek Him where He is hidden: in the neediest, in the sick, in the hungry, in the imprisoned. And when Jesus preaches life to us He says: how our Judgment will be. He will not say you come with Me because you made so many good offerings in the Church. The entrance to Heaven is not paid for with money. He won’t say you are very important. You have studied so much and received so many honors.  Honors do not open the doors of Heaven. [...] What will Jesus say? I was hungry and you gave me to eat, I was sick, I was in prison and you came to me .... Jesus is in humility. [full text]     From an address In fact, Jesus did not simply appear on earth, He did not dedicate a bit of His time to us, but He came to share our life, to receive our desires, because He wanted, and still wants to live here, together with us and for us. He has our world at heart, which at Christmas became His world. Th...

From an a ddress at prayer vigil in Bangui To flee from challenges is never a solution. Resistance is needed. To have the courage of resistance and of fighting for good. One who escapes doesn’t have the  courage to give life. [...]  I’ll give you two or three ideas that can be useful for this resistance. First of all is prayer, because it is powerful. Prayer overcomes evil. Prayer brings one  close to God who is All-Powerful. I ask you, do you pray? Don’t forget this. Second, work for peace, and peace is not a document that is signed and then put up some  place. Peace is made each day. Peace is a craft, a handiwork. It’s made with the hands. [...]  I wish the best for you. Think of the banana, of resistance when faced with difficulties. To flee, to escape isn’t the solution. You have to be courageous. Do you  understand what it means to be courageous? Courageous in forgiveness, courageous in love, courageous in building peace. [...] [full text] From t...

From an  address to youth in Kenya Life is full of difficulties, but there are two ways of looking at difficulties: either a person looks at them as something that blocks him, destroys him, stops him, or he looks at them as an opportunity. It is for you to choose. For me, is a difficulty a way of destruction or it is an opportunity to surmount my whole situation, that of my family, of my communities, of my country? Boys and girls, we don’t live in Heaven, we live on earth. [...]  And the earth is full of difficulties. The earth is full not only of difficulties but of invitations to deviate to evil. However, there is something that all of you young people have that lasts a time: the capacity to choose. [...]  [N]ot only in politics, in all institutions -- including in the Vatican -- there are cases of corruption <everywhere>. Corruption is something that gets inside us. It’s like sugar, we like it, it’s easy and then we end badly, we come to an awful end. Becaus...

From the homily Jesus says that “this poor widow put in more than all the rest” because the others were giving away money from their surplus wealth, while she, in her poverty, “has offered her whole livelihood”. In the Bible, Pope Francis said, the widow is the woman who is alone, who has no husband to look after her, who has to manage on her own, who survives on charity. The widow in this Gospel passage, he said, was “a widow who had placed her trust only in the Lord”. I like to look at the widows in the Gospel, he said, as an image of the “widowed” Church who is waiting for Jesus to return. The Church is the bride of Christ, Pope Francis said, but her Lord has gone and her only treasure is in her Lord. If the Church remains faithful, then she leaves everything while waiting for her Lord to return. If she does not have so much faith in the love of her Lord, then she tries to get by in other ways, seeking security in things that are more of this world than of God.   [link] ...