miniZibaldone

From a homily This then is the consecrated life: praise which gives joy to God’s people, a prophetic vision that reveals what counts. When it is like this, then it flowers and becomes a summons for all of us to counter mediocrity: to counter a devaluation of our spiritual life, to counter the temptation to reduce God’s importance, to counter an accommodation to a comfortable and worldly life, to counter complaints, dissatisfaction and self-pity, to counter a mentality of resignation and “we have always done it this way”. Consecrated life is not about survival, but new life. Everything, therefore, meets as Jesus arrives. What does this mean for us? Above all, that we too are called to welcome Jesus who comes to meet us. To encounter him: the God of life is to be encountered every day of our lives; not now and then, but every day. To follow Jesus is not a decision taken once and for all, it is a daily choice. And we do not meet the Lord virtually, but directly, we encounter hi...

From a homily You, dear young people, are not the future. We like to say, “you are the future”. No, you are the present. You are not the future of God, you young people are the now of God . In Jesus, the promised future begins and becomes life. When? Now. Yet not everyone who was listening felt invited or called. Not all the residents of Nazareth were prepared to believe in someone they knew and had seen grow up, and who was now inviting them to realize a long-awaited dream. Not only that, but they said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” ( Lk 4:22 ). The same thing can also happen with us. We do not always believe that God can be that concrete and commonplace, that close and real, and much less that he can become so present and work through somebody like a neighbour, a friend, a relative. We do not always believe that the Lord can invite us to work and soil our hands with him in his Kingdom in that simple and blunt a way. It is hard to accept that “God’s love can become concrete ...

I would like to say to the young men and women of nowadays who don't feel at ease – (who say) ‘But I’m not that happy with this consumerist and narcissistic culture ….’ ‘But look at the horizon! Look who’s there, look at our missionaries!’ Pray to the Holy Spirit who compels them to go far away, to consume or burn up their lives. From the homily He noted that Paul acknowledges the absolute mastery of the Spirit over his life who has always pushed him to announce the gospel despite the problems and  difficulties. I believe, the Pope said, this excerpt evokes for us the life of missionaries throughout the ages.  “They went forward compelled by the Holy Spirit: a vocation!  And when we went to the cemeteries in those places, we see their tombs: so many of them died at an  early age before they reached 40.  The reason is because they were not used to and couldn’t recover from the diseases present in those places. They gave up their  young lives: they had...

To look continually at the People of God saves us from certain slogans that are beautiful phrases but which do not succeed in supporting the life of our communities. From a message What does it mean for us, Pastors, that the laity is working in public life? It means to seek a way to be able to encourage, accompany and stimulate all their  attempts and efforts, which already today are carried out, to keep hope and faith alive in a world full of contradictions especially for the poorest, especially with  the poorest. It means that, as Pastors, we must be committed in the midst of our people and, with our people, sustain their faith and their hope – opening doors,  working with them, dreaming with them, reflecting and especially praying with them. We need to recognize the city – and hence all the areas where the life of our  people unfolds – from a contemplative look, a look of faith that discovers the God that dwells in their homes, in their streets, in their squ...

To look continually at the People of God saves us from certain slogans that are beautiful phrases but which do not succeed in supporting the life of our communities. From a message To look at the Holy People faithful of God and to feel an integral part of them positions us in life and, therefore, in the subjects we address in a different way.  This helps us not to fall into reflections that can be very good in themselves but that end up by functionalizing the life of our people or theorizing so much that  speculation ends by killing action. To look continually at the People of God saves us from certain slogans that are beautiful phrases but which do not succeed in  supporting the life of our communities. [...]  To look at the People of God is to remember that we all entered the Church as lay people. The first Sacrament, the one that seals our identity forever and of which  we should always be proud is Baptism. By it and with the anointing of the Holy Spiri...

“I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of my hand.” Who can speak like that? Only Jesus, because the “hand” of Jesus is one with the “hand” of the Father, and the Father is “greater than all.” From Regina Caeli These words convey a sense of absolute security and immense tenderness. Our life is completely safe in the hands of Jesus and the Father, Who are one, one love, one mercy, revealed once and for all in the sacrifice of the Cross. To save the lost sheep that is all of us, the Pastor became Lamb and let Himself be sacrificed to take upon Himself, and take away, the sin of the world. In this way, He has given us life, but life in abundance (cf. Jn 10:10)! This mystery is renewed, in an always surprising humility, the Eucharistic table. That’s where the sheep gather to feed themselves; that’s where they become one single [thing], among themselves and with the Good Shepherd.   [full text]

The Imitation of Mary Rule of St. Benedict The Love of Eternal Wisdom by St. Louis de Montfort Opening to God by Thomas Green  A Closer Walk with Christ by Raymond Gawronski  The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius The Interior Castle by St. Teresa of Avila On Marriage and Family Life by John Chrysostom Frequent Confession by Benedict Baur 

Turning by Emilie Griffin  Directions for Communication by Willi Lambert  A Marian Retreat by Bernard Lefrois   Listening With the Heart by Taize The Way, Furrow, Forge by Josemaria Escriva Men of God: Men for Others by Peter Kolvenbach Surprised by Truth by Patrick Madrid The Breath of Love by Michel Quoist

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

From an address It is true: work is a vocation, because it is born from a call that God has made to man from the beginning, to “till and keep” our common home (cf. Genesis 2:15). [...] How can we respond well to this vocation...? I would like to suggest three words to you, which can help you. The first is education. To educate means to “bring out.”... it is necessary to form a new “humanism of  work,” because we live in a time of exploitation of workers; in a time when work is not in fact at the service of the person’s dignity, but it is slave labor. We must  form, and educate to a new humanism of work, where man, not profit, is at the center; where the economy serves man and does not use man....To educate is a great  vocation: as Saint Joseph trained Jesus in the art of the carpenter, you are also called to help the young generations to discover the beauty of truly human work. [...] The second word that I would like to say to you is sharing. ....Work should unite pe...

From a letter for World Day Prayer for Vocations 2016 All the baptized may experience the joy of belonging to the Church and rediscover that the Christian vocation, just like every particular vocation, is born from  within the People of God, and is a gift of divine mercy. [...] Each vocation in the Church has its origin in the compassionate gaze of Jesus. Conversion and vocation are two sides of the same coin, and continually remain  interconnected throughout the whole of the missionary disciple’s life. [...] The ecclesial dynamism of the call is an antidote to indifference and to individualism. It establishes the communion in which indifference is vanquished by love,  because it demands that we go beyond ourselves and place our lives at the service of God’s plan, embracing the historical circumstances of his holy people. [...] No one is called exclusively for a particular region, or for a group or for an ecclesial movement, but rather for the Church and for the wor...

The Journals of Alexander Schmemann The Nuptial Mystery by Angelo Scola Happiness and Benevolence by Robert Spaemann gratis Jeremiah Alberg Bernanos: An Ecclesial Existence by Hans Urs von Balthasar gratis W.T. Dickens The Christian and Anxiety by Hans Urs von Balthasar