miniZibaldone

  From 9-15-2023 Audience A Heart Expanded by the Unspeakable Sweetness of Love [B]y contemplating creation, by letting yourselves be challenged by daily events, by experiencing work as prayer, to the point of transforming the very means of your work into instruments of blessing, and finally through people, in those brothers and sisters whom divine Providence leads you to encounter. In all this, you are called to be seekers of God . [...] Indeed, nowadays, in a globalized but fragmented and fast-paced world devoted to consumerism, in settings where family and social roots sometimes almost seem to disappear, there is no need for Christians who point fingers, but for enthusiastic witnesses who radiate the Gospel “in life through life.” This is always a temptation: go from being “Christian witnesses” to “Christian accusers.” There is only one accuser, the devil. We should not assume the role of the devil but of Jesus. We are students of the school of Jesus, of the Beatitudes. [...] [Y...

We are being asked not to tire of keeping the key message of the faith front and centre: the Lord is risen.  Nothing is more important;  nothing is clearer or more  relevant than this.  Everything in the faith becomes beautiful when linked to this centrepiece. From the homily It is by loving that the God-who-is-Love is proclaimed to the world: not by the power of convincing, never by imposing the truth, no less by growing fixated on some  religious or moral obligation.  God is proclaimed through the encounter between persons, with care for their history and their journey.  Because the Lord is not an  idea, but a living person: his message is passed on through simple and authentic testimony, by listening and welcoming, with joy which radiates outward.  We do not  speak convincingly about Jesus when we are sad; nor do we transmit God’s beauty merely with beautiful homilies.  The God of hope is proclaimed by living out the  ...

          ©2013 Fondazione Internazionale Oasis

God’s glory is revealed, instead, on the cross: it is love, which shines there and spreads. It is a paradoxical glory: without noise, without profit, and without applause. But only this glory renders the Gospel fecund. From an address Unity. Jesus prays to the Father so that His own “may become perfectly one” (John 17:23); He wants them to “be one” (v. 22), as the Father and He . It is His last, most heartbroken request before His Passion: that there be communion in the Church. [...]  Every charism is a grace of God to enhance communion. However, a charism can deteriorate when it is closed or is boastful, when it wishes to be distinguished from others. Therefore, it is necessary to protect it. Protect your charism! How? By following the masterful way: humble and obedient unity....It is always necessary to watch over the charism, purifying eventual human excesses through the search for unity with all and obedience to the Church. [...]  This is the fecundity of the Chu...

Our life [that] might always be a place that Christ might grow greater, and we might come down, even to the very end . From the homily “John the Baptist, ‘the greatest man born of a woman’ – so says the formula for the canonization of John. But this formula was used not of a Pope, or even of Jesus. That man is the greatest man born of a woman: The greatest saint: Thus Jesus canonized him. [...]  “To diminish, diminish, diminish.” That “was the life of John,” Pope Francis repeated. “A great man who did not seek his own glory, but the glory of God”; a man who died in such a prosaic manner, in anonymity. But with this attitude, the Pope concluded, John “prepared the way for Jesus,’ who, in a similar manner, “died in agony, alone, without the disciples’: [...]  Reading this passage, seeing how God triumphs: the style of God is not the style of man. Asking the Lord for the grace of humility that John had, and not leaning on our own merits or the glory of others. And above a...

From the homily And this is one of the traits of a Christian who has received the light in Baptism and must give it. That is, the Christian is a witness. Testimony. One of the peculiarities of Christian behavior. [...]  “Another trait of the Christian,”  says the Pope, “is magnanimity, because he is the child of a magnanimous father, of great heart.  The Christian heart is magnanimous.  It is open, always. It is not a heart that is closed in on its own selfishness. Or one that’s calculating: up to this point, up to here. When you enter this light of Jesus, when you enter into Jesus’ friendship, when you let yourself be guided by the Holy Spirit, the heart becomes open, magnanimous... The Christian, then, does not gain, but loses. But he loses to gain something else, and in this (between quotation marks) 'defeat' of interests, he gains Jesus; he gains by becoming Jesus’ witness.” [link] From an address Noted by all is how sensitive the Church is to ethical subj...

From a homily We bishops have this responsibility to be witnesses: witnesses to the fact that the Lord Jesus is alive, that the Lord Jesus is risen, that the Lord Jesus walks with  us, that the Lord Jesus saves us, that the Lord Jesus gave his life for us, that the Lord Jesus is our hope, that the Lord Jesus always welcomes us and forgives us.  Giving witness. Our life must be this: a testimony. True witness to the Resurrection of Christ. [...] The first task of a bishop is to be with Jesus in prayer. The first job of a bishop is not to prepare pastoral plans ... no, no!   Prayer: this is the first task. The second task is to be a witness, that is, to preach.   [link] From an address It is precisely because she is Mother and Teacher that the Church knows that, among Christians, some have a strong faith, formed by charity and reinforced by good  catechesis and nourished by prayer and the sacramental life, while others have a weak faith, neglected, not...

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 the homily And, finally, do not forget that the greatest inheritance that you can give your children is faith. Be careful that this is not lost,  so it can grow and leave as a legacy. Today, I wish, that in this joyous day for you all: I wish you are able to make these children grow in faith, and that the greatest inheritance they receive from you, really, is the faith. And only a warning: When a baby cries because he or she is hungry, to the mommies, I say: if your child is hungry, feed them here, with complete freedom.  [full text] From the angelus "The Holy Spirit is the principal architect in Christian Baptism, He is the one that burns and destroys original sin, restoring the beauty of divine grace. He is the One who delivers us from the dominion of darkness, that is, of sin, and transports us into the realm of light, that is love, truth and peace. This is the light. [...] [B] aptism date [is] to celebrate to reaffirm our adherence to Jesus, with the commitment ...