miniZibaldone

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 ...

You might say to me: Father, but I have my limits, I am a sinner, what can I do?  When the Lord calls us, he doesn’t worry about what we are, what we have been, or  what we have done or not done.  Quite the opposite.  When he calls us, he is thinking about everything we have to give, all the love we are capable of spreading.   His bets are on the future, on tomorrow.  Jesus is pointing you to the future, and never to the museum. From the speech Where does fear lead us?  The feeling of being closed in on oneself, trapped.  Once we feel that way, our fear starts to fester and is inevitably joined by its “twin  sister”, paralysis: the feeling of being paralyzed.  Thinking that in this world, in our cities and our communities, there is no longer any room to grow, to dream,  to create, to gaze at new horizons – in a word to live – is one of the worst things that can happen to us in life, and especially at a younger age.  When ...

Mercy always has a youthful face! To find fulfillment, to gain new strength, there is a way. It is not a thing or an object, but a person, and he is alive. His name  is Jesus Christ. From the address at welcome ceremony with youth What better opportunity to renew our friendship with Jesus than by building friendships among yourselves! What better way to build our friendship with Jesus than by  sharing him with others! What better way to experience the contagious joy of the Gospel than by striving to bring the Good News to all kinds of painful and difficult  situations!...  In my years as a bishop, I have learned one thing. Nothing is more beautiful than seeing the enthusiasm, dedication, zeal and energy with which so many young people  live their lives. When Jesus touches a young person’s heart, he or she becomes capable of truly great things. It is exciting to listen to you share your dreams, your  questions and your impatience with those w...

T he biggest threat to growing up well comes from thinking that no one cares about us - and that is always a sadness - from feeling that we are all alone. The Lord, on the other hand, is always with you and he is happy to be with you. From the homily Dear young friends, at this stage in your lives you have a growing desire to demonstrate and receive affection. The Lord, if you let him teach you, will show you how to make tenderness and affection even more beautiful. He will guide your hearts to “love without being possessive”, to love others without trying to own them but letting them be free. Because love is free! There is no true love that is not free! The freedom that the Lord gives to us is his love for us. He is always close to each one of us. There is always a temptation to let our affections be tainted by an instinctive desire to “have to have” what we find pleasing; this is selfishness. Our consumerist culture reinforces this tendency. Yet when we hold on too tightly to so...

From the Urbi et Orbi message The Lord Jesus, our peace (Eph 2:14), by his resurrection triumphed over evil and sin. May he draw us closer on this Easter feast to the victims of terrorism, that blind and brutal form of violence which continues to shed blood in different parts of the world. [...]  The Easter message of the risen Christ, a message of life for all humanity, echoes down the ages and invites us not to forget those men and women seeking a better future, an ever more numerous throng of migrants and refugees – including many children – fleeing from war, hunger, poverty and social injustice. All too often, these brothers and sisters of ours meet along the way with death or, in any event, rejection by those who could offer them welcome and assistance. [...]  Along with our brothers and sisters persecuted for their faith and their fidelity to the name of Christ, and before the evil that seems to have the upper hand in the life of so many people, let us hear once...

The Freeman's  Lastimosa: " Kaguliyang sa numero" Naproblema ang pipila nako ka higala nga may magsige og panawag ug text sa ilang mobile phones nga maningil sa utang o mangaway nila. Dihang nireklamo sa mga  kompaniya sa telepono, gipasabot sila nga posibleng ang mga tawag para sa mga kanhi tag-iya sa ilang mga numero. Tungod tingali sa kabarato sa SIM cards, nga mahimo  kang mag-ilis-ilis kada semana, mahimong nahutdan na ang mga telco sa mga numero nga gidestino sa National Telecommunications Commission nila. Dako ang kahigayonan  nga ang karaang mga numero nga wa na gamita maoy ilang gipamaligya ngadto sa bag-ong subscribers.   [kinatibuk-ang lindog] The Inquirer  "The Millenials" In the entirety of their young lives, the millennials have known only of the dysfunctional brand of democracy that has allowed corruption to thrive in the government.  They feel frustration and hopelessness because of the unending voices of discord that expose co...

On this journey you may perhaps not be able to have the latest car model at the door, you will not have pockets filled with money, but you will have something that no one can take away from you, which is the experience of being loved, embraced and accompanied.   From an address You have asked me for a word of hope, and the one word I have to give you, which is the foundation of everything, is Jesus Christ. When everything seems too much,  when it seems that the world is crashing down on you, embrace his Cross, draw close to him and please, never let go of his hand, even if they are dragging you; and,  if you should fall, allow him to lift you up. Mountain climbers have a lovely song which I like to repeat to young people. As they go up the mountain they sing: “In  the art of climbing upwards, the triumph is not in not falling but rather in not staying down on the ground”. This is the art, and, who is the only one who can take  you by the hand so that you a...

Philippine Star  about hygiene and health in the Philippines It is one of the best indicators, a lawmaker said, that economic growth has not trickled down to the poor: over seven million Filipinos defecate in the open while 570,000 others use open-pit latrines, buckets and other “unimproved sanitation facilities.”  This is according to a report prepared by the World Health Organization and United Nations Children’s Fund, released last year, which lawmakers are citing to push for improvements in the nation’s water and sanitation facilities.   [full text] Sun.Star Cebu  on sexuality and the young and a law Also known as the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act of 2012, or Republic Act (RA) 10354, the RH Law “guarantees universal access to different kinds of contraception, fertility control, sexual education and maternal care,” according to the Sun. Star Cebu report.  Despite the law, access to RH information remains a minefield. Many parties...

From the message to young people You are preparing to be Christians capable of making courageous choices and decisions, in order to build daily, even through little things, a world of peace. [...]  Yours is a time of life which is full of amazing changes. Everything seems possible and impossible all at once. I repeat what I said to some of your friends: “Remain steadfast in the journey of faith, with firm hope in the Lord. This is the secret of our journey! He gives us the courage to swim against the tide. Pay attention, my young friends: to go against the current; this is good for the heart, but we need courage to swim against the tide. Jesus gives us this courage! … With him we can do great things; he will give us the joy of being his disciples, his witnesses. Commit yourselves to great ideals, to the most important things. We Christians were not chosen by the Lord for little things; push onwards toward the highest principles. Stake your lives on noble ideals” ( Homily at the C...