miniZibaldone

Politics is one of the highest forms of charity. Great politics. And in that I think that polarization does not help. On the contrary, what helps in politics is dialogue. —Pope Francis

Mercy cannot become a mere parenthesis in the life of the Church; it constitutes her very existence, through which the profound truths of the Gospel are made  manifest and tangible. Everything is revealed in mercy ; everything is resolved in the merciful love of the Father.... A woman and Jesus meet. She is an adulteress and, in the eyes of the Law, liable to be stoned. Jesus, through his preaching and the total gift of himself that would  lead him to the Cross, returned the Mosaic Law to its true and original intent . Here what is central is not the law or legal justice, but the love of God, which is  capable of looking into the heart of each person and seeing the deepest desire hidden there; God’s love must take primacy over all else. This Gospel account,  however, is not an encounter of sin and judgement in the abstract, but of a sinner and her Saviour . Jesus looked that woman in the eye and read in her heart a desire  to be understood, forgiven and ...

Patience in our work, in our sufferings...The Kingdom of God grows and what must we do? Guard it. Grow through hope and guard that hope. Because we have been saved through hope. From the audience The Kingdom of God is not a ‘show’ religion: one that is always seeking new things, revelations, messages … God spoke through Jesus Christ: this is the last Word of God. The other one is like fireworks that lit you up for a moment and then what is left behind?  Nothing. There is no growth, there is no light, there’s nothing: just an instant. And we have been tempted many times by this entertainment religion of seeking things that are extraneous to the revelation, to the meekness of the Kingdom of God that is among us and which grows. For this is not about hope, this is about the desire to have something in our hands. Our salvation comes from hope, the hope of a man who sows the seed or the woman who makes the bread, mixing yeast and flour: a hope that grows. Instead, this artificial...

Christians are not tired and lazy in awaiting the final encounter with the Lord, but they go to encounter Him every day, recognizing His face in that of the many individuals who ask for help. From the audience Today we reflect on this word of Jesus: “I was a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me” (Matthew 25:35-36)...  [L]et us not fall into the trap of withdrawing into ourselves, indifferent to the needs of brothers and concerned only about our interests. It is precisely in the measure in which we open to others that life becomes fecund, societies re-acquire peace and individuals recover their full dignity. And do not forget that lady, do not forget that migrant who stank and do not forget the driver whose soul was changed by the migrant.   [full text]

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  ...

Inferno by Dante Alighieri  Purgatorio by Dante Alighieri  Paradiso by Dante Alighieri  By What Authority Robert Hugh Benson  Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes  The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky  The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman The Betrothed by Alessandro Manzoni Apologia Pro Vita Sua by John Henry Newman The Portal of the Mystery of Hope by Charles Peguy The Five Wounds of the Church by Antonio Rosmini  Hamlet by William Shakespeare  Measure for Measure by William Shakespeare  Kristin Lavransdatter I: the Bridal Wreath by Sigrid Undset