miniZibaldone

From the General Audience It’s good to stress that we confess, be it to God or to brothers, that we are sinners: this helps us to understand the dimension of sin that, while it separates us from God, also divides us from our brethren and vice versa . The words we say with the mouth are accompanied by the gesture of beating our breast, acknowledging that I have sinned by my own fault, and not that of others. It often happens in fact that, out of fear and shame, we point the finger to accuse others. It costs to admit that we are culpable, but it does us good to confess it sincerely, to confess our sins. I remember a story, which an old missionary told, of a woman who went to confession and began to tell the errors of her husband; then she went on to tell the errors of her mother-in-law and then the sins of neighbors.  At a certain point, the confessor said to her: “But, lady, tell me, have you finished?  — Very good: you have finished with others’ sins. Now begin to...

From the Solemnity of Mary, Theotokos homily Devotion to Mary is not spiritual etiquette; it is a requirement of the Christian life.  If our faith is not to be reduced merely to an idea or a doctrine, all of us need a mother’s heart . Let us now be guided by today’s Gospel.  Only one thing is said about the Mother of God: “Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart” (Lk 2:19).  She kept them.  She simply kept; Mary does not speak.  The Gospel does not report a single word of hers in the entire account of Christmas.  Here too, the Mother is one with her Son: Jesus is an “infant”, a child “unable to speak”.  The Word of God, who “long ago spoke in many and various ways” (Heb 1:1), now, in the “fullness of time” (Gal 4:4), is silent.  The God before whom all fall silent is himself a speechless child.  His Majesty is without words; his mystery of love is revealed in lowliness. This silence and lowliness is the language of...

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To turn to the fundamentals, to rediscover what is essential, through what one touches and sees in the celebration of the Sacraments. To rediscover, together with you, the beauty that is hidden in the Eucharistic Celebration and that, once revealed, gives full meaning to each one’s life. The Eucharist is a wonderful event in which Jesus Christ, our life, makes Himself present. The Lord is present there with us. We go there so often, we look at things, we chat among ourselves while the priest is celebrating the Eucharist  . . . and we don’t celebrate close to Him. But it’s the Lord! If the President of the Republic came here today or a very important person of the world, it’s certain that we would all be close to him, that we would want to greet him. But think: when you go to Mass, the Lord is there! And you are distracted. It’s the Lord!  We must give thought to this. “Father, it’s because the Masses are boring” – “But, what are you saying, that the Lord is boring?”...

Salvation is not for sale “When one loses—not the capacity to love because that is something that can be recuperated—but the capacity to feel loved there is no hope and all is lost” he said. It reminds us, Pope Francis concluded, of the writing on the gate to Dante’s inferno ‘Abandon hope all ye who enter here’—we must think of this and of the Lord who wants His home to be filled: “Let us ask the Lord to save us from losing the ability to feel loved.”   [link]

[T]oday I would like to reflect with you on the enemies of hope, because hope has its enemies, as every good in this world has its enemies. See why it’s important to guard one’s heart, opposing temptations to unhappiness, which certainly don’t come from God. We can repeat that simple prayer, of which we also find traces in the Gospels and which has become the foundation of so many Christian spiritual traditions: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on me a sinner!” – a beautiful prayer. “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on me a sinner!” It’s not true that “so long as there is life there is hope,” as is usually said. If anything, it’s the contrary: it’s hope that keeps life upright, that protects it, guards it and makes it grow. If men had not cultivated hope, if they were not supported by this virtue, they would never have comes out of the caves, and would have left no trace in the history of the world. It’s the most divine that can ex...