MERCY AND JUSTICE - POPE FRANCIS GENERAL AUDIENCE Saint Peter's Square Wednesday, 3 February 2016 --- & --- Why Catholic - Testimony of Steven Ray

Pope Francis: address God in difficult times, even if it sounds like an self-interested prayer - Published on Jan 18, 2017

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http://www.news.va/en/news/general-audience-of-3-february-2016-6-mercy-and-ju

POPE FRANCIS

GENERAL AUDIENCE

Saint Peter's Square
Wednesday, 3 February 2016

 

http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/audiences/2016/documents/papa-francesco_20160203_udienza-generale.html

6. Mercy and justice

 

 

The Pope at general audience: explains the relationship between justice and mercy in God

- Published on 3 Feb 2016

 

Pope on justice and mercy  - Published on Feb 3, 2016

 

 

 

Pope Francis: Human justice only limits evil, divine justice overcomes it - Published on Feb 3, 2016

 

 

 

more...



We have a WEAK God --- He has a heart of a merciful father ! ...even for crusty rebels ...

Why Catholic - Testimony of Steven Ray Published on Sep 16, 2016




Pope: No one is irretrievable; God forgets sins -
Published on Sep 12, 2016





 

 

Pope Francis: Without mercy, there is no justice - Published on 23 Mar 2015

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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By December 2016 - New Catholic application called Gaudete that helps prepare Catholics for Christmas - from The Society of the Infant Jesus, in Singapore

 

GAUDETE - free application - to download in mobile

Search in mobile Google Play, choose the logo, like the one just below &  install ---
GAUDETE  App - the official mobile app of the Society of the Infant Jesus

The Society of the Infant Jesus in Singapore offers free app with various Catholic resources. 

http://www.romereports.com/2016/12/23/gaudete-new-app-helps-prepare-catholics-for-christmas

The Society of the Infant Jesus in Singapore has launched a new Catholic application called Gaudete, meaning "Rejoice” in Latin. 

Its creators desire that the Biblical resources, and information about the saints and Church will help instill hope and increase the faith of each user. 

DOLORES DON

President, Society of the Infant Jesus 

"We feel that the world now more than ever has an immense desire and need to find the reason to rejoice amid all the tempestuous challenges it is confronted with.” 

The application features new saints and reflections from the pope, including various writings for special feast days and seasons of the Church, like Advent or Lent. 

There are also sections focusing on one's particular vocation and stage in life, whether it's a married person, religious or a child. 

RODNEY CHUA

Gaudete App 

"The intent is to help our users belonging to these segments to more fully live out their respective vocation or their respective stage in life as a Catholic. We have resources that will help enhance our users knowledge and appreciation of the deeper underlying spirituality related to some of the popular devotions of the Catholic faith.”

The resources also include daily reflections on faith and mercy, as well as a space for users to write in prayer petitions for the Society of the Infant Jesus to intercede on their behalf.

A Facebook, Twitter and YouTube page are all also linked to the app and it is available for free in Android, iOS and HTML 5.

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What Do the Nativity Ox & Donkey Symbolize? --- & --- Can God be just and merciful at the same time?

 

   1Pt 5:5 “Alla jeqfilhom lill-kburin,

     imma lill-umli jagħtihom il-grazzja.”

Food for thought:
To what extend does the evil spirit of pride tries to infect us humans ? Animals and all creation praise God, our Creator ... and we, invaded by deceit, are fooled to think that we can live without God, in our fantasy bubble of irresponsible way of living and indifferent behaviour...and yet... God sees BEYOND our rebellion, our rejection, our despair, our apathy, our hatred, our weakness, our foolishness, our self-destruction, our lack of good education, our lack of good information - BECAUSE HE KNOWS THAT WHATEVER WE DO, GOOD OR BAD, INTENTIONALLY OR UNINTENTIONALLY, THE ROOT OF ALL MAN'S ACTIONS IS TO BE LOVED, APPRECIATED ... Why is that person acting so, is living so ? Only God knows all. He takes into consideration the bad environment, the bad influences and the vulnerable character - the scandals he has seen and learnt from those around him .

THE MERCY OF GOD GOES BEYOND THE LAW WITH JUSTICE - HE KNOWS THAT THERE IS SOME GOOD AND HOPE IN EVERY SINNER AND THIS KNOCKS US CONSCIOUS OF THE UGLINESS OF SIN AND THE BEAUTY OF HIS LOVE ! 


Pope says do not be afraid of resistance in your heart, but use it against sin

 

Messa Santa Marta 05-12-2016

 

L’intuito di Maddalena

>>> http://www.osservatoreromano.va/it/news/lintuito-di-maddalena 

&

Pope: Jesus brings true change, renewing the heart
http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-jesus-brings-true-change-renewing-the-heart <<<



Messa Santa Marta 05-12-2016
Papa Francesco ha celebrato la messa nella cappella della Casa Santa Marta e ha centrato l’omelia sul cambiamento radicale operato da Ġesù.



LET US INVITE JESUS INTO OUR HEART - AND LET HIM CHANGE US INTO NEW, HUMBLE AND GRATEFUL PERSONS !

JESUS IS WAITING FOR US TO SEE US HAPPY WITHIN, OVERFLOWING WITH HIS GENUINE JOY, HOPE, COURAGE AND SERENITY...




...THERE IS NO MERCY WITHOUT JUSTICE...





Lk 10:21-24 -- Jesus...through the Holy Spirit - Ġesù tqanqal bil-ferħ mill-Ispirtu s-Santu.


TUESDAY GOSPEL OF WEEK 1 OF ADVENT

Evanġelju
Ġesù tqanqal bil-ferħ mill-Ispirtu s-Santu.
Lq 10, 21-24

Qari mill-Evanġelju skont San Luqa

F’dak iż-żmien, Ġesù tqanqal bil-ferħ mill-Ispirtu s-Santu u qal: “Infaħħrek, Missier, Sid is-sema u l-art, għax int dawn il-ħwejjeġ ħbejthom lil min għandu l-għerf u d-dehen u wrejthom liċ-ċkejknin. Iva, Missier, għax lilek hekk għoġbok. Kollox kien mogħti lili minn Missieri, u ħadd ma jagħraf min hu l-Iben ħlief il-Missier, anqas min hu l-Missier ħlief l-Iben u dak li lilu l-Iben irid jgħarrafhulu”. Imbagħad dar lejn id-dixxipli u qal lilhom weħidhom: “Henjin l-għajnejn li jaraw dak li qegħdin taraw intom. Għax kif ngħidilkom jien, ħafna profeti u slaten riedu jaraw dak li qegħdin taraw intom u ma rawhx, u jisimgħu dak li qegħdin tisimgħu intom u ma semgħuhx”.

Il-Kelma tal-Mulej
R/. Tifħir lilek Kristu
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Fear of the Lord is not terror: no, it is putting into practice God’s commandment that he gave to our father Abram: ‘Live in my presence, be perfect,’ Humble – this is humility, fear of the Lord is humility.”



Pope: Christian humility is the virtue of “the childlike” -
FOR - TUESDAY 29 NOVEMBER 2016

http://thechurchinmalta.org/en/posts/64462/pope-christian-humility-is-the-virtue-of-the-childlike

Pope: Christian humility is the virtue of “the childlike

Pope Francis said on Tuesday that true Christian humility is the virtue of the childlike and is never a theatrical humility. His words came at his morning Mass celebrated in the chapel of the Santa Marta residence.

Taking his inspiration from the day’s readings the Pope’s homily was a reflection on how God reveals himself to the humble and childlike rather than the wise and learned as recounted in the gospel of Luke. He noted that the day’s first reading from the book of Isaiah is also full of references to little things such as the small shoot that “shall sprout from the stump of Jesse” rather than an army that will bring about liberation. Pope Francis went on to explain how in the Christmas story too the leading figures are the small and the humble.

“Then at Christmas, we see this smallness, this little thing: a baby, a stable, a mother, a father… little ones.  (They have) big hearts but the attitude of a child.  And the Spirit of the Lord, the Holy Spirit comes to rest on this shoot and this small shoot will have the virtue of the childlike and the fear of the Lord.  He will walk in the fear of the Lord. Fear of the Lord is not terror: no, it is putting into practice God’s commandment that he gave to our father Abram: ‘Live in my presence, be perfect,’ Humble – this is humility, fear of the Lord is humility.”

The Pope stressed that only the childlike are capable of fully understanding the sense of humility and the fear of the Lord because they walk in front of the Lord, watched over and protected, feeling that the Lord gives them the strength to journey forward and this is true humility.

“Living our humility, Christian humility means having this fear of the Lord which, I repeat, is not terror but is: ‘You are God, I am a person, I journey forward in this way with the little things of life but walking in Your presence and trying to be perfect.’ Humility is the virtue of the childlike and this is true humility and not a rather theatrical humility: no, not that: the humility of somebody who said: ‘I am humble but proud of being so.’ No, that is not true humility. The humility of the childlike is that of somebody who walks in the presence of the Lord, does not speak badly about others, looks only at serving and feels that he or she is the smallest …. That is where their strength lies.

In the same way, the Pope continued, we see the great humility of that girl to whom God sent His Son and who immediately afterwards hastened to her cousin Elizabeth and who said nothing about what had happened. He said humility is like this, journeying in the presence of the Lord, happy, joyful because they are humble just as we see in today’s gospel reading.

“Looking at Jesus who rejoiced because God reveals his mystery to the humble, we can ask for the grace of humility for all of us, the grace of fear of God, of walking in his presence trying to be perfect. And in this way with this humility, we can be vigilant in prayer, carrying out works of brotherly charity and rejoicing and giving praise.”

Source: Vatican Radio
http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2016/11/29/pope_christian_humility_is_the_virtue_of_%E2%80%9Cthe_childlike%E2%80%9D_/1275580

Pope Francis says humility is not speaking poorly about others






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SILENCE - film director Martin Scorsese meets Pope Francis --- & --- The hidden Japanese Christian painting of Our Lady Of The Snows

Bishop Barron on “Silence” [Spoilers] - Published on Jan 12, 2017




Check out thrilling new Hollywood superproduction about Jesuits in Japan - Published on 7 Dec 2016





Pope Francis meets film director Martin Scorsese - Published on Dec 1, 2016
 Pope Francis has met the Italo-American movie director Martin Scorsese whose latest film “Silence” recounts the persecution of a group of Jesuit missionaries in 17th century Japan. Scorsese was accompanied at the audience in the Vatican by his wife, his two daughters, the producer of the “Silence” film, and the Prefect of the Secretariat for Communications Monsignor Dario Viganò. Pope Francis told those present that he had read the novel on which the film “Silence” was based, written by the late Japanese author Shusaku Endo. Scorsese gave the Pope two paintings on the theme of “hidden Christians,” one of them a much-venerated image of the Madonna painted by a 17th century Japanese artist. ...





Vatican Magazine "Il silenzio di Dio", 02-12-2016







A unique example of Japanese Christian art, this Our Lady of the Snows was hidden in one of the houses of Nagasaki's secret Christians throughout the long ban on Christianity. | TWENTY-SIX MARTYRS MUSEUM

 

Discovering Nagasaki’s secret Christian past
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/01/20/business/discovering-nagasakis-secret-christian-past/#.WD9yutIzWmh

by Simon Hull - Jan 20, 2016 
Special To The Japan Times - News

When people outside Japan hear the word “Nagasaki,” they often think only of the atomic bombing. This tragic event seems to have obliterated not only much of the city, but also global awareness about its rich and fascinating past.
Being proposed for UNESCO World Heritage status in 2016 are a collection of historical sites which tell of the city’s unique Christian history. These sites bear outstanding witness to Christianity’s development within the Nagasaki region over a period of four centuries. They speak of how Christianity briefly flourished there following its introduction in the mid-16th century, of how it was subsequently banned and forced underground, and of how it remarkably resurfaced over two centuries later and was revived with strength and speed across the Nagasaki region following the lifting of the ban on Christianity in 1873.
One reason these sites have been proposed for UNESCO status is owing to their architectural value. The churches that were built after 1873 display a subtle fusion of Western and Japanese architectural techniques, and many also incorporate Japanese details such as sliding doors and window shutters or tatami mat floors. They are also rich in local character. For instance, one depicts images of indigenous flora within its stained glass, while in another the floor around the altar is comprised of blue and white tiles made from a distinctive type of local porcelain.
Nagasaki’s churches also have profound contemporary relevance. As symbols of how Catholicism was revived across the Nagasaki region following a lengthy period of suppression, they speak of the survival of a religious minority that overcame intense persecution. At a time when many people around the world are still persecuted for their religious beliefs, Nagasaki’s churches bear important witness to the value of religious freedom.
Perhaps the most compelling reason these sites have universal appeal is because of the remarkable story that lies behind them. It is a story about hope, and one that is certainly capable of capturing the imagination of people across the world.
Christianity first arrived in Japan in 1549, when the Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier landed in Kagoshima. It briefly flourished, and the newly opened port of Nagasaki developed into one of Asia’s most important Christian centers, becoming known as “a little Rome.”
In 1614, a strict ban on Christianity was issued. Churches were destroyed, and Christians in Japan faced various possibilities. Some suffered exile, forbidden from ever returning. Others were martyred, refusing to renounce their faith despite, in many cases, being severely tortured. There were also those who committed apostasy, unable to bear the torment they were subjected to.
By the 1640s, not a single priest was left in the whole of Japan. Christians in Nagasaki realized that if they, too, were to die as martyrs, the Japanese church would die with them. As persecution raged and the prospect of the Christian faith’s complete eradication from Japan became imminent, these Christians made a decision that was to have dramatic consequences over two centuries later: to continue their faith in secret.
The story of the underground church is one of suffering. Throughout the ban on Christianity in Japan, people in Nagasaki were required at an annual ceremony to trample on an image of Christ or the Virgin Mary, known as a fumie, to prove they were not Christian. These ceremonies haunted the imaginations of the secret Christians, who were without priests to absolve them. Every year they would creep home and utter penitential prayers, begging God to forgive them for what one scholar has called “this most necessary of sins.”
As the years wore on, the plight of many of the Christians in hiding became increasingly desperate. Some were deprived of almost all tangible reminders of their Catholic faith. This was especially true of those who poverty and persecution drove to cross the sea in tiny fishing boats and live in inhospitable corners of remote islands. At these windswept extremes, the flame of faith had grown so fragile that the secret Christians living there had almost nothing, save for a firm hope that one day, missionaries would return to Japanese shores.
Following the opening of Japan in the mid-19th century, a Catholic church was erected in Nagasaki, the first to be built there since before the ban on Christianity. This ban remained strictly in force, and permission for the church was granted on the understanding that it was solely for use by foreigners residing within Nagasaki’s newly established foreign settlement.
Among the secret Christians, there was silent elation. By that point, they had been underground for over two hundred years. On March 17, 1865, a small group of them gathered courage and approached the church. Here they met a French priest named Father Petitjean. Kneeling before him, one whispered: “All of us have the same heart as you.” They then asked the stunned priest “Where is the statue of Santa Maria?”
This moving episode became known as the “Discovery of Christians,” and today the same statue of the Virgin Mary that Father Petitjean showed them can still be seen inside the church. In the wake of this event, thousands more secret Christians from across the Nagasaki region also came forward and confessed their faith.
The Catholic churches that were erected following the lifting of the ban on Christianity in 1873 stand in the remote locations where the secret Christians had lived. Each one being proposed for UNESCO status tells in its own unique way of how Christians in Nagasaki gave everything they had for the sake of their faith. At one church, for instance, the brickwork is slightly uneven, bearing poignant testimony to how former secret Christians themselves helped to finance and construct it. In another, it is thought that the altar stands in the exact spot where fumie trampling used to occur.
As such, Nagasaki’s churches and Christian sites speak to us today of a resurrection that had once seemed impossible. They stand as symbols of hope, inviting us to reflect upon what it means to be human.






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Testimonianza di Gianna Jessen e Padre Antonello Scano a Torino --- Gianna Jessen, abortion survivor's testimony in Turin, Italy

 

La testimonianza di Gianna Jessen, sopravvissuta ad un aborto salino. Introduzione di Padre Antonello Scano. Evento organizzato da Angela Ciconte e Emanuele Lobue, responsabili del Popolo della Famiglia, sez di Torino, 27 novembre 2016.

Published on Nov 29, 2016

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Apostolic Letter Misericordia et misera - from Pope Francis; given in Rome, at Saint Peter's Basilica on 20 November 2016 - The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

Apostolic Letter Misericordia et misera (20 November 2016)

THE MERCY OF GOD & THE MISERY OF SIN



http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_letters/documents/papa-francesco-lettera-ap_20161120_misericordia-et-misera.html

Press Conference for the Conclusion of the Jubilee and Presentation of the “Misericordia et Misera”

  




7 keys to understanding the Apostolic Letter "Misericordia et Misera"





Five key extracts from Misericordia et Misera

http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2016/11/21/five-key-extracts-from-misericordia-et-misera/

1. Priests’ permission to absolve the ‘grave sin’ of abortion has been extended
“I wish to restate as firmly as I can that abortion is a grave sin, since it puts an end to an innocent life. In the same way, however, I can and must state that there is no sin that God’s mercy cannot reach and wipe away when it finds a repentant heart seeking to be reconciled with the Father. May every priest, therefore, be a guide, support and comfort to penitents on this journey of special reconciliation.”

2. SSPX priests can continue hearing confessions
“For the Jubilee Year I had also granted that those faithful who, for various reasons, attend churches officiated by the priests of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X, can validly and licitly receive the sacramental absolution of their sins. For the pastoral benefit of these faithful, and trusting in the good will of their priests to strive with God’s help for the recovery of full communion in the Catholic Church, I have personally decided to extend this faculty beyond the Jubilee Year, until further provisions are made, lest anyone ever be deprived of the sacramental sign of reconciliation through the Church’s pardon.”

3. Mercy must last a lifetime, not just a year
“In the sacramental life, mercy is granted us in abundance. It is not without significance that the Church mentions mercy explicitly in the formulae of the two ‘sacraments of healing’, namely, the sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation and the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick. In the first, the formula of absolution reads: ‘God, the Father of mercies, through the death and resurrection of his Son has reconciled the world to himself and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins; through the ministry of the Church may God give you pardon and peace’.”

4. We must be active in implementing social justice
“The social character of mercy demands that we not simply stand by and do nothing. It requires us to banish indifference and hypocrisy.”

5. Introduction of the World Day of the Poor on 33rd Sunday
“I had the idea that, as yet another tangible sign of this Extraordinary Holy Year, the entire Church might celebrate, on the Thirty-Third Sunday of Ordinary Time, the World Day of the Poor. This would be the worthiest way to prepare for the celebration of the Solemnity of our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, who identified with the little ones and the poor and who will judge us on our works of mercy … It would be a day to help communities and each of the baptized to reflect on how poverty is at the very heart of the Gospel … This Day will also represent a genuine form of new evangelisation … which can renew the face of the Church.”




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DIVINE MERCY LIBRARY
http://www.thedivinemercy.org/library/article.php?NID=3358




Mercy of God:Raising us from the Misery of Sin

The following excerpt is chapter sixteen of the book God Is Mercy (Grail Publications, 1955), by Fr. Michael Sopocko. It was translated by the Marians of the Immaculate Conception:

"Many are the scourges of the sinner: but Mercy shall encompass him that hopeth in the Lord"
— Ps. 31:10

I. SIN is the greatest misery in itself and in the effects which it causes. There is a great stupidity in every sin (Boethius), for it is an unreasonable conduct motivated by animal passions, an inhuman act.

Sin is an offense against God, an infinite evil on account of the infinite dignity of the One offended and the infinite misery of the offender. Sin is arrogance in the eyes of God, Who always sees the sinner through the eyes of a witness and a judge. "I am the judge and the witness, saith the Lord" (Jer. 29:23). Sin is the placing of the created above the Creator, "there is a deceitful balance in his hand" (Os. 12:7). Sin is the greatest ingratitude of man and the abuse of god's Mercy. Sin is an attempt at Deicide which actually took place on Golgotha. Every sinner strives anew to crucify Christ in Whom "there is Mercy: and with Hiim plentiful redemption" (Ps. 129:7).

The effects of sin in the soul and in the body of man are truly horrible. A mortal sin strips man of sanctifying grace and deprives him of the dignity of the childhood of God and instead makes him Satan's child. "He who commits sin is of the devil; because the devil sins from the beginning" (1 John 3:8). Sin deprives man of the right to Heaven and of God's protection with which the Creator usually encompasses chosen souls: "He who does not love abides in death" (1 John 3:14). Moreover, sin deprives the sinner of his old merits and renders him unable to acquire any new ones, it causes anxiety and remorse of conscience and leads to eternal rejection and damnation.

No less horrible are the effects of sin in temporal life. Diseases with the most painful sufferings, wars with the most dismal consequences, hunger, affliction, despair and countless other sores, and the end of all this, death. The history of mankind is a history of sin, a ceaseless painful groan. It is a display of calamities and punishments, a continual drama of crime resulting from the drama of sin. "Depart from me, you workers of iniquity" (Matt. 7:23).

II. I HAVE blotted out thy iniquities as a cloud and thy sins as a mist. (Is. 44:22), says God through the mouth of the Prophet announcing the coming Redeemer. In His turn the Redeemer proclaims, "I desire Mercy and not sacrifice. For I have come to call sinners, not the just" (Matt. 9:13). Here the Mercy of God does not stand in opposition to Justice but surpasses it. Instead of crushing the sinner with just vengeance for his iniquity, Mercy makes him contrite with humility. Instead of burdening him with due punishment, it moves him with the sorrow of contrition. And if blood is needed to satisfy Justice, then Mercy does it with the infinitely satiating Blood of the God-Man. In this Blood the infinite wretchedness of sin and God's irrevocable justice are manifest, but, above all, His infinite Mercy. In Christ dying on the cross, "Mercy and truth have met each other: justice and peace kissed" (Ps. 84:11).

If the merits of all the saints and heavenly spirits together with those of the Blessed Virgin Mary were put on one scale, and only one mortal sin on the other, undoubtedly this sin alone would outweigh all those merits, since they, however great they might be, will always be finite and insufficient to satisfy the infinite offense given to God's Majesty by only one mortal sin. Through the infinite Mercy of God Christ the Redeemer made a worthy payment for sin and raised up from the misery of sin all who would believe in Him and reasonably avail themselves of the means of salvation which He established. "But if any one sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the just. And He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world" (1 John 2:1-2), that is to say, one drop of the Blood of the God-Man outweighs the sins of the whole world.

I shall meditate on the efficacy and the never weakening force of Christ's Blood, which contains the weight of eternal glory and through which the Divine power elevates and raises man from the greatest sins. "His Blood gives color to my countenance," says St. Agnes. This Blood should color also my face

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