"THERE IS NO HUMILITY WITHOUT HUMILIATION" Pope Francis says

Monday of the Fourth week in Ordinary Time (cycle II)

Readings: http://dailygospel.org/main.php?language=AM&module=readings&localdate=20180129

http://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope-francis/mass-casa-santa-marta/2018-01/pope-homily-santa-marta0.html

Pope Francis addressed the faithful gathered in the Casa Santa Marta for morning Mass on Monday and reflected on the First Reading of the Day.

By Linda Bordoni

Pope Francis told believers that there is no true humility without humiliation.

The Pope was speaking during morning Mass at the Casa Santa Marta on Monday as he reflected on the first liturgical reading of the day which speaks of the humiliation of King David.

Pope Francis said David was indeed a great man: he had overcome Goliath, he had “a noble soul” because twice he could have killed Saul but he had not done so. But David, he continued, was also a sinner: he had committed the serious sins of adultery and had arranged the murder of Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband.

“And yet, Francis noted, the Church venerates him as a saint" because he let himself be transformed by the Lord, he “accepted” forgiveness, he repented and recognized himself as a sinner.

David is humiliated
 

The First Reading, the Pope said, focuses on the humiliation of David: his son Absalom revolts against him but at that moment David does not think of “saving his own skin” but of saving his people, the Temple and the Ark of the Covenant.

He flees, he explained, and his gesture that appears cowardly is really a courageous one: “he wept without ceasing, his head was covered, and he was walking barefoot”.

David lets himself be insulted
 

Pope Francis noted that the great David is humiliated not only by defeat and by flight, but also by insult. In fact, during his escape, a man named Shimei “cursed and threw stones at David” telling him that the Lord had requited him and put the kingdom in the hands of his son Absalom.

Shimei, the Pope continued, tells David that he is now suffering ruin “because he is a murderer" and David lets him continue to curse and insult him saying: “Perhaps the Lord will look upon my affliction and make it up to me with benefits for the curses he is uttering this day."

“Ready-to-wear” humility is not salvific
 

Pope Francis noted that David’s ascent up the Mount of Olives is prophetic of Jesus’ climb up the hill of Calvary to give life: he too was insulted and discarded. This he explained refers precisely to the humility of Jesus:

“Sometimes we think that humility is to go quietly, perhaps head-down looking at the floor… but even pigs walk with their heads down: this is not humility. This is that fake, ready-to-wear humility, which neither saves nor guards the heart. We have to be aware that there is no true humility without humiliation, and if you are not able to tolerate, to carry humiliation on your shoulders, you are not truly humble: you pretend you are, but you are not”.

Turning humiliation into hope
 

The Pope pointed out that both David and Jesus burden themselves with sins and said: “David is a saint, and Jesus, with the sanctity of God, is really a saint” and they are both humiliated.

“There is always the temptation to counter slander and oppose anything that humiliates us or makes us feel ashamed - like Shimei. But David says “No”; the Lord says “No”, that is not the right path. The path is the one taken by Jesus and prophesied by David: bearing humiliation. ‘Perhaps the Lord will look upon my affliction and make it up to me with benefits for the curses he is uttering this day’: turning humiliation into hope.

There is no humility without humiliation
 

Pope Francis concluded warning that humility is not justifying oneself immediately in the face of an offense and trying to look good: “if you are unable to bear humiliation, you are not humble” he warned: “this is the golden rule”.

“Let us ask the Lord for the grace of humility, with humiliations. There was a nun who used to say: ‘yes, I am humble, but never humiliated!’ No, no! There is no humility without humiliation. We are asking for this grace. And if someone is brave – just as as St. Ignatius teaches us - he can even ask the Lord to send humiliations so he can be more like the Lord”.

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L'umiltà non è andare a testa bassa, quella prêt-à-porter, che non salva. La strada è quella di portare le umiliazioni come il re Davide, la cui figura è al centro dell'omelia del Papa a Casa Santa Marta

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In humility, even humiliation, human nature's transformation by living closely to The Divinity.

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January 26 - Saints Timothy and Titus, Bishops --- Powerful Homily from Pope Francis - TRANSMIT THE FAITH WITH THE COURAGE OF TRUTH AND WITNESS !

Saints Timothy and Titus, bishops - Memorial

Readings: http://dailygospel.org/main.php?language=AM&module=readings&localdate=20180126





http://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope-francis/mass-casa-santa-marta/2018-01/pope-homily-santa-marta.html

During his homily at morning Mass in the Casa Santa Marta Pope Francis reflected on the how we announce the Gospel message saying that words are empty if they do not reflect real life.

                                                                                                   By Linda Bordoni

At the heart of Pope Francis’ homily on Friday morning in the Casa Santa Marta was a reflection on how to transmit the faith.

Taking his cue from the liturgical reading of the day in which the apostle Paul addresses his disciple Timothy recalling his “sincere faith” that first lived in his grandmother and then in his mother, the Pope highlighted the words that
indicate how faith is to be transmitted: “son”, as Paul calls Timothy,
“mother,” “grandmother,” and finally "testimony".

The 'folly of preaching' according to Paul

The Pope said that Paul generated Timothy with the “folly of preaching.” He said that in the reading a mention is also made of “tears” because, he explained, Paul does not sweeten his preaching with half-truths, he does so with courage because the announcement of the Gospel “cannot be lukewarm”.

“Preaching is - allow me the word – ‘a slap’. A slap that moves you and pushes you forward” he said.

Paul himself, Francis said, describes it as ‘the folly of preaching’: “it's folly, because to say that God became man and then he was crucified and then he rose again ...” There is always a pinch of folly in preaching which must not be tempted by mediocrity
and half-truths.

The Word without testimony has no strength

The second word Pope Francis chose to highlight is testimony. Faith, he affirmed, is to be transmitted through witness which gives strength to the Word and he commented
on how people used to say of the first disciples: “How they love each other.”

He noted that in some parishes today, many tongues can be heard wagging about this
person or that… and instead of commenting on ‘how they love each other’ one
could be enticed to comment on how people speak badly of each other, on “how
they use their tongues like knives to ‘skin’ the other!”

“How can you transmit the faith in an atmosphere that is spoilt by gossip, by slander?” he said.

True testimony, the Pope explained means never speaking badly of the other, it means doing works of charity, visiting the sick, and it means asking oneself why others behave or live as they do.

Pope Francis also emphasized the fact that evil acts as “counter-testimony” or as bad testimony: it takes away faith and weakens people.

The Church gives life like a mother

The other word and concept picked out by Pope Francis is “mother” and “grandmother”. He explained that “faith is transmitted in a womb, the womb of the Church”.
He said that the “Church’s motherhood is prolonged in the maternity of the mother, the woman”.

He recalled a meeting he had with a nun while he was in Albania. She had been
imprisoned during the dictatorship, but sometimes the guards would let her take
a walk along the river thinking there could be no harm in that.

But the nun was clever, the Pope said, and the women of the nearby villages would bring their children to her when she went out and she would secretly baptize them in the river.

“I ask myself, he said, are mothers and grandmothers like the ones Paul
speaks of?” Or do they trust in the fact that the children will learn when they
go to catechism?

“It gives me sadness, Francis continued, when I see children
who do not know how to make the sign of the Cross” because their mothers and
grandmothers have not taught them.

Let us ask the Lord, he concluded, to teach us to be witnesses and preachers and to teach women who are mothers to transmit the faith.

 

'Wake up' for persecuted Christians: “Don't just watch. Wake up and act.” & WAKE UP MULTIMEDIA ...

Video published on Jan 23, 2018
These are some of the testimonies of persecuted Christians ...





WAKE UP MULTIMEDIA
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNbaZq0f9RXZtZbXbV1F3G1Y8y9-CAdYN

Two of the videos from the above playlist ...



"Take Up My Life". Prayer by Fr. Andrea Santoro

Published on 15 Mar 2018
The "Wake Up Project" invites you to discover what was in the hearts of those who knew how to live and die for Christ. "Take Up My Life" is a prayer written by Fr. Andrea Santoro, an Italian priest who wished to be a witness to the Gospel in an Arabic country. He spent 5 years as a "Fidei Donum" missionary in Turkey, where he lived as "another Christ" among people who did not know Christ. He died in 2006, assassinated while he was meditating on the Word of God in his small parish church, "Saint Mary of Trabzon." This prayer, written on November 20, 1986, expresses what was in the priestly heart of Fr. Andrea: love for Christ and the desire to lay down his life for Him. At the same time, it expresses the experience of his own fragility.

Fr. Josef Toufar. Witness of the Cross

Published on 26 Apr 2018
With this clip "Wake Up Project" wants to present to you the figure of Fr. Josef Toufar. This young and generous priest was a victim of the wave of communism that struck the Czech Republic in 1949. The "Miracle of the Cross of Číhošt", was what led Fr. Josef to be kidnapped by the Communist Police force who subjected him to severe tortures. They manipulated the truth in order to wipe out the faith of the Czech people. Fr. Josef died due to the serious abuse received from the communist regime, but he left behind for the Catholic population, his example of faith and love for the truth.




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January 22 - Praying for the Unborn; Voting to Kill Them --- & --- January 23 - Clue to True Doctrine on Marriage --- from Franciscan Friars

 

Published on 22 Jan 2018

On the 45th anniversary of Roe v. Wade (Jan 22, 1973), Fr. Terrance speaks of the two main principles behind the Church's doctrine on the protection of the unborn: the intrinsic dignity of the human person and the sacredness of human sexuality. Faithful Christians cannot sincerely pray for the protection of the unborn, and at the same time vote for pro-abortion politicians.

 

Praying for the Unborn; Voting to Kill Them - Jan 22 - Homily - Fr Terrance

Published on 23 Jan 2018

On the occasion of the Espousals of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Joseph, as the Church grapples with the problem of the faithful interpretation of "Amoris Laetitia," Fr. Alan argues that the virginal chastity of Joseph and Mary constitutes a sign indicating the way to rehabilitate the concept of family entangled in a situation of invalid marriage.

Clue to True Doctrine on Marriage - Jan 23 - Homily - Fr Alan






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What's the Difference Between the Different Franciscans?

 

What's the Difference Between the Different Franciscans?








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"BULLYING IS THE DEVIL'S WORK" Pope Francis --- "L-ibbuljar hu frott ix-Xitan" Papa Franġisku

"L-ibbuljar hu frott ix-Xitan" Papa Franġisku


Bullying is the devil’s work - Pope Francis

http://thechurchinmalta.org/mt/posts/75094/l-ibbuljar-hu-frott-ix-xitan%2C-jghid-il-papa-frangisku

If we harbour the desire to attack someone because they are weak, it is the devil, the Pope said.

Just as the influence of the Holy Spirit is recognized when one does an act of charity, Christians also must recognize the presence of the devil when bullying occurs, Pope Francis said.

“When we realize that we harbour within ourselves the desire to attack someone because they are weak, we have no doubt: It is the devil. Because attacking the weak is the work of Satan,” the Pope said in his homily Jan. 8 at morning Mass in the Domus Sanctae Marthae.

The Pope centred his homily on the day’s reading from the First Book of Samuel, which recounts the verbal abuse Hannah endured because she was unable to conceive a child.
Similar accounts in other Bible stories — from Abraham’s wife Sarah ridiculed by her servant to Job who was rejected by his wife after his misfortune — are stories that Christians should take time to reflect on, the Pope said.

“I ask myself: What is within these people? What is it within us that pushes us to mock and mistreat others weaker than we are?” the Pope asked.

“It is understandable when a person resents someone stronger than them, perhaps because of envy … but toward the weak? What makes us do that? It is something habitual, as if I need to ridicule another person to feel confident; as if it were a necessity,” he said.

Pope Francis said that as a child there was a woman named Angelina in his neighbourhood and she was constantly ridiculed by others, especially children, because of her mental illness.

While people would generously give her food and clothes, local children would make fun of the woman and say, “Let’s find Angelina and have some fun,” the Pope said.

“Today we see it constantly in our schools — the phenomenon of bullying, attacking the weak because ‘you’re fat or foreign or because you’re black,'” he said. “This means there is something within us that makes us act aggressively toward the weak.”

Although psychologists may give a different reason as to why some are inclined to bully the weak, Pope Francis said he believed it was “a consequence of original sin” and the work of Satan who “has no compassion.”

“Let us ask the Lord to give us the grace of God’s compassion,” the Pope said. “He is the one who has compassion on us and helps us to move forward.”


Source: Catholic Herald
http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2018/01/09/bullying-is-the-devils-work-says-pope-francis/

 

Pope Francis at Santa Marta: Attacking the weaker is work of Satan

10 Wise words from Pope Francis about bullying

https://aleteia.org/2018/05/23/10-wise-words-from-pope-francis-about-bullying/

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What is it within ourselves that makes us mock and belittle the weakest among us? That was the question Pope Francis posed during his homily at the morning Mass on Monday in the Casa Santa Marta.

http://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope-francis/mass-casa-santa-marta/2018-01/pope-at-mass--_contempt-for-the-weak-is-work-of-satan.html

By Devin Watkins

Pope Francis at Monday morning’s Mass reflected on the many Biblical stories that tell of a powerful person humiliating someone weaker and more vulnerable. The devil is behind this type of attitude, the Pope said, because there is no compassion in him.

The Holy Father took his cue from the First Reading, taken from the First Book of Samuel, about Samuel’s parents, Elkanah and Hannah. His father, Elkanah, had two wives: Hannah, who was barren, and Peninnah, who had borne him several children. Instead of consoling Hannah, Peninnah scorned and humiliated her on account of her infertility.

‘Bible contains many stories of scorn towards the weak’

Pope Francis said other Biblical stories also tell of scorn towards the weak, as does the story of Abraham’s wives, Hagar and Sarah. He said the same attitude of scorn and contempt occurs between men. Goliath, he said, ridiculed David. Both Job's and Tobias’ wives belittled their suffering husbands.

“I ask myself: What is within these people? What is it within ourselves that pushes us to mock and mistreat others weaker than ourselves? It is understandable when a person resents someone stronger than them, perhaps as a result of envy… but towards the weak? What makes us do that? It is something habitual, as if I needed to ridicule another person in order to feel confident. As if it were a necessity…”

Cruelty among children: a childhood memory

Pope Francis noted that even among children this happens. The Holy Father said that when he was young, there was a woman with a mental illness, Angelina, who lived in his neighborhood. She would walk the streets all day, and people would give her food to eat and clothes. Local children, however, would make fun of her. They would say: “Let’s find Angelina and have some fun”.

Pope Francis lamented this situation, saying “How much evil there is, even in children, that they treat the weak in this way!”

“And today we see it constantly in our schools; the phenomenon of bullying, attacking the weak, because you’re fat or foreign, or because you’re black… Attacking and attacking… Children and young people, too. It wasn’t just Peninnah, Hagar, or the wives of Tobias and Job: even children. This means there is something within us that makes us act aggressively toward the weak.”

The desire to destroy another person is the work of Satan

Pope Francis said that psychologists would probably give another explanation of this desire to destroy another because they are weak, but, he said, “I believe it is a consequence of Original Sin. This is the work of Satan.” Satan, he said, has no compassion.

“And so, as when we already have a good desire to do a good act, like an act of charity, we say ‘It’s the Holy Spirit inspiring me to do this’. And when we realize we harbor within ourselves the desire to attack someone because they are weak, we have no doubt: It is the devil. Because attacking the weak is the work of Satan.”

Finally, Pope Francis said, “Let us ask the Lord to give us the grace of God’s compassion. He is the One who has compassion on us and helps us to move forward.”

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Pope Francis in Angelus: “Abused authority leads to corruption”
Published on Nov 6, 2017

Pope\'s General Audience: Jesus died humiliated, but God\'s victory shines forth

Published on Apr 16, 2014

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FOCUS - Fellowship of Catholic University Students --- Jim Caviezel surprised attendees, encouraging them to be warriors animated by faith.

FOCUS - Fellowship of Catholic University Students
click the the column VIDEOS
https://www.youtube.com/user/FOCUSNational/videos

https://www.facebook.com/focuscatholic/


Hold fast to the FAITH, no matter to what dangers you are faced ...

... "There were a lot of suffering and pain before the Resurrection"...

Published on 5 Jan 2018

Jim Caviezel surprised #sls18 attendees, encouraging them to be warriors animated by faith.

“Paul, Apostle of Christ.” MOVIE

ALSO:-

 

Filmat: Id-diskors qawwi tal-attur Jim Caviezel lill-adolexxenti u żgħażagħ

http://thechurchinmalta.org/mt/posts/75138/filmat-id-diskors-qawwi-tal-attur-jim-caviezel-lill-adolexxenti-u-zghazagh-

Jim Caviezel made an appearance at SLS18 in Chicago this week—promoting his new movie about the life of St Paul and delivering a rousing speech about faith, conversion and courage.

James Faulkner, Jim Caviezel, Olivier Martinez, Joanne Whalley, and John Lynch are starring in historical drama “Paul, Apostle of Christ” mainly shot in Malta.

Sony Pictures is producing “Paul, Apostle of Christ” through its faith-based Affirm Films label. The movie is directed by Andrew Hyatt (“Full of Grace”) from his own screenplay. Producers are David Zelon (“Soul Surfer”) and T.J. Berden (“Full of Grace”).

The story covers Paul, portrayed by Faulkner, going from the most infamous persecutor of Christians to Jesus Christ’s most influential apostle. The movie will follow his last days awaiting execution by Emperor Nero in Rome under the watchful eye of Mauritius, Mamertine Prison’s ambitious prefect, who seeks to understand how this broken old man can pose such a threat.

Martinez is portraying the prefect. As his days grow shorter, Paul works from prison to further the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and embolden his followers to stand strong in their faith against Roman persecution.

“Next to Jesus, no one played a more central role in the growth of early church than the Apostle Paul,” said Affirm Films executive vice president Rich Peluso. “He wrote a vast swath of the New Testament and traveled more than 10,000 miles by foot to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

Source: Aleteia

Paul, Apostle of Christ: The Heart of the Story








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