MAY THE LOVE OF JESUS CHRIST, BE ALWAYS IN OUR HEART TO KEEP US HUMBLE, GRATEFUL, MERCIFUL, FORGIVING --- O GOD, BLESS ALL THAT IS COMING FROM YOU AND BREAK ALL THAT IS NOT COMING FROM YOU, AMEN --- This site is just a drop from the immeasurable ocean in JESUS, THE IMAGE OF THE INVISIBLE GOD, HOLY TRINITY ONE GOD - HE IS THE WAY, THE TRUTH, THE LIFE - TEACHER, HEALER, REDEEMER --- The main purpose of this site is to make an easier access to Catholic Religion-related links.
There is power in numbers! Join us for the Rosary and we will all pray for each others intentions. Even if you see this after it is live we include and bind all intentions regardless of the time or date.
Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us!
"The Rosary is a powerful weapon to put the demons to flight and to keep oneself from sin…If you desire peace in your hearts, in your homes, and in your country, assemble each evening to recite the Rosary. Let not even one day pass without saying it, no matter how burdened you may be with many cares and labors."
Live Rosary with Gabriel and Family - April 17, 2020
Vatican City, Apr 9, 2020 / 02:00 pm (CNA).- Here is the full text of Pope Francis' Holy Thursday homily, delivered April 9 at the Basilica of St. Peter.
The Eucharist. Service. Anointing. The reality we live today in this
liturgy is the Lord who wants to remain with us in the Eucharist. And we
always become tabernacles of the Lord. We bear the Lord with us to the
point that he himself tells us that if we do not eat his body and drink
his blood, we will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven. This is the mystery
of the bread and wine of the Lord with us, in us, within us. The service. That gesture that is a condition for entering the
Kingdom of Heaven. Serve, yes, everyone, but the Lord -- in that
exchange of words he had with Peter -- makes him understand that to
enter the Kingdom of Heaven, we must let the Lord serve us, that the
Servant of God is the servant of us. And this is difficult to
understand. If I do not let the Lord be my servant, allow the Lord to
wash me, to help me grow, to forgive me, I will not enter the Kingdom of
Heaven.
And the priesthood. Today I would like to be close to priests. All of
them -- from the most recently ordained to the pope, we are all
priests. The bishops, all ... We are anointed, anointed by the Lord;
anointed to offer the Eucharist, anointed to serve. Today we did not have the Chrism Mass. I hope we will be able to have
it before Pentecost, otherwise we will have to postpone it until next
year. But I cannot let this Mass pass without mentioning the priests.
Priests who offer their lives for the Lord, priests who are servants. In
recent days, more than 60 have died here in Italy, in the care of the
sick in hospitals, and also with doctors, nurses ... They are "the
saints next door,” priests who gave their lives by serving. And I think of those who are far away. Today I received a letter from
a priest, chaplain from a distant prison, in which he tells of how he
lives this Holy Week with the prisoners. A Franciscan. Priests who go far to bring the Gospel and die there. A bishop said
that the first thing he did, when he arrived in these mission posts, was
to go to the cemetery, to the grave of the priests who lost their lives
there, young, by the local plague [local diseases]. They were not
prepared, they had no antibodies. No one knows their names. Anonymous
priests. The country parish priests, who are parish priests of four, five, or
seven villages in the mountains and go from one to the other, who know
the people ... Once, one told me that he knew the name of all the people
of the villages. “Really?” I said to him. And he said to me: "Even the
name of the dogs." They know all. Priestly closeness.
Well done, good priests. Today I carry you in my heart and I bring you to the altar. Slandered priests. Many times it happens today. They cannot go out on
the street because bad things are said of them, in reference to the
drama we have experienced with the discovery of priests who did ugly
things. Some told me that they cannot leave the house with the clergyman
because they are insulted, and they continue.
Sinful priests, who together with the bishops and the pope, a sinner,
do not forget to ask for forgiveness. And learn to forgive because they
know that they need to ask for forgiveness and to forgive. We are all
sinners. Priests who suffer from crises, who do not know what to do, who
are in the dark ... Today all of you, brother priests, are with me on
the altar. You who are consecrated, I only tell you one thing: Do not be
stubborn, like Peter. Allow your feet to be washed. The Lord is your
servant. He is close to you to give you strength, to wash your feet. And so, with this awareness of the need to be washed, to be great
forgivers. Forgive. A great heart has generosity in forgiveness. It is
the measure by which we will be measured. As you have forgiven, you will
be forgiven: the same measure. Do not be afraid to forgive. Sometimes
there are doubts ... Look at Christ [look at the Crucifix]. There is
everyone's forgiveness. Be brave, also in taking risks, in forgiving in order to console. And
if you cannot give sacramental forgiveness at that moment, at least
give the consolation of a brother who accompanies and leaves the door
open for [that person] to return. I thank God for the grace of the priesthood. We all [thank you]. I
thank God for you, priests. Jesus loves you! He only asks that you allow
him to wash your feet.
=================================================
GOOD FRIDAY - April 10th, 2020
St. Peter’s Basilica-Celebration of the Passion of the Lord presided over by Pope Francis
Vatican City, Apr 10, 2020 / 11:23 am (CNA).- Here
is the full text of the Good Friday homily of Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa,
OFM Cap., delivered April 10 at St. Peter's Basilica.
“I have plans for your welfare and not for woe” St. Gregory the Great said that Scripture “grows with its readers”, cum legentibus crescit.
[1] It reveals meanings always new according to the questions people
have in their hearts as they read it. And this year we read the account
of the Passion with a question—rather with a cry—in our hearts that is
rising up over the whole earth. We need to seek the answer that the word
of God gives it. The Gospel reading we have just listened to is the account of the
objectively greatest evil committed on earth. We can look at it from two
different angles: either from the front or from the back, that is,
either from its causes or from its effects. If we stop at the historical
causes of Christ’s death, we get confused and everyone will be tempted
to say, as Pilate did, “I am innocent of this man’s blood” (Mt 27:24).
The cross is better understood by its effects than by its causes. And
what were the effects of Christ’s death? Being justified through faith
in him, being reconciled and at peace with God, and being filled with
the hope of eternal life! (see Rom 53:1-5). But there is one effect that the current situation can help us to
grasp in particular. The cross of Christ has changed the meaning of pain
and human suffering—of every kind of suffering, physical and moral. It
is no longer punishment, a curse. It was redeemed at its root when the
Son of God took it upon himself. What is the surest proof that the drink
someone offers you is not poisoned? It is if that person drinks from
the same cup before you do. This is what God has done: on the cross he
drank, in front of the whole world, the cup of pain down to its dregs.
This is how he showed us it is not poisoned, but that there is a pearl
at the bottom of this chalice. And not only the pain of those who have faith, but of every human
pain. He died for all human beings: “And when I am lifted up from the
earth,” he said, “I will draw everyone to myself” (Jn 12:32).
Everyone, not just some! St. John Paul II wrote from his hospital bed
after his attempted assassination, “To suffer means to become
particularly susceptible, particularly open to the working of the
salvific powers of God, offered to humanity in Christ.”[2] Thanks to the
cross of Christ, suffering has also become in its own way a kind of
“universal sacrament of salvation” for the human race. -- What light does all of this shed on the dramatic situation that the
world is going through now? Here too we need to look at the effects more
than at the causes—not just the negative ones we hear about every day
in heart-wrenching reports but also the positive ones that only a more
careful observation can help us grasp. The pandemic of Coronavirus has abruptly roused us from the greatest
danger individuals and humanity have always been susceptible to: the
delusion of omnipotence. A Jewish rabbi has written that we have the
opportunity to celebrate a very special paschal exodus this year, that
“from the exile of consciousness” [3]. It took merely the smallest and
most formless element of nature, a virus, to remind us that we are
mortal, that military power and technology are not sufficient to save
us. As a psalm says, “In his prime, man does not understand. / He is
like the beasts—they perish” (Ps 49:21). How true that is! While he was painting frescoes in St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, the
artist James Thornhill became so excited at a certain point about his
fresco that he stepped back to see it better and was unaware he was
about to fall over the edge of the scaffolding. A horrified assistant
understood that crying out to him would have only hastened the disaster.
Without thinking twice, he dipped a brush in paint and hurled it at the
middle of the fresco. The master, appalled, sprang forward. His work
was damaged, but he was saved. God does this with us sometimes: he disrupts our projects and our
calm to save us from the abyss we don’t see. But we need to be careful
not to be deceived. God is not the one who hurled the brush at the
sparkling fresco of our technological society. God is our ally, not the
ally of the virus! He himself says in the Bible, “I have . . . plans for
your welfare and not for woe” (Jer 29:11). If these scourges were
punishments of God, it would not be explained why they strike equally
good and bad, and why the poor usually bring the worst consequences of
them. Are they more sinners than others? No! The one who cried one day for Lazarus' death cries today for the
scourge that has fallen on humanity. Yes, God "suffers", like every
father and like every mother. When we will find out this one day, we
will be ashamed of all the accusations we made against him in life. God
participates in our pain to overcome it. "Being supremely good” - wrote
St. Augustine - “God would not allow any evil in his works, unless in
his omnipotence and goodness, he is able to bring forth good out of
evil.”[4] Did God the Father possibly desire the death of his Son in order to
draw good out of it? No, he simply permitted human freedom to take its
course, making it serve, however, his own purposes and not those of
human beings. This is also the case for natural disasters like
earthquakes and plagues. He does not bring them about. He has given
nature a kind of freedom as well, qualitatively different of course than
that of human beings, but still a form of freedom—freedom to evolve
according to its own laws of development. He did not create a world as a
programmed clock whose movements could all be anticipated. It is what
some call “chance” but the Bible calls instead “the wisdom of God.” -- The other positive fruit of the present health crisis is the feeling
of solidarity. When, in human memory, have the people of all nations
ever felt themselves so united, so equal, so less in conflict than at
this moment of pain? Never so much as now have we experienced the truth
of the words of a great Italian poet: “Peace, you peoples! Too deep is
the mystery of the prostrate earth.”[5] We have forgotten about building
walls. The virus knows no borders. In an instant it has broken down all
the barriers and distinctions of race, nation, religion, wealth, and
power. We should not revert to that prior time when this moment has
passed. As the Holy Father has exhorted us, we should not waste this
opportunity. Let us not allow so much pain, so many deaths, and so much
heroic engagement on the part of health workers to have been in vain.
Returning to the way things were is the “recession” of which we should
have the most fear.
“They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into
pruning hooks; One nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor
shall they train for war again.” (Is 2:4) This is the moment to put into practice something of the prophecy of
Isaiah whose fulfillment humanity has long been waiting for. Let us say
“Enough!” to the tragic race toward arms. Say it with all your might,
you young people, because it is above all your destiny that is at stake.
Let us devote the unlimited resources committed to weapons to the goals
that we now realize are most necessary and urgent: health, hygiene,
food, the poverty fight, stewardship of creation. Let us leave to the
next generation a world poorer in goods and money, if need be, but
richer in its humanity. -- The word of God tells us the first thing we should do at times like
these is to cry out to God. He himself is the one who puts on people’s
lips the words to cry out to him, at times harsh words and almost of
accusation: “Awake! Why do you sleep, O Lord? / Rise up! Do not reject
us forever! . . . Rise up, help us! / Redeem us in your mercy” (Ps 44,
24, 27). “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” (Mk 4:38). Does God perhaps like to be petitioned so that he can grant his
benefits? Can our prayer perhaps make God change his plans? No, but
there are things, St. Matthew explains, that God has decided to grant us
as the fruit both of his grace and of our prayer, almost as though
sharing with his creatures the credit for the benefit received.[6] God
is the one who prompts us to do it: “Seek and you will find,” Jesus
said; “knock and the door will be opened to you” (Mt 7:7). When the Israelites were bitten by poisonous serpents in the desert,
God commanded Moses to lift up a serpent of bronze on a pole, and
whoever looked at it would not die. Jesus appropriated this symbol to
himself when he told Nicodemus, “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in
the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who
believes in him may have eternal life” (Jn 3:14-15). We too at this
moment have been bitten by an invisible, poisonous “serpent.” Let us
gaze upon the one who was “lifted up” for us on the cross. Let us adore
him on behalf of ourselves and of the whole human race. The one who
looks on him with faith does not die. And if that person dies, it will
be to enter eternal life. "After three days I will rise", Jesus had foretold (cf. Mt 9:31). We
too, after these days that we hope will be short, shall rise and come
out of the tombs our homes have become. Not however to return to the
former life like Lazarus, but to a new life, like Jesus. A more
fraternal, more human, more Christian life!
-------------------------
ADORATION OF THE HOLY CROSS
BEHOLD THE WOOD OF THE CROSS
Behold, the wood of the Cross
on which hung the Salvation of the world.
Come, let us adore.
(Unless a grain of wheat fall upon the ground and die, it shall remain but a single grain and not give life.)
Behold, the wood of the Cross
on which hung the Salvation of the world.
Come, let us adore.
(And when my hour of glory comes as all was meant to be you shall see me lifted up upon a tree.)
Behold, the wood of the Cross
on which hung the Salvation of the world.
Come, let us adore.
(For there can be no greater love shown upon this land than in the one who came to die that we might live.)
WE ADORE YOUR CROSS O LORD WE PRAISE AND GLORIFY YOUR HOLY RESURRECTION FOR BEHOLD, BECAUSE OF THE WOOD OF A TREE, JOY HAS COME TO THE WHOLE WORLD
---------------------------------------
THE GOSPEL
GOOD FRIDAY - Jn 18:1-19:42 -- 'Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ - l-Passjoni ta’ Sidna Ġesù Kristu
Vatican City, Apr 11, 2020 / 03:40 pm (CNA).- Here is the full text of the Easter Vigil homily of Pope Francis, delivered April 11 at St. Peter's Basilica.
“After the Sabbath” (Mt 28:1), the women went to the tomb. This is
how the Gospel of this holy Vigil began: with the Sabbath. It is the day
of the Easter Triduum that we tend to neglect as we eagerly await the
passage from Friday’s cross to Easter Sunday’s Alleluia. This year
however, we are experiencing, more than ever, the great silence of Holy
Saturday. We can imagine ourselves in the position of the women on that
day. They, like us, had before their eyes the drama of suffering, of an
unexpected tragedy that happened all too suddenly. They had seen death
and it weighed on their hearts. Pain was mixed with fear: would they
suffer the same fate as the Master? Then too there was fear about the
future and all that would need to be rebuilt. A painful memory, a hope
cut short. For them, as for us, it was the darkest hour.
Yet in this situation the women did not allow themselves to be
paralyzed. They did not give in to the gloom of sorrow and regret, they
did not morosely close in on themselves, or flee from reality. On the
Sabbath they were doing something simple yet extraordinary: preparing at
home the spices to anoint the body of Jesus. They did not stop loving;
in the darkness of their hearts, they lit a flame of mercy. Our Lady
spent that Saturday, the day that would be dedicated to her, in prayer
and hope. She responded to sorrow with trust in the Lord. Unbeknownst to
these women, they were making preparations, in the darkness of that
Sabbath, for “the dawn of the first day of the week”, the day that would
change history. Jesus, like a seed buried in the ground, was about to
make new life blossom in the world; and these women, by prayer and love,
were helping to make that hope flower. How many people, in these sad
days, have done and are still doing what those women did, sowing seeds
of hope! With small gestures of care, affection and prayer. At dawn the women went to the tomb. There the angel says to them: “Do
not be afraid. He is not here; for he has risen” (vv. 5-6). They hear
the words of life even as they stand before a tomb... And then they meet
Jesus, the giver of all hope, who confirms the message and says: “Do
not be afraid” (v. 10). Do not be afraid, do not yield to fear: This is the message of hope. It is addressed to us, today. Today. These are the words that God repeats to us this very night. Tonight we acquire a fundamental right that can never be taken away from us: the right to hope.
It is a new and living hope that comes from God. It is not mere
optimism; it is not a pat on the back or an empty word of encouragement,
with a passing smile. No. It is a gift from heaven, which we could not
have earned on our own. Over these weeks, we have kept repeating, “All
will be well”, clinging to the beauty of our humanity and allowing words
of encouragement to rise up from our hearts. But as the days go by and
fears grow, even the boldest hope can dissipate. Jesus’ hope is
different. He plants in our hearts the conviction that God is able to
make everything work unto good, because even from the grave he brings
life. The grave is the place where no one who enters ever leaves. But Jesus
emerged for us; he rose for us, to bring life where there was death, to
begin a new story in the very place where a stone had been placed. He,
who rolled away the stone that sealed the entrance of the tomb, can also
remove the stones in our hearts. So, let us not give in to resignation;
let us not place a stone before hope. We can and must hope, because God
is faithful. He did not abandon us; he visited us and entered into our
situations of pain, anguish and death. His light dispelled the darkness
of the tomb: today he wants that light to penetrate even to the darkest
corners of our lives. Dear sister, dear brother, even if in your heart
you have buried hope, do not give up: God is greater. Darkness and death
do not have the last word. Be strong, for with God nothing is lost!
Courage. This is a word often spoken by Jesus in the
Gospels. Only once do others say it, to encourage a person in need:
“Courage; rise, [Jesus] is calling you!” (Mk 10:49). It is he, the Risen
One, who raises us up from our neediness. If, on your journey, you feel
weak and frail, or fall, do not be afraid, God holds out a helping hand
and says to you: “Courage!”. You might say, as did Don Abbondio (in
Manzoni’s novel), “Courage is not something you can give yourself” (I Promessi Sposi,
XXV). True, you cannot give it to yourself, but you can receive it as a
gift. All you have to do is open your heart in prayer and roll away,
however slightly, that stone placed at the entrance to your heart so
that Jesus’ light can enter. You only need to ask him: “Jesus, come to
me amid my fears and tell me too: Courage!” With you, Lord, we will be
tested but not shaken. And, whatever sadness may dwell in us, we will be
strengthened in hope, since with you the cross leads to the
resurrection, because you are with us in the darkness of our nights; you
are certainty amid our uncertainties, the word that speaks in our
silence, and nothing can ever rob us of the love you have for us. This is the Easter message, a message of hope. It contains a second
part, the sending forth. “Go and tell my brethren to go to Galilee” (Mt
28:10), Jesus says. “He is going before you to Galilee” (v. 7), the
angel says. The Lord goes before us. He always goes before us. It is
encouraging to know that he walks ahead of us in life and in death; he
goes before us to Galilee, that is, to the place which for him and his
disciples evoked the idea of daily life, family and work. Jesus wants us
to bring hope there, to our everyday life. For the disciples, Galilee
was also the place of remembrance, for it was the place where they were
first called. Returning to Galilee means remembering that we have been
loved and called by God. Each of us has our own Galilee. We need to
resume the journey, reminding ourselves that we are born and reborn
thanks to an invitation given gratuitously to us out of love. This is
always the point from which we can set out anew, especially in times of
crisis and trial. But there is more. Galilee was the farthest region from where they
were: from Jerusalem. And not only geographically. Galilee was also the
farthest place from the sacredness of the Holy City. It was an area
where people of different religions lived: it was the “Galilee of the
Gentiles” (Mt 4:15). Jesus sends them there and asks them to start again
from there. What does this tell us? That the message of hope should not
be confined to our sacred places, but should be brought to everyone.
For everyone is in need of reassurance, and if we, who have touched “the
Word of life” (1 Jn 1:1) do not give it, who will? How beautiful it is
to be Christians who offer consolation, who bear the burdens of others
and who offer encouragement: messengers of life in a time of death! In
every Galilee, in every area of the human family to which we all belong
and which is part of us – for we are all brothers and sisters – may we
bring the song of life! Let us silence the cries of death, no more wars!
May we stop the production and trade of weapons, since we need bread,
not guns. Let the abortion and killing of innocent lives end. May the
hearts of those who have enough be open to filling the empty hands of
those who do not have the bare necessities. Those women, in the end, “took hold” of Jesus’ feet (Mt 28:9); feet
that had travelled so far to meet us, to the point of entering and
emerging from the tomb. The women embraced the feet that had trampled
death and opened the way of hope. Today, as pilgrims in search of hope,
we cling to you, Risen Jesus. We turn our backs on death and open our
hearts to you, for you are Life itself.
Vatican City, Apr 12, 2020 / 05:05 am (CNA).-
In his Easter blessing, Pope Francis called on humanity to unite in
solidarity and look to the risen Christ for hope amid the coronavirus
pandemic.
“Today the Church’s proclamation echoes throughout the world: ‘Jesus
Christ is risen!’ – ‘He is truly risen,’” Pope Francis said on April 12. “The Risen Lord is also the Crucified One … In his glorious body he
bears indelible wounds: wounds that have become windows of hope. Let us
turn our gaze to him, that he may heal the wounds of an afflicted
humanity,” the pope said in an nearly empty St. Peter’s Basilica. Pope Francis gave the traditional Easter Sunday Urbi et Orbi blessing from inside the basilica following Easter Sunday Mass. “Urbi et Orbi” means “To the City [of Rome] and to the World” and is a
special apostolic blessing given by the pope every year on Easter
Sunday, Christmas, and other special occasions.
“Today my thoughts turn in the first place to the many who have been
directly affected by the coronavirus: the sick, those who have died and
family members who mourn the loss of their loved ones, to whom, in some
cases, they were unable even to bid a final farewell. May the Lord of
life welcome the departed into his kingdom and grant comfort and hope to
those still suffering, especially the elderly and those who are alone,”
he said. The pope prayed for the vulnerable in nursing homes and prisons, for
the lonely, and for those suffering from economic difficulties. Pope Francis acknowledged that many Catholics are left without the
consolation of the sacraments this year. He said it is important to
remember that Christ has not left us alone, but reassures us, saying: “I
have risen and I am with you still.” “May Christ, who has already defeated death and opened for us the way
to eternal salvation, dispel the darkness of our suffering humanity and
lead us into the light of his glorious day, a day that knows no end,”
the pope prayed. Before the blessing, Pope Francis offered the Solemn Mass of Easter
at the Altar of the Chair in St. Peter’s Basilica without the presence
of the public due to the coronavirus. He did not give a homily this
year. Instead, he paused for a moment of silent reflection following the
Gospel, which was proclaimed in Greek. “In these weeks, the lives of millions of people have suddenly
changed,” he said. “This is not a time for indifference, because the
whole world is suffering and needs to be united in facing the pandemic.
May the risen Jesus grant hope to all the poor, to those living on the
peripheries, to refugees and the homeless.” Pope Francis called on political leaders to work for the common good
and to provide the means for everyone to lead a dignified life. He appealed to countries engaged in conflicts to support the call for a global ceasefire and to relax international sanctions.
“This is not a time for continuing to manufacture and deal in arms,
spending vast amounts of money that ought to be used to care for others
and save lives. Rather, may this be a time for finally ending the long
war that has caused such great bloodshed in Syria, the conflict in Yemen
and the hostilities in Iraq and in Lebanon,” the pope said. The reduction, if not the forgiveness, of debts can also help poor countries to support their citizens in need, he pointed out. Pope Francis prayed: “In Venezuela, may He enable concrete and
immediate solutions to be reached that can permit international
assistance to a population suffering from the grave political,
socio-economic and health situation.” “This is not a time for self-centeredness, because the challenge we
are facing is shared by all, without distinguishing between persons,” he
said. Pope Francis said that the European Union was facing “an epochal
challenge, on which will depend not only its future but that of the
whole world.” He called for solidarity and innovative solutions, saying
that the alternative would risk peaceful coexistence for future
generations. The pope prayed that this Easter season would be a time of dialogue
between Israelis and Palestinians. He asked the Lord to end the
sufferings of those who live in eastern Ukraine and the suffering of
people facing a humanitarian crisis in Africa and Asia. The resurrection of Christ is “the victory of love over the root of
evil, a victory that does not ‘by-pass’ suffering and death, but passes
through them, opening a path in the abyss, transforming evil into good:
this is the unique hallmark of the power of God,” Pope Francis said.
