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.
Pope Francis invites all the faithful to take part in a special Day of Prayer and Fasting for PEACE - on February 23rd, 2018, the Friday of the First Week of Lent.
Pope in Angelus: Victories won through violence are false victories - Published on Feb 5, 2018
IL-PAPA FRANĠISKU ANGELUS Pjazza San Pietru Il-Ħadd, 4 ta’ Frar 2018
Pope Francis fights corruption with invisible ministry - Published on Feb 5, 2018
Ignoring the corruption around us doesn’t do any good. If we want to end corruption and stop it from doing so much damage in our world, we have to stare it down and speak clearly, just as Pope Francis is.
Say “No” to Corruption – February 2018 - The Pope Video - Published on 1 Feb 2018
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”.
************
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
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.
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.
