Pope Francis February 2020Hear the Cries of Migrants We pray that the cries of our migrant brothers and sisters, victims of criminal human smuggling and human trafficking, may be heard and considered. Migrants are often victims of criminal human smuggling and human trafficking. Pope Francis General Audience 19.02.20 Beatitudes - Blessed are the meek  In today's catechesis, we face the third of the eight Beatitudes of Matthew's Gospel: "Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth"(Mt 5:5). The term "meek" used here means literally sweet, meek, gentle, free of violence. Meekness manifests itself in moments of conflict, you can see from how one reacts to a hostile situation. Anyone may seem meek when everything is quiet, but how does one react "under pressure" if he is attacked, offended, assaulted. In Scripture the word "meek" also indicates the one who has no land ownership; and so it strikes us that the third Beatitude says precisely that the meek will inherit the earth. The meek is not an accommodating person but is the disciple of Christ who has learned to defend much more than land. He defends his peace, he defends his relationship with God, he defends his gifts, the gifts of God, keeping mercy, fraternity, trust, hope. Because meek people are merciful, fraternal, confident, and hopeful people. The "land" to be conquered with meekness is the salvation of the brother of whom Matthew's Gospel speaks: "If he listens to you, you will have won over brother"(Mt 18:15). There is no land more beautiful than the heart of others, there is no more beautiful territory to gain than the peace found with a brother. And that is the land to be inherited with meekness! Pope Francis General Audience 12.02.20 Beatitudes - Those who Weep  Blessed are those who weep, because they will be comforted (Matthew 5:4). This weeping, in the scriptures, can have two aspects: the first is for someone's death or suffering. Mourning is a bitter road, but it can be useful to open our eyes to the life and sacred and irreplaceable value of each person, and at that moment one realizes how short the time is. The other aspect is tears for sin – for one's own sin – when the heart bleeds in the pain of having offended God and our neighbour. One of the first monks, Efrem the Syrian says that a face washed by tears is unspeakably beautiful. The beauty of repentance, the beauty of crying, the beauty of contrition! God always forgives: let us not forget this. God always forgives, even the ugliest sins, always. The problem is within us, that we get tired of asking for forgiveness. God "does not treat us according to our sins and does not repay us according to our faults"(Psalm 103:10). Pope Francis - Christ is Alive!
Christ is alive! He is our hope, and in a wonderful way he brings youth to our world, and everything he touches becomes young, new, full of life. The very first words, then, that I would like to say to every young Christian are these: Christ is alive and he wants you to be alive! |  100 inspiring Quotes from Pope Francis listed in Subject order with the date and occasion when the quote was made Pope Francis Holy Mass Bali 23.02.20 Love your Enemies  If someone thinks badly of me, if someone hurts me, why can I not repay him with the same currency? “No”, says Jesus. Nonviolence. No act of violence. Our Father, continues to love everyone, even when his love is not reciprocated. If we want to be disciples of Christ, if we want to call ourselves Christians, this is the only way; there is no other. Having been loved by God, we are called to love in return; having been forgiven, we are called to forgive; having been touched by love, we are called to love without waiting for others to love first; having been saved graciously, we are called to seek no benefit from the good we do. Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. He asks of us the extremism of charity. This is the only legitimate kind of Christian extremism: the extremism of love. Love your enemies. We do well today, at Mass and afterwards, to repeat these words to ourselves and apply them to those who treat us badly, who annoy us, whom we find hard to accept, who trouble our serenity. For those who love God have no enemies in their hearts. The worship of God is contrary to the culture of hatred. And the culture of hatred is fought by combatting the cult of complaint. How many times do we complain about the things that we lack, about the things that go wrong! Jesus knows about all the things that don’t work. He knows that there is always going to be someone who dislikes us. Or someone who makes our life miserable. All he asks us to do is pray and love. Evil can only be conquered by goodness. Ask God for the strength to love. Pope Francis Angelus 16.02.20  Today’s Gospel reading (cf. Mt 5: 17-37) is from the “Sermon on the Mount” and deals with the subject of the fulfilment of the Law: how I must fulfil the Law, how it is to be done. Jesus wants to help His listeners take the right approach to the prescriptions of the Commandments given to Moses. Jesus’ discourse refers to murder, adultery, divorce and oaths. Jesus does not abolish the prescriptions concerning these issues, but He explains their full meaning and indicates the spirit in which they must be observed. He encourages us to move to accepting the Law in our hearts, which is the centre of the intentions, decisions, words and gestures of each one of us. From the heart come good and bad deeds. By accepting the Law of God in the heart one understands that, when one does not love one's neighbour, to some extent one kills oneself and others, because hatred, rivalry and division kill the fraternal charity that is the basis of interpersonal relationships. And Jesus is aware that it is not easy to live the Commandments in such an all-encompassing way. That is why He offers us the help of His love. Today Jesus asks us to continue on the path of love that He has indicated to us and which begins from the heart. This is the way to live as Christians. Subject Index of Homilies | The Gospel in your pocket "How do we receive the Word of God?”. The response is clear: “As one receives Jesus Christ. The Church tells us that Jesus is present in the Scripture, in His Word”. "Always carry a small Gospel with you in your purse, in your pocket, and read a passage from the Gospel during the day. Not so much “to learn” something, but mostly “to find Jesus, because Jesus actually is in His Word, in His Gospel”. “Every time I read the Gospel, I find Jesus”. - Pope Francis 01.09.14 Daily Readings - read the entire New Testament over a 2 year period (reading plan courtesy of Gideon International) Pope Francis - Holy Mass Santa Marta (Domus Sanctae Marthae) 18.02.20  Compassion is what the Lord wants in us. The hard heart leads to quarrels, it leads to wars, it leads to selfishness, it leads to the destruction of the brother, because there is no compassion. Let us ask for the grace to have a heart that is not ideological and therefore hardened, but open and compassionate in the face of what is happening in the world because by this we will be judged on the day of judgment, not by our ideas or our ideologies. "I was hungry, you fed me; I've been in prison, you've come to see me; I was afflicted and you consoled me" is written in the Gospel and this is compassion, this is the non-hardness of heart. And humility, the memory of our roots and our salvation, will help us to preserve it. The Lord cannot enter hard hearts; the Lord cannot enter ideological hearts. The Lord enters only the hearts that are like his heart: compassionate hearts, hearts that have compassion, open hearts. Let the Lord give us this grace. Pope Francis - Holy Mass Santa Marta (Domus Sanctae Marthae) 13.02.20  The First Reading (1 Kings 11:4-13), tells of the apostasy of Solomon as he turns away from the Lord in his old age. King Solomon did not just sin once but slid into sin. The women led his heart astray, and the Lord rebuked him: ‘You have turned your heart away.’ This happens in our own lives. But wherein lies the danger? Letting ourselves slide slowly, because it is an anesthetized fall. You don’t even realize it, but slowly you slip. Things get relativized, and faithfulness to God is lost. How often do we forget the Lord and begin to deal with other gods: money, vanity, pride. But this is done slowly, and without the grace of God everything is lost. For us this slippery slide in life is towards worldliness. This is the grave sin: ‘Everyone is doing it, don’t worry about it; obviously it’s not ideal, but…’ We justify ourselves with these words to the price of losing our faithfulness to the one God. They are modern idols. There is no way to maintain a good relationship with God and the devil. Let us ask the Lord for the grace to understand when our heart begins to weaken and to slide, so that we can stop. It will be His grace and His love that will stop us if we pray for him. Pope Francis - Holy Mass Santa Marta (Domus Sanctae Marthae) 04.02.20  God's love reaches the extreme. Who is on the cross, is God, the Son of the Father, sent to give life for us. It would be good in the difficult moments in our lives — and we all have them — in moments of sin, in moments when we feel far from God, to hear this voice in our hearts: ‘My son, my daughters, what are you doing? Don’t kill yourself, please. I died for you. |
