Jesus asks James and John: “What is it you want me to do for you?” (Mk 10:36). Immediately afterwards he presses them: “Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” (Mk 10:38). Jesus poses questions and, in doing so, helps us to discern, because questions allow us to discover what is within us, casting light on our hearts’ desires, even those of which we are unaware.

Let us allow the word of the Lord to question us. Let us imagine that he is asking each one of us: “What is it you want me to do for you?”; and the second question: “Are you able to drink my cup?”.

Through these questions, Jesus reveals the ties between him and the disciples, as well as their expectations of him, with all the aspects typical of any relationship. James and John are indeed connected to Jesus, but they also have certain demands. They express the desire to be near him, but only in order to occupy a place of honour, to play an important role, “to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory” (Mk 10:37). They obviously think of Jesus as the Messiah, a victorious and glorious Messiah, and expect him to share his glory with them. They see in Jesus the Messiah, but regard him with the category of power.

Jesus does not stop at the disciples’ words, but delves deeper, listening to and reading the hearts of each of them and also each one of us. Then, in the exchange, through two questions, he tries to reveal the desire within their requests. Sometimes also in the Church we see these ideas about honour or power.

First, he asks: “What is it you want me to do for you?”, a question that reveals the thoughts of their hearts, bringing to light the hidden expectations and dreams of glory that the disciples secretly cultivate. It is as if Jesus asks: “Who do you want me to be for you?”. In this way, he unmasks their real desire: for a powerful and victorious Messiah who will give them a place of honour.

With his second question, Jesus refutes this image of a Messiah and so helps them to change their perspective, that is to be converted: “Are you able to drink the cup that I drink or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” Thus, he reveals that he is not the Messiah that they think; he is the God of love, who stoops down to reach the one who has sunk low; who makes himself weak to raise up the weak, who works for peace and not for war, who has come to serve and not to be served. The cup that the Lord will drink is the offering of his life, given to us out of love, even unto death, and death on a cross.

Moreover, on his right and on his left there will be two thieves, hanging like him on the cross and not seated on thrones of power; two thieves nailed with Christ in pain, not enthroned in glory. The crucified king, the just man condemned becomes the slave of all: truly this man is God’s Son! (cf. Mk 15:39). Those who dominate do not win, only those who serve out of love. We were also reminded of this in the Letter to the Hebrews: “We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are” (Heb 4:15).

At this point, Jesus can help his disciples to convert, to change their mindset: “You know that among the gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them” (Mk 10:42). But it must not be that way for those who follow God, who made himself a servant to reach everyone with his love. Those who follow Christ, if they wish to be great, must serve by learning from him.

Brothers and sisters, Jesus reveals the thoughts, desires and projections of our hearts, unmasking at times our expectations of glory, domination, power, and vanity. He helps us to think no longer according to the world’s criteria, but according to the way of God, who becomes last so that the last may be lifted up and become first. While these questions of Jesus, with his teaching on service, are often incomprehensible to us as they were to the disciples, yet by following him, by walking in his footsteps and welcoming the gift of his love that transforms our way of thinking, we too can learn God’s way of service. Let us not forget the three words that show God’s style of serving: closeness, compassion and tenderness. God draws near, becomes compassionate, and is tender in order to serve. Closeness, compassion and tenderness.

This is what we should yearn for: not power, but service. Service is the Christian way of life. It is not about a list of things to do, so that once done, we can consider our part completed; those who serve with love do not say: “now it’s someone else’s turn”. This is how employees think, not witnesses. Service is born from love, and love knows no bounds, it makes no calculations, it spends and it gives. It does not just do things to bring about results, it is not occasional service, but it is something that is born from the heart, a heart renewed by love and in love.

When we learn to serve, our every gesture of attention and care, every expression of tenderness, every work of mercy becomes a reflection of God’s love. So in this way, let all of us – each one of us – continue Jesus’ work in the world.

In light of this, we can remember the disciples of the Gospel who are being canonized today. Throughout the troubled history of humanity, they remained faithful servants, men and women who served in martyrdom and in joy, like Father Manuel Ruiz López and his companions. They are priests and religious fervent with missionary zeal, like Father Joseph Allamano, Sister Marie Leonie Paradis and Sister Elena Guerra. These new saints lived Jesus’ way: service. The faith and the apostolate they carried out did not feed their worldly desires and hunger for power but, on the contrary, they made themselves servants of their brothers and sisters, creative in doing the good, steadfast in difficulties and generous to the end.

We confidently ask their intercession so that we too can follow Christ, follow him in service and become witnesses of hope for the world.

20.10.24 m

Pope Francis  Angelus   20.10.24

Pope Francis  World Mission Day Message 20.10.24

Excerpt below, for the full transcript click here

The theme I have chosen for this year’s World Mission Day is taken from the Gospel parable of the wedding banquet (cf. Mt 22:1-14). After the guests refused his invitation, the king, the main character in the story, tells his servants: “Go therefore to the thoroughfares, and invite to the marriage feast as many as you find” (v. 9). Reflecting on this key passage in the context of the parable and of Jesus’ own life, we can discern several important aspects of evangelization. These appear particularly timely for all of us, as missionary disciples of Christ, during this final stage of the synodal journey that, in the words of its motto, “Communion, Participation, Mission”, seeks to refocus the Church on her primary task, which is the preaching of the Gospel in today’s world.

20.10.24 wmd

Pope Francis  General Audience  16.10.24  

The Holy Spirit in the faith of the Church

Excerpt below, for the full transcript click on the picture link above

With today’s catechesis, we will move on from what the Holy Spirit revealed to us in the Holy Scripture to how He is present and active in the life of the Church, in our Christian life.

In the first three centuries, the Church did not feel the need to give an explicit formulation of her faith in the Holy Spirit. For example, in the Church’s most ancient Creed, the so-called Symbol of the Apostles, after proclaiming: “I believe in God the Father almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was born, died, descended into hell, rose again from the dead and ascended into heaven”, adds: “I believe in the Holy Spirit” and nothing more, without any specification.

But it was heresy that drove the Church to define this faith. When this process began – with Saint Athanasius in the fourth century – it was precisely the experience she had of the sanctifying and divinizing action of the Holy Spirit that led the Church to the certainty of the full divinity of the Holy Spirit. This occurred during the Ecumenical Council of Constantinople in 381, which defined the divinity of the Holy Spirit with the well-known words we still repeat today in the Creed: “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets”.

To say that the Holy Spirit “is the Lord” was like saying that He shares the “Lordship” of God, that He belongs to the world of the Creator, not to that of creatures. The strongest affirmation is that He is due the same glory and adoration as the Father and the Son. It is the argument of equality in honour, dear to Saint Basil the Great, who was the main architect of that formula: the Holy Spirit is the Lord, He is God.

The Council definition was not a point of arrival, but of departure. And indeed, once the historical reasons that had obstructed a more explicit affirmation of the divinity of the Holy Spirit had been overcome, this was confidently proclaimed in the worship of the Church and in her theology. Saint Gregory of Nazianzus, in the aftermath of the Council, went on to state without hesitation: “Is the Holy Spirit then God? Certainly! Is He consubstantial? Yes, if He is true God” (Oratio 31, 5.10).

What does the article of faith we proclaim every Sunday at Mass say to us, believers of today: “I believe in the Holy Spirit”? In the past, it was mainly concerned with the statement that the Holy Spirit “proceeds from the Father”. The Latin Church soon supplemented this statement by adding, in the Creed of the Mass, that the Holy Spirit proceeds “also from the Son”. Since in Latin the expression “and from the Son” is called ‘Filioque’, this gave rise to the dispute known by this name, which has been the reason (or pretext) for so many disputes and divisions between the Church of the East and the Church of the West. It is certainly not the case to address the issue here, which, moreover, in the climate of dialogue established between the two Churches, has lost the acrimony of the past and today allows us to hope for full mutual acceptance, as one of the main “reconciled differences”. I like to say this: “reconciled differences”. Among Christians there are many differences: he belongs to this school, that other one; this person is a Protestant, that person… The important thing is that these differences are reconciled, in the love of walking together.

Having overcome this obstacle, today we can value the most important prerogative for us that is proclaimed in the article of the Creed, namely that the Holy Spirit is “life-giving”, the “giver of life”. Let us ask ourselves: what life does the Holy Spirit give? At the beginning, in creation, the breath of God gives Adam natural life; the statue of mud is made “a living being” (cf. Gen 2:7). Now, in the new creation, the Holy Spirit is He who gives believers new life, the life of Christ, supernatural life, as children of God. Paul can exclaim: “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death” (Rom 8:2).

In all of this, where is the great and consoling news for us? It is that the life given to us by the Holy Spirit is eternal life! Faith frees us from the horror of having to admit that everything ends here, that there is no redemption for the suffering and injustice that reign sovereign on earth. Another of the Apostle’s words assures us of this: “If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through His Spirit who dwells in you” (Rom 8:11). The Spirit dwells in us, He is within us.

Let us cultivate this faith also for those who, often through no fault of their own, are deprived of it and are unable to give meaning to life. And let us not forget to thank Him, who with His death, obtained this inestimable gift for us!

16.10.24

Pope Francis General Audience 16.10.24  

I extend a warm welcome to the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors, especially those coming from England, Denmark, Norway, South Africa, India, Kuwait, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea, Canada and the United States. I greet in particular the delegation from the NATO Defense College, the priests of the Institute for Continuing Theological Education at the North American College and the members of the Gregorian University Foundation. Upon all of you, and upon your families, I invoke the joy and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ. God bless you! 

Lastly, my thoughts turn to the young people, the sick, the elderly and newlyweds. Tomorrow the liturgy makes us celebrate the memory of St Ignatius of Antioch, a pastor ardent with love for Christ. May his example help everyone to rediscover the joy of being Christians.

And let's not forget the countries at war; let's not forget the martyred Ukraine, Palestine, Israel, Myanmar. Brothers and sisters, let us not forget that war is always, always, a defeat. Let us not forget this and pray for peace and fight for peace.

My blessing to you all!

16.10.24

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)

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Pope Francis  World Food Day Message 16.10.24

Excerpt below, for the full transcript click here

The 44th World Food Day invites us to reflect on the right to food for a better life and future. This is a priority, as it satisfies one of the basic needs of human beings, namely to be nourished in order to live in accordance with adequate qualitative and quantitative standards that guarantee the dignified existence of the human person. However, we see this right frequently undermined and not fairly applied, with the harmful consequences that this entails.

In the interest of promoting the right to food, the FAO keenly proposes to consider a transformation of food systems that takes into account the plurality and variety of nutritious, affordable, healthy and sustainable foods as a means to achieve food security and healthy diets for all.

16.10.24

Pope Francis  Angelus   13.10.24

How do we satiate our hunger for life and happiness?

Excerpt below, for the full transcript click on the picture link above

The Gospel of today’s liturgy (Mk 10, 17:30) tells us about a rich man who encounters Jesus and asks Him: “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (v. 17). Jesus invites him to leave everything and follow Him, but the man, sorrowful, goes away because, as the text says, “he had great possessions” (v. 23). It costs to leave everything.

We can see the two movements of this man: at the beginning he runs, to go to Jesus; at the end, though, he goes away sorrowful, he goes away sad. First, he runs towards, and then he goes away. Let us dwell on this.

First of all, this man goes to Jesus running. It is as if something in his heart urges him on: in fact, although he has many riches, he is dissatisfied, he feels restlessness inside, he is searching for a fuller life. As the sick and the possessed often do (cf. Mk 3:10; 5:6), we see this in the Gospel, he throws himself at the Master's feet; he is rich, yet in need of healing. He is rich but needs to be healed. Jesus looks at him with love (v. 21); then, He proposes a “therapy”: to sell everything he has, give it to the poor and follow Him. But, at this point, comes an unexpected conclusion: this man’s face falls and he goes away! So great and impetuous was his desire to meet Jesus; how cold and swift was his farewell.

We, too, carry in our hearts an irrepressible need for happiness and for a life full of meaning; however, we can fall into the illusion of thinking that the answer is found in the possession of material things and earthly securities. Instead, Jesus wants to bring us back to the truth of our desires and to make us discover that, in reality, the goodness we yearn for is God Himself, His love for us and the eternal life that He and He only can give us. The true wealth is to be looked upon with love by the Lord – this is a great wealth – and, as Jesus does with that man, to love each other by making our life a gift for others. Brothers and sisters, therefore, Jesus invites us to risk, to “risk love”: to sell everything to give it to the poor, which means divesting ourselves of the self and our false securities, making ourselves attentive to those who are in need and sharing our possessions, not just things, but what we are: our talents, our friendship, our time, and so on.

Brothers and sisters, that rich man did not want to risk, to risk what? He did not want to risk love, and he went away with a sad face. And us? Let us ask ourselves: what is our heart attached to? How do we satiate our hunger for life and happiness? Do we know how to share with those who are poor, with those who are in difficulty or in need of listening, of a smile, of a word to help them regain hope? Or who need to be listened to… Let us remember this: the true wealth is not the goods of this world, the true wealth is being loved by God, and learning to love like Him.

And now let us ask for the intercession of the Virgin Mary, so that she may help us discover in Jesus the treasure of life.

13.10.24

Pope Francis October 2024

For a shared mission

Let us pray that the Church continue to sustain a synodal lifestyle in every way, as a sign of co-responsibility, promoting the participation, communion and mission shared by priests, religious and laity.

We Christians are all responsible for the Church’s mission. Every priest. Everyone.

We priests are not the bosses of the laity, but their pastors. Jesus called us, one and others – not one above others, or one on one side and others on another side, but complementing each other. We are community. That is why we need to walk together, taking the path of synodality.

Sure, you could ask me, What can I do as a bus driver? A farmer? A fisher? What all of us need to do is to witness with our lives. Be co-responsible for the Church’s mission.

The laity, the baptized are in the Church, in their own home, and need to take care of it. So do we priests and consecrated persons. Everyone contributes what they know how to do best. We are co-responsible in mission, we participate and we live in the communion of the Church.

Let us pray that the Church continue to sustain a synodal lifestyle in every way, as a sign of co-responsibility, promoting the participation, communion and mission shared by priests, religious and laity.

October  2024

Pope Francis Holy Mass with Canonization 20.10.24