New!Clean Pure Christlike energy to move 1063 pounds of bricks in one sheer movement using the power of a man's back or horses requires energy.That is all!Abraham had no four wheel engined vehicle but he had faith and common sense to do whatever God demanded of him in a way that was efficient and respectful to all of God's creation of which he was a part.Abraham also had no written law; also true for Joseph or Jacob or Moses when Moses crossed the red sea.All posts are authored by Warren A.Lyon.
Here is a Vatican translation of the annual Christmas greetings the Pope offers to the Roman Curia.
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Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I would like to begin this meeting of ours by offering cordial good wishes to all of you, superiors and officials, papal representatives and staff of the Nunciatures worldwide, all those working in the Roman Curia and to your families. Best wishes for a holy and serene Christmas and a happy New Year 2017!
Saint Augustine, contemplating the face of the Baby Jesus, exclaimed: “immense in the form of God, tiny in the form of a slave”. To describe the mystery of the Incarnation, Saint Macarius, the fourth-century monk and disciple of Saint Anthony Abbot, used the Greek verb “smikryno”, to become small, to reduce to the bare minimum. He says: “Listen attentively: the infinite, unapproachable and uncreated God, in his immense and ineffable goodness has taken a body, and, I dare say, infinitely diminished his glory”.
Christmas is thus the feast of the loving humility of God, of the God who upsets our logical expectations, the established order, the order of the dialectician and the mathematician. In this upset lies all the richness of God’s own thinking, which overturns our limited human ways of thinking (cf. Is 55: 8-9). As Romano Guardini said: “What an overturning of all our familiar values – not only human values but also divine values! Truly this God upsets everything that we claim to build up on our own”. At Christmas, we are called to say “yes” with our faith, not to the Master of the universe, and not even to the most noble of ideas, but precisely to this God who is the humble lover.
Blessed Paul VI, on Christmas of 1971, said: “God could have come wrapped in glory, splendour, light and power, to instill fear, to make us rub our eyes in amazement. But instead he came as the smallest, the frailest and weakest of beings. Why? So that no one would be ashamed to approach him, so that no one would be afraid, so that all would be close to him and draw near him, so that there would be no distance between us and him. God made the effort to plunge, to dive deep within us, so that each of us, each of you, could speak intimately with him, trust him, draw near him and realize that he thinks of you and loves you… He loves you! Think about what this means! If you understand this, if you remember what I am saying, you will have understood the whole of Christianity”.
God chose to be born a tiny child because he wanted to be loved. Here we see, as it were, how the logic of Christmas is the overturning of worldly logic, of the mentality of power and might, the thinking of the Pharisees and those who see things only in terms of causality or determinism.
In this gentle yet overpowering light of the divine countenance of the Christ Child, I have chosen as the theme of this, our yearly meeting, the reform of the Roman Curia. It seemed to me right and fitting to share with you the framework of the reform, to point out its guiding principles, the steps taken so far, but above all the logic behind every step already taken and what is yet to come.
Here I spontaneously think of the ancient adage that describes the process of the Spiritual Exercises in the Ignatian method: deformata reformare, reformata conformare, conformata confirmare et confirmata transformare.
There can be no doubt that, for the Curia, the word reform is to be understood in two ways. First of all, it has to make the Curia con-form “to the Good News which must be proclaimed joyously and courageously to all, especially to the poor, the least and the outcast”. To make it con-form “to the signs of our time and to all its human achievements”, so as “better to meet the demands of the men and women whom we are called to serve”. At the same time, this means con-forming the Curia ever more fully to its purpose, which is that of cooperating in the ministry of the Successor of Peter (cum ipso consociatam operam prosequuntur, as the Motu Proprio Humanam Progressionem puts it), and supporting the Roman Pontiff in the exercise of his singular, ordinary, full, supreme, immediate and universal power.
Consequently, the reform of the Roman Curia must be guided by ecclesiology and directed in bonum et in servitium, as is the service of the Bishop of Rome. This finds eloquent expression in the words of Pope Saint Gregory the Great, quoted in the third chapter of the Constitution Pastor Aeternus of the First Vatican Council: “My honour is that of the universal Church. My honour is the solid strength of my brothers. I feel truly honoured when none of them is denied his due honour”.
Since the Curia is not an immobile bureaucratic apparatus, reform is first and foremost a sign of life, of a Church that advances on her pilgrim way, of a Church that is living and for this reason semper reformanda, in need of reform because she is alive.
Here it must clearly be said that reform is not an end unto itself, but rather a process of growth and above all of conversion.
Consequently, the aim of reform is not aesthetic, an effort to improve the looks of the Curia, nor can it be understood as a sort of facelift, using make-up and cosmetics to embellish its aging body, nor even as an operation of plastic surgery to take away its wrinkles.
Dear brothers and sisters, it isn’t wrinkles we need to worry about in the Church, but blemishes!
Seen in this light, we need to realize that the reform will be effective only if it is carried out with men and women who are renewed and not simply new. We cannot be content simply with changing personnel, but need to encourage spiritual, human and professional renewal among the members of the Curia. The reform of the Curia is in no way implemented with a change of persons – something that certainly is happening and will continue to happen – but with a conversion in persons. Permanent formation is not enough; what we need also and above all is permanent conversion and purification. Without a change of mentality, efforts at practical improvement will be in vain.
That is why, in our last two meetings at Christmas, I discussed certain “diseases”, drawing on the teaching of the Desert Fathers (2014), and compiled, on the basis of the word “mercy”, a catalogue of virtues necessary for curial officials and all those who wish their consecration or service to the Church to become more fruitful (2015). The underlying reason is that, as in the case of the Church overall, the semper reformanda must also become, in the case of the Curia, a permanent personal and structural process of conversion.
It was necessary to speak of disease and cures because every surgical operation, if it is to be successful, must be preceded by detailed diagnosis and careful analysis, and needs to be accompanied and followed up by precise prescriptions.
In this process, it is normal, and indeed healthy, to encounter difficulties, which in the case of the reform, might present themselves as different types of resistance. There can be cases of open resistance, often born of goodwill and sincere dialogue, and cases of hidden resistance, born of fearful or hardened hearts content with the empty rhetoric of “spiritual window-dressing” typical of those who say they are ready for change, yet want everything to remain as it was before. There are also cases of malicious resistance, which spring up in misguided minds and come to the fore when the devil inspires ill intentions (often cloaked in sheep’s clothing). This last kind of resistance hides behind words of self-justification and often accusation; it takes refuge in traditions, appearances, formalities, in the familiar, or else in a desire to make everything personal, failing to distinguish between the act, the actor, and the action.
The absence of reaction is a sign of death! Consequently, the good cases of resistance – and even those not quite so good – are necessary and merit being listened to, welcomed and their expression encouraged, because this is a sign that the body is living.
All this is to say that the reform of the Curia is a delicate process that has to take place in fidelity to essentials, with constant discernment, evangelical courage and ecclesial wisdom, careful listening, persevering action, positive silence and firm decisions. It requires much prayer, much prayer, profound humility, farsightedness, concrete steps forward and – whenever necessary – even with steps backward, with determination, vitality, responsible exercise of power, unconditioned obedience, but above all by abandonment to the sure guidance of the Holy Spirit and trust in his necessary support. And, for this reason, prayer, prayer and prayer.
SOME GUIDING PRINCIPLES OF THE REFORM
These are principally twelve: individualism; pastoral concern; missionary spirit; clear organization; improved functioning; modernization; sobriety; subsidiarity; synodality; catholicity; professionalism and gradualism.
Once again I reaffirm the importance of individual conversion, without which all structural change would prove useless. The true soul of the reform are the men and women who are part of it and make it possible. Indeed, personal conversion supports and reinforces communal conversion.
There is a powerful interplay between personal and communal attitudes. A single person can bring great good to the entire body, but also bring great harm and lead to sickness. A healthy body is one that can recover, accept, reinforce, care for and sanctify its members.
2. Pastoral concern (pastoral conversion)
Mindful of the figure of the shepherd (cf. Ez 34:16; Jn 10:1-21) and recognizing that the Curia is a community of service, “it is good for us too, called to be pastors in the Church, to let the face of God the Good Shepherd enlighten us, purify us and transform us, fully renewed, to our mission. That even in our workplaces we may feel, cultivate and practise a sound pastoral sense, especially towards the people whom we meet each day. May no one feel overlooked or mistreated, but may everyone experience, here first of all, the care and concern of the Good Shepherd”. Behind every paper there is a person.
The efforts of all who work in the Curia must be inspired by pastoral concern and a spirituality of service and communion, for this is the antidote to all the venoms of vain ambition and illusory rivalry. Paul VI cautioned that “the Roman Curia should not be a bureaucracy, as some wrongly judge it, pretentious and apathetic, merely legalistic and ritualistic, a training ground of concealed ambitions and veiled antagonisms, as others would have it. Rather, it should be a true community of faith and charity, of prayer and of activity, of brothers and sons of the Pope, who carry out their duties respecting one another’s competence and with a sense of collaboration, in order to serve him as he serves his brothers and sons of the universal Church and of the entire world”.
3. Missionary spirit (Christocentrism)
As the Council taught, it is the chief aim of all forms of service in the Church to bring the Good News to the ends of the earth. For “there are Church structures which can hamper efforts at evangelization, yet even good structures are only helpful when there is a life constantly driving, sustaining and assessing them. Without new life and an authentic evangelical spirit, without the Church’s fidelity to her own calling, any new structure will soon prove ineffective.”
4. Clear organization
On the basis of the principle that all Dicasteries are juridically equal, a clearer organization of the offices of the Roman Curia was needed, in order to bring out the fact that each Dicastery has its own areas of competence. These areas of competence must be respected, but they must also be distributed in a reasonable, efficient and productive way. No Dicastery can therefore appropriate the competence of another Dicastery, in accordance with what is laid down by law. On the other hand, all Dicasteries report directly to the Pope.
5. Improved functioning
The eventual merging of two or more Dicasteries competent in similar or closely connected matters to create a single Dicastery serves on the one hand to give the latter greater importance (even externally). On the other hand, the closeness and interaction of individual bodies within a single Dicastery contributes to improved functioning (as shown by the two recently created Dicasteries).
Improved functioning also demands an ongoing review of roles, the relevance of areas of competence, and the responsibilities of the personnel, and consequently of the process of reassignment, hiring, interruption of work and also promotions.
6. Modernization (updating)
This involves an ability to interpret and attend to “the signs of the times.” In this sense, “We are concerned to make provisions that the Dicasteries of the Roman Curia be suited to the circumstances of our time and adapted to the needs of the universal Church”. Such was the request of the Second Vatican Council: “the departments of the Roman Curia should be reorganized in a manner more appropriate to the needs of our time and of different regions and rites, especially in regard to their number, their titles, their competence, their procedures and how they coordinate their activities”.
7. Sobriety
Here what is called for is a simplification and streamlining of the Curia. This involves the combination or merging of Dicasteries based on their areas of competence; simplification within individual Dicasteries; the eventual suppression of offices no longer responding to contingent needs; the integration into Dicasteries or the reduction of Commissions, Academies, Committees, etc., all in view of the essential sobriety needed for a proper and authentic witness.
8. Subsidiarity
This involves the reordering of areas of competence specific to the various Dicasteries, transferring them if necessary from one Dicastery to another, in order to achieve autonomy, coordination and subsidiarity in areas of competence and effective interaction in service.
Here too, respect must be shown for the principles of subsidiarity and clear organization with regard to relations with the Secretariat of State and, within the latter, among its various areas of competence, so that carrying out its proper duties it will be of direct and immediate assistance to the Pope. This will also improve coordination between the various sectors of the Dicasteries and the Offices of the Curia themselves. The Secretariat of State will be able to carry out its important function precisely in achieving unity, interdependence and coordination between its sections and different sectors.
9. Synodality
The work of the Curia must be synodal, with regular meetings of Heads of the Dicasteries, presided over by the Roman Pontiff; regularly scheduled Audiences of Heads of the Dicasteries with the Pope, and the customary interdicasterial meetings. The reduced number of Dicasteries will allow for more frequent and systematic meetings of individual Prefects with the Pope and productive meetings of Heads of Dicasteries, since this cannot be the case when groups are too large.
Synodality must also be evident in the work of each Dicastery, with particular attention to the Congress and at least a greater frequency of the Ordinary Sessions. Each Dicastery must avoid the fragmentation caused by factors such as the multiplication of specialized sectors, which can tend to become self-absorbed. Their coordination must be the task of the Secretary, or the Undersecretary.
10. Catholicity
Among the Officials, in addition to priests and consecrated persons, the catholicity of the Church must be reflected in the hiring of personnel from throughout the world, of permanent deacons and lay faithful carefully selected on the basis of their unexceptionable spiritual and moral life and their professional competence. It is fitting to provide for the hiring of greater numbers of the lay faithful, especially in those Dicasteries where they can be more competent than clerics or consecrated persons. Also of great importance is an enhanced role for women and lay people in the life of the Church and their integration into roles of leadership in the Dicasteries, with particular attention to multiculturalism.
11. Professionalism
Every Dicastery must adopt a policy of continuing formation for its personnel, to avoid their falling into a rut or becoming stuck in a bureaucratic routine.
Likewise essential is the definitive abolition of the practice of promoveatur ut amoveatur. This is a cancer.
12. Gradualism (discernment)
Gradualism has to do with the necessary discernment entailed by historical processes, the passage of time and stages of development, assessment, correction, experimentation, and approvals ad experimentum. In these cases, it is not a matter of indecision, but of the flexibility needed to be able to achieve a true reform.
STEPS ALREADY TAKEN
I will now mention briefly and concisely some steps already taken to put into practice these guiding principles and the recommendations made by the Cardinals in the plenary meetings before the Conclave, by the COSEA, by the Council of Cardinals (C9), and by the Heads of the Dicasteries and other experts and individuals:
– On 13 April 2013 it was announced that the Council of Cardinals (Consilium Cardinalium Summo Pontifici) – the C8 and, after 1 July 2014, the C9 – was created, primarily to counsel the Pope on the governance of the universal Church and on other related topics, also with the specific task of proposing the revision of the Apostolic Constitution Pastor Bonus.
– With the Chirograph of 24 June 2013, the Pontifical Commission for Reference on the Institute for Works of Religion was established, in order to study the legal status of the IOR and to allow for its greater ”harmonization” with “the universal mission of the Apostolic See”. This was “to ensure that economic and financial activities be permeated by Gospel principles” and to achieve a complete and acknowledged transparency in its operation.
– With the Motu Proprio of 11 July 2013, provisions were made to define the jurisdiction of the judicial authorities of Vatican City State in criminal matters.
– With the Chirograph of 18 July 2013, the COSEA (Pontifical Commission for Reference on the Organization of the Economic-Administrative Structure) was instituted and given the task of research, analysis and the gathering of information, in cooperation with the Council of Cardinals for the study of the organizational and economic problems of the Holy See.
– With the Motu Proprio of 8 August 2013, the Holy See’s Financial Security Committee was established for the prevention and countering of money laundering, the financing of terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. This was to bring the IOR and the entire Vatican economic system to the regular adoption of, and fully committed and diligent compliance with, all international legal norms on financial transparency.
– With the Motu Proprio of 15 November 2013, the Financial Intelligence Authority (AIF), established by Benedict XVI with his Motu Proprio of 30 December 2010 for the prevention and countering of illegal activities in the area of monetary and financial dealings, was consolidated.
– With the Motu Proprio 24 February 2014 (Fidelis Dispensator et Prudens), the Secretariat for the Economy and the Council for the Economy were established to replace the Council of 15 Cardinals, with the task of harmonizing the policies of control in regard to the economic management of the Holy See and the Vatican City.
– With the same Motu Proprio of 24 February 2014, the Office of General Auditor (URG) was established as a new agency of the Holy See, charged with auditing the Dicasteries of the Roman Curia, the institutions connected with to the Holy See or associated with it, and the administrations of the Governatorate of Vatican City.
– With the Chirograph of 22 March 2014, the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors was established, in order “to promote the protection of the dignity of minors and vulnerable adults, using the forms and methods, consonant with the nature of the Church, which they consider most appropriate”.
– With the Motu Proprio of 8 July 2014, the Ordinary Section of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See was transferred to the Secretariat for the Economy.
– On 22 February 2015, the Statutes of the new economic agencies were approved.
– With the Motu Proprio of 27 June 2015, the Secretariat for Communication was established and charged “to respond to the current context of communication, characterized by the presence and evolution of digital media, and by factors of convergence and interactivity”. The Secretariat was also charged with overall restructuring, through a process of reorganization and merging, of “all the realities which in various ways up to the present have dealt with communications”, so as to “respond ever better to the needs of the mission of the Church”
– On 6 September 2016, the Statutes of the Secretariat for Communication were promulgated; they took effect last October.
With the two Motu Proprios of 15 August 2015, provisions were made for the reform of the canonical process in cases of declaration of marital nullity: Mitis et Misericors Iesus for the Code of Canons of the Oriental Churches, and Mitis Iudex Dominus Iesus for the Code of Canon Law.
– With the Motu Proprio of 4 June 2016 (Come una madre amorevole), an effort was made to prevent negligence on the part of bishops in the exercise of their office, especially with regard to cases of the sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable adults.
– With the Motu Proprio of 4 July 2016 (I beni temporali), following the rule whereby the organs of oversight should be separate from those that being overseen, the respective areas of competence of the Secretariat of the Economy and of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See should be more carefully delineated.
– With the Motu Proprio of 15 August 2016 (Sedula Mater), the Dicastery for Laity, the Family and Life was established, in the light of the general pastoral purpose of the Petrine ministry: “I hasten to arrange all things necessary in order that the richness of Christ Jesus may be poured forth appropriately and profusely among the faithful”.
– With the Motu Proprio of 17 August 2016 (Humanum progressionem), the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development was established, so that development can take place “by attending to the inestimable goods of justice, peace and the care of creation”. Beginning in January 2017, four Pontifical Councils – Justice and Peace, Cor Unum, the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, and Healthcare Workers – will be merged into this Dicastery. For the time being, I will directly head the section for the pastoral care of migrants in the new Dicastery.
– On 18 October 2016, the Statutes of the Pontifical Academy for Life were approved.
Our meeting today began by speaking of the meaning of Christmas as the overturning of our human criteria, in order to emphasize that the heart and centre of the reform is Christ (Christocentrism).
I would like to conclude simply with a word and a prayer. The word is to reiterate that Christmas is the feast of God’sloving humility. As the prayer I have chosen the Christmas message of Father Matta el Meskin, a monk of our time, who, addressing the Lord Jesus born in Bethlehem, said: “If for us the experience of (your) infancy is so difficult, it is not so for you, O Son of God. If we stumble along the way that leads to communion with you because of your smallness, you are capable of removing all the obstacles that prevent us from doing this. We know that you will not be at peace until you find us in your likeness and with this (same) smallness. Allow us today, O Son of God, to draw dear to your heart. Grant that we may not consider ourselves great in our experiences. Grant us instead to become small like you, so that we can draw near to you and receive from you abundant humility and meekness. Do not deprive us of your revelation, the epiphany of your infancy in our hearts, so that with it we can heal all our pride and all our arrogance. We greatly need… for you to reveal in us your simplicity, by drawing us, and indeed the Church and the whole world, to yourself. Our world is weary and exhausted, because everyone is vying to see who is the greatest. There is a ruthless competition between governments, churches, peoples, within families, from one parish to another: Who of us is the greatest? The world is festering with painful wounds because of this great illness: Who is the greatest? But today we have found in you, O Son of God, our one medicine. We, and the whole world, will not find salvation or peace unless we go back to encounter you anew in the manger of Bethlehem. Amen.
Thank you, and I wish you a Holy Christmas and a Blessed New Year 2017!
[The Pope added the following extemporaneous remarks]
When, two years ago, I spoke about the illnesses, one of you came to say to me: “Where must I go, to the pharmacy or to confession?” “Well… both!” I replied. And when I greeted Cardinal Brandmüller, he looked me in the eye and said: “Acquaviva!” I, at the time, did not understand, but later, thinking about it, I remembered that Acquaviva, the third general of the Society of Jesus, had written a book which we students read in Latin; the spiritual fathers made us read it, and it was entitled: Industriae pro SuperioribusejusdemSocietatis ad curandos animae morbos, that is, the illnesses of the soul. Three months ago, a very good edition came out in Italian, done by Father Giuliano Raffo, who died recently, with a good prologue which indicates how to read the book, and also with a good introduction. It is not a critical edition, but it is a really beautiful translation, very well done, and I believe it could be useful. As a Christmas gift, I would like to offer it to each one of you. Thank you.
At 9:08 this morning, Pope Francis was connected by telephone with the TG1-RAII“Unomattina”television program, on the occasion of the 30thanniversaryof its transmission.
Here is a translation of the transcription of the words spoken by the Holy Father in the course of the telephone call.
* * *
Master of Ceremonies: Hello, Your Holiness …
Pope Francis:Good morning!
Master of Ceremonies: Good morning, thank you!
Pope Francis:I’ve been told that today is an important date for those of you of“Unomattina”: you are observing 30 years of broadcasting …
Master of Ceremonies: It’s true …
Pope Francis:I wish to congratulate you, the authors of the program, the masters of ceremonies, the journalists, the directors, the technicians, the employees … in sum, all those who cooperate in the realization of this very popular transmission. I know that today the Directors of TG1 and RAI 1 are also present: a greeting goes to them and good work!
Master of Ceremonies: Thank you, Holiness. We — Francesca and I — together with all our journalists, directors, and technicians wish to congratulate you for your Birthday, for your 80 years. And then we prepared a little surprise for you, Holiness. Here it is …
Pope Francis:Let’s see what the little surprise is … (part of a montage on Pope Francis)
Master of Ceremonies: Holiness, are you still on the telephone with us?
Pope Francis:Yes, yes, and I thank you for the surprise.
Master of Ceremonies: We want to thank you and, given that Christmas is in a few days, we would like to know if …
Master of Ceremonies: … in the meantime we express our Christmas greetings: Happy Christmas, Holiness!
Master of Ceremonies: … if you would like to leave a message for all those who follow us from their home: among them there are also many elderly and many sick individuals …
Pope Francis:Yes. Yes I wish you a Christian Christmas, as the first was, when God wished to overturn the values of the world, He made Himself small in a stable, with little ones, with the poor, with the marginalized … Littleness. In this world where the god money is so adored, may Christmas help us to look at the littleness of this God who has overturned worldly values. I wish you a Holy and Happy Christmas: a Holy and Happy Christmas. I embrace all of you.
Master of Ceremonies: Thank you, Holiness. Happy Christmas.
ALEPPO, Syria (Dec. 22, 2016)—For the past few days, Aleppo city has been breathing sighs of relief. Since the rebels reached an agreement with the regime forces and its allies to evacuate all civilians and militants from their last stronghold in east Aleppo city, there finally can be some peace.
From the very start of the Syrian civil war, Aleppo has paid the greatest price on the humanitarian, social, economic and environmental level. Many people had to evacuate their houses and shops due to violence. So many lives were lost, leaving countless numbers of widows and orphans. Trees and park benches are chopped by those desperate for heating, given the scarcity of fuel and gas and exorbitant prices. Once a city of five million inhabitants, only 1.5 million people remain.
This particularly cold winter many families are left homeless, finding shelter in the streets, in abandoned factories and construction sites. Humanitarian agencies are not managing to coordinate their activities, which has resulted in chaos. Most of the evacuated children have not been able to go to school for the last three years, which spells disaster for the next generation of adults. Disease is spreading freely among women and children, many of them left without a father who has been evacuated from eastern Aleppo.
No Christian here ever thought of leaving Aleppo were it not for the hell in which people have been living. The humanitarian conditions are horrific. The city has been without electricity for the past six months! Even when the power lines are operating normally, only one or two hours of service at best is provided. Water is cut off routinely and many parts of Aleppo have been without water for 40 days. The old historic churches in the old city area are destroyed beyond repair.
Aleppo was home to 120,000 Christians before the war; now only 30,000 remain. The war, the violence, the horrible humanitarian conditions, and the fear for their lives and the lives of their children forced families to take the tough decision to flee to Lebanon or beyond.
Clergy and men and women religious who have remained are continuing their ministry to those who are still here. Jesuit Relief Services here serves 10,000 hot meals every day to people of all faiths and backgrounds; we also hand-out baskets each day with both food and non-food items. We also provide medical and social services. All the Churches in the city work in harmony to help Christians and Muslims alike.
Despite these harsh conditions, Christmas still comes with its message of hope—hope for peace that has been so elusive for five years. Bells will be ringing in the churches that are still standing, announcing glad tidings: Emmanuel, God is with us. My Christmas Mass homily will have as its theme: “Mercy: the hand that opens the doors so that the spirit of love may come in.”
My reflections will touch upon something few in the West realize: Christians in Aleppo have always played a major part in mediation between warring factions. They need to continue to play that vital role, especially now, when the country has taken a step toward a new chapter of peace and reconstruction. Syrian Christians will follow the lead of Pope Francis, who insists that that there is a three-part solution to the Syrian crisis: forgiveness, dialogue, and reconciliation. Bringing that about is the calling of every Christian in Syria today.
Father Hilal, S.J., is the representative in Syria for the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). Since the beginning of the Syrian civil war in 2011, ACN has spent approx. $20M in support of the persecuted and suffering Church in the country.
Pope Francis on Wednesday received in audience Cardinal Angelo Amato, S.D.B., prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, during which he authorized the promulgation of the following decrees.
Among them is the recognition of the heroic virtue of Isidoro Zorzano Ledesma, who was a classmate of Josemaria Escriva, the founder of Opus Dei. Zorzano was one of the first members of Opus Dei, and was instrumental in assisting Fr Escriva and others during the Spanish Civil War. He died of cancer at age 40.
— MIRACLES, attributed to the intercession of: Blessed Faustino Miguez, Spanish professed priest of the Order of Poor Clerics Regular of the Mother of God of the Pious Schools (Escolapios), founder of the Congregation of the Calasanzian Sisters, Daughters of the Divine Shepherdess (1831-1925); Venerable Servant of God Leopoldina Naudet, Italian founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Family (1773-1834);
MARTYRDOM Servants of God Mateo Casals, professed priest; Teófilo Casajús, professed scholastic; Fernando Saperas, professed religious; and 106 companions of the Congregation of Missionaries Sons of the Immaculate Heart of the Virgin Mary, killed in hatred of the faith during the civil war in Spain between 1936 and 1937;
HEROIC VIRTUES Servant of God Jean-Baptiste Fouque, French diocesan priest (1851-1926); Servant of God Lorenzo of the Holy Spirit (né Egidio Marcelli), Italian professed religious of the Congregation of the Passion of Jesus Christ (1874-1953); Servant of God Maria Rafaela del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús (néè Sebastiana Lladó y Sala), Spanish founder of the Congregation of the Missionaries of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary (1814-1899); Servant of God Clelia Merloni, Italian founder of the Institute of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (1861-1930); Servant of GodIsidoro Zorzano Ledesma, Spanish layperson of the Personal Prelature of the Holy Cross and of Opus Dei (1902-1943).
Here is a reflection for Christmas byBishop Michael Smith of Meath, Ireland.
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The Scripture texts that tell the story of the birth of Jesus take us into an unfamiliar divine world, one featuring annunciation by angels, visions of angelic choirs, people breaking out into canticles of joy and so forth. But along with all this specialness is a lot of ordinariness too. We are told of a young girl Mary who is, at first, “deeply disturbed” (Lk. 29) by what the angel’s greeting could mean. Nor is the honourable and righteous Joseph without confusion (cf. Mt. 1.20). There are government decrees requiring travel at a most inconvenient time; finding no place to stay when the child is about to be born.
These two threads – the marvelous and the ordinary – are woven together in the Scriptures in a way that is surely intentional on the part of the Evangelists, especially St Luke. The divine intervention, the fulfillment of the Hebrew promise, comes about in the ordinary dilemmas of life. But it does so in surprising and unexpected ways. The obstacles and fears – the dropped stitches, so to speak – are eventually picked up and sewn back into a broader divine purpose.
As believers, we all live on a divine promise. We look for the completion of that promise in the reality of our lives and in the communities to which we belong. Yet we find a painful gap between what we expect from the promise and the reality that we see. That reality, all too often, is marred by brokenness and pain. When lives are scarred by sin, when communities are crushed by cruelties and deceit, our faith is challenged to find the harmony between what God has promised and what we see around us.
Let Mary takes us with her to face this challenge of faith. She had much to contemplate as she surrendered herself to God’s will. On two occasions, Luke tells us that even Mary’s faith is shrouded in darkness. The first at the Annunciation; the second when her Son is found in the Temple and His parents “did not understand the meaning of the saying He spoke to them” (Lk. 2:50).
Yet, as Pope Benedict XVI points out, twice Mary kept these words in her heart (Lk. 2:19, 51). Her twice encountered fears are matched by her twice expression of faith. Specifically, she “treasured” and “pondered” and “stored up all these things in her heart”. For Mary, despite the sword that would pierce the very heart in which she stored this treasure, she pondered the divine promise and said yes to whatever God would ask of her.
When Mary and her cousin Elizabeth shared their stories, that was the beginning of the Christian community of faith. Mary is presented as the model of our faith. “Blessed is she who believed that the promise made to her by the Lord would be fulfilled” as Elizabeth had said to her (Lk. 1:45).
Every family is urged by Pope Francis to look to the icon of the Holy Family of Nazareth because its daily life had its share of burdens and even darkness. Like the Magi, our families are invited to contemplate the Child and His Mother, to bow down and worship Him (cf. Amoris Laetitia, 30).
Pope Francis specifically refers to “the treasury of Mary’s heart” (AL 30). In the gap between the divine promise in which we trust and the painful reality in which we sometimes live, all that is stored up in the treasury of Mary’s heart becomes for us the source of our faith. She gathered this treasure from amidst the marvelous and the ordinary. A child is born for us. He is God-with-us. Dominion is laid on His shoulders. He frees us for our sins and directs us in the path of righteousness that leads to peace. Whether wine flowed at Cana or the blood of Her Son was poured forth on Calvary, Mary was there, her steadfastness and fidelity undimmed.
As we draw on the treasury of Mary’s heart – filled as it is with the marvelous and the ordinary – we can make our own her song of joy: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit exults in God my saviour” (Lk 1:46-47).
Today, Pope Francis met with Holy See and Vatican City State staff, with their respective relatives, to offer Christmas greetings.
Here is a translation of the Holy Father’s address to those present.
* * *
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
We meet again for this beautiful family moment, to exchange Christmas greetings. It is a very pleasing moment for me, because it is the occasion for us to be all together, also with your families, wives and husbands, children, parents, who are often grandparents …
First of all, I want to thank the Lord with you for all His gifts. Because it is true that in these days one thinks of Christmas presents, but in reality He is the one who gives us the true gift, our Father, who gives us Jesus. And, in fact, our gifts, this lovely tradition of exchanging gifts, should express this: a reflection of the unique gift that is His Son made man and born of the Virgin Mary.
And today we want to thank God first of all for the gift of work. Work is most important, be it for the person himself who works, be it for his family. And while we give thanks, we pray for the individuals and families in Italy and in the whole world who do not have work or who, so often, engage in unworthy work, badly paid, harmful to health … We must always thank God for our work. And we must commit ourselves, each one of us with his own responsibility, so that work is fitting, respectful of the person and of the family, is just. And here in the Vatican we have a further reason to do so, we have the Gospel, and we must follow the directives of the Social Doctrine of the Church. Here in the Vatican I do not want jobs that are not in this line: no illegal work, no subterfuges.
Therefore, we thank the Lord for everything. But, on my part, today I wish to thank you for your work. I thank each one of you, each one, for the commitment you put every day in doing your work and in trying to do it well, even when perhaps you do not feel so well, or there are family worries … A lovely thing of the Vatican is that, being a very small reality, one succeeds in seeing it as a whole, with the different mansions that make up the whole, and each one is important. The various sectors of work are close and connected; one knows almost everyone; and one feels the satisfaction of seeing a certain order, that things function, with all the limitations, of course, one can always improve and one must, but it does one good to feel that every sector does its part and the whole functions well to the benefit of all. Here, this is easier, because we are a small reality, but this doesn’t take anything away from one’s personal commitment and merit; therefore, I feel the desire to thank you.
This year we have lived was a special year: there was the Holy Year of Mercy. We also did our Jubilee together, do you remember? The first part here, in this Hall, and then we went in procession to the Holy Door. This year the Lord had His mercy flow over us. And did all this grace end with the conclusion of the Jubilee? No! This grace is within us, because we make it fructify in our every day life, be it in the family, be it at work – everywhere. Christmas reminds us of this: “The grace of God appeared, which brings salvation to all men and teaches us […] to live in this world with sobriety, justice and mercy” (Tt2:111-12), says the Apostle Saint Paul. The “grace of God” “appeared” in Jesus. He is Love, the love of God incarnate, by the power of the Holy Spirit. And all of us have received this same Spirit in Baptism and in Confirmation; but we must invoke Him every day, reawaken the action of the Spirit in us, “to live in this world” – also in this small world of the Vatican – with sobriety, justice and mercy.”
Dear brothers and sisters, while I thank you, I ask you to take my special greeting to the children and the elderly of your families. They are so important – and a greeting accompanied by prayer to the sick.
I express this wish for all: that your hearts be full of mercy, full of the grace of the Jubilee that Jesus comes to rekindle in us.
May the Lord bless you and may our Lady protect you.
And, remember to pray for me before the Crib. Thank you.
Posted by Rocío Lancho García on 21 December, 2016
“Madre Esperanza. Los milagros desconocidos del alma gemela del Padre Pío” (Mother Esperanza: The Unknown Miracles of Padre Pio’s Twin Soul) is a book that reflects on the life and work of Mother Esperanza, a Spanish Religious Founder of the Shrine of Merciful Love of Collevalenza — a woman who “read Jacqueline Kennedy’s soul” and who was beatified in 2014.
Jose Maria Zavala, the book’s author, had access to the Congregation’s archives, to thePositioand especially to testimonies and two unpublished diaries of very significant individuals who spoke with Mother Esperanza and whose diaries reveal unknown details of her relationship with Saint John Paul II, Padre Pio and Saint Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer.
The book’s first edition was sold out in 24 hours, the day after Iker Jimenez presented it in the “Fourth Millennium” television program, where the author collaborates.
ZENIT: How did the idea of writing this book come about?
Zavala: Pure Providence. I went with my family to live in Murcia last year, not knowing very well what we had lost there, weighing several work issues. However, at a most unexpected moment, a priest spoke to me for the first time of Mother Esperanza, adding: “You must write her biography to make her known in Spain.” He gave me a folder on her and, as I read it, I was convinced that I had to write that book. Since then, I undertook a trip to Collevalenza and to Rome, where I was able to interview living witnesses who knew Mother Esperanza for many years, and to access the formidable archive of the Shrine of Merciful Love.
ZENIT: How did you undertake the task of documentation?
Zavala: ThePositioalso had to be managed, namely, Mother Esperanza’s process of canonization, as happened to me at the time with Padre Pio, to write a book which is now in its 16th edition in Spain, and which has been translated in Italy; it was a wonderful experience and an immense privilege. There is a veritable arsenal of documents in thePositio,many of them unpublished, which now come to light in the book, together as well with the unknown diaries of Father Mario Gialletti, Mother Esperanza’s secretary up to the moment of her death, and of Pietro Iacopini, one of her most beloved sons.
ZENIT: In addition to making Mother Esperanza known, what else does this book offer?
Zavala: For instance, the written testimonyex profesofor the book of the parents of Francesco Maria, the boy whose miraculous cure served Pope Francis to authorize the Decree of Beatification of Mother Esperanza in 2014. And many more things: the day in which Mother Esperanza began to vomit blood, soaking four whole towels, knowing that in a few hours Turk Ali Agca would attack John Paul II in Saint Peter’s Square on May 13, 1981. That same dawn, they called the Religious’ personal doctor, Tommasso Baccarelli. As soon as he saw his patient, he decided on an urgent blood transfusion, alleging that otherwise she would die. However, while they were engaged in the pertinent analyses to determine her blood type, Dr. Baccarelli was astonished to see that the level of her red blood cells was completely normal. Yet, Mother Esperanza did not stop vomiting blood, between death rattles, until she learned that John Paul II’s life was out of danger. I was able to do the reconstruction of what happened that day in Mother Esperanza’s cell with the testimonies found in thePositio,among them Sister Amada’s statement, whowas at her side at all times and whom I met in person in Collevalenza.
ZENIT: Why is she called “Padre Pio’s twin soul”?
Zavala: Spiritually speaking, they were like two drops of water. They both had Jesus Christ’s stigmata in their hands, feet and side for more than half a century, as well as the gift of bilocation (the possibility of being in two different places at the same time), of introspection of consciences, miraculous cures, prophecy … And, in Mother Esperanza’s case, she also multiplied food with which she fed more than 3,000 people every day in Rome, during World War II. And as if that were not enough, she also changed water into wine. Padre Pio and Mother Esperanza were also united in the personal persecution they both suffered on the part of the Church herself.
ZENIT: How did the meeting with Jacqueline Kennedy come about?
Zavala: The young widow of the former President of the United States, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, went to Collevalenza on November 15, 1967. The youngest First Lady in the history of her country, she was then 38 and had almost her whole life before her, after the terrible attack that cost her husband’s life four years earlier, but her soul was battling with intense convulsions.
She was accompanied that day by Antonio Garrigues y Diaz-Canabate, the Spanish Ambassador to the Holy See, of whom evil or perhaps indiscreet tongues attributed at the time a disgraceful romance with the beautiful and elegant North American lady. JFK’s widow met with Mother Esperanza, who, after reading her soul, gave her some advice to come close to God and give meaning to her life of intense suffering.
ZENIT: Why do you think Mother Esperanza’s life and work is little known in Spain?
Zavala: She, in fact, exemplifies very well that no one is a prophet in his land. However, I will tell you that now there are thousands of new people who know her through her book, whose first edition was sold out in 24 hours, after being presented on the “Fourth Millennium” program, directed by Iker Jimenez, with whom I collaborate. That same night I couldn’t get any sleep, answering the hundreds of messages of people who had watched the program and were impacted by the figure of Mother Esperanza.
ZENIT: You have had access to two unpublished diaries of individuals who knew Mother Esperanza and which reveal unknown details on her relationship with Saint John Paul II, Padre Pio and Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer. Can you tell us something about this?
Zavala: We begin, if you agree, with Saint John Paul II. Karol Wojtyla, the then Archbishop of Krakow, visited Mother Esperanza in Collevalenza in 1964, in order to give him the key to unblock Sister Faustina Kowalska’s process of beatification … and she gave it to him! Padre Pio put them in touch.
She and Padre Pio saw one another during a whole year in bilocation in the Holy Office, and they both sent one another souls to be cared for. Saint Josemaria Escriva de Balagueer also had close contact with her in Madrid in 1935. At the time, the Founder of Opus Dei resided in the DYA Academy, which was on the same Ferraz street where Mother Esperanza also lived. Saint Josemaria visited her often in the company of Isidoro Zorzano, one of Opus Dei’s first numeraries [who has just been declared venerable], and tried to console her given the brutal persecution she was then suffering on the part of the Church.
Pope Francis has named Capuchin Fr. Samuel Oton Sidin as bishop of Sintang, Indonesia.
He was born in 1954 in Pontianak, Indonesia, gave his religious vows in 1982, and was ordained a priest in 1984. He completed his philosophical and theological studies in the interdiocesan major seminary of Pematangsiantar in Medan, Sumatra, and holds a licentiate in spirituality from the Pontifical University Antonianum, Rome.
He has served as parish vicar, deputy master and master of novices, minister of the province of Capuchin Fathers in Pontianak, director of the Rumah Pelangi House and head of planning for forest conservation, and minister of the Capuchin Province of Pontianak. He is currently pastor of the St. Francis of Assisi parish in Tebet, Jakarta.
The Diocese of Sintang has a population of close to 1 million with some 250,000 Catholics. They are served by about 70 priests and the same number of religious.
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