2014
Pope Francis Celebrates Mass in Jordan - Watch Video and Text Homily
Pope Francis speaks with Journalists on his Plane ride
Pope Francis' Full Text Homily Below. (Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has called for peace and unity among different people, saying variety always enriches. His appeal came during his homily at the Mass celebrated on Friday in Amman’s International Stadium, on the first day of his visit to Jordan. The Pope said we need to overcome our differences rooted in political thinking, language, culture and religion.
Homily Below. Pope Francis as he celebrated his first Mass during his pilgrimage to the Holy Land on Saturday at the International Stadium in Amman, Jordan. Patriarch Fouad Twal, Patriarch of Jerusalem, greeted the Holy Father during Mass, addressing him in both Arabic and Italian. "In your person," the patriarch said, “we see the figure of John the Baptist, patron of Jordan… You prepare the way of the Saviour through the conversion of hearts, raising your voice against every injustice and every violence.” Also attending the Mass were 1,400 Jordanian children who were receiving their first Holy Communion that day. In his homily during Mass, Pope Francis recalled the descent of the Holy Spirit on Jesus following his Baptism at the river Jordan, located close to where the Mass was taking place. The Pope focused on three key themes, pertaining to how the Holy Spirit prepares, anoints, and sends. Edited from Radio Vaticana
Please find below the full translation in English of Pope Francis’ homily at the Mass celebrated in Amman’s International Stadium:
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“In today’s Gospel, we hear Jesus promise the disciples: “I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Paraclete, to be with you forever” (Jn 14:16). The first Paraclete is Jesus himself; the other is the Holy Spirit.
We are not far from where the Holy Spirit descended with power on Jesus of Nazareth after his baptism by John in the River Jordan (cf. Mt 3:16). Today’s Gospel, and this place to which, by God’s grace, I have come as a pilgrim, invite us to meditate on the Holy Spirit and on all that he has brought about in Christ and in us. In a word, we can say that the Holy Spirit carries out three actions – he prepares, he anoints and he sends.
At the baptism, the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus to prepare him for his mission of salvation, the mission of one who is a Servant, humble and meek, ready to share and give himself completely. Yet the Holy Spirit, present from the beginning of salvation history, had already been at work in Jesus from the moment of his conception in the virginal womb of Mary of Nazareth, by bringing about the wondrous event of the Incarnation: “the Holy Spirit will come upon you, will overshadow you – the Angel said to Mary – and you will give birth to a son who will be named Jesus” (cf. Lk 1:35). The Holy Spirit had then acted in Simeon and Anna on the day of the presentation of Jesus in the Temple (cf. Lk 2:22). Both were awaiting the Messiah, and both were inspired by the Holy Spirit. Simeon and Anna, upon seeing the child, knew immediately that he was the one long awaited by the people. They gave prophetic expression to the joy of encountering the Redeemer and, in a certain sense, served as a preparation for the encounter between the Messiah and the people.
These various works of the Holy Spirit are part of a harmonious action, a sole divine plan of love. The mission of the Holy Spirit, in fact, is to beget harmony – he is himself harmony – and to create peace in different situations and between different people. Diversity of ideas and persons should not trigger rejection or prove an obstacle, for variety always enriches. So today, with fervent hearts, we invoke the Holy Spirit and ask him to prepare the path to peace and unity.
The Holy Spirit also anoints. He anointed Jesus inwardly and he anoints his disciples, so that they can have the mind of Christ and thus be disposed to live lives of peace and communion. Through the anointing of the Spirit, our human nature is sealed with the holiness of Jesus Christ and we are enabled to love our brothers and sisters with the same love which God has for us. We ought, therefore, to show concrete signs of humility, fraternity, forgiveness and reconciliation. These signs are the prerequisite of a true, stable and lasting peace. Let us ask the Father to anoint us so that we may fully become his children, ever more conformed to Christ, and may learn to see one another as brothers and sisters. Thus, by putting aside our grievances and divisions, we can show fraternal love for one another. This is what Jesus asks of us in the Gospel: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Paraclete, to be with you for ever” (Jn 14:15-16).
Lastly, the Holy Spirit sends. Jesus is the one who is sent forth, filled with the Spirit of the Father. Anointed by the same Spirit, we also are sent as messengers and witnesses of peace.
Peace is not something which can be bought; it is a gift to be sought patiently and to be “crafted” through the actions, great and small, of our everyday lives. The way of peace is strengthened if we realize that we are all of the same stock and members of the one human family; if we never forget that we have the same heavenly Father and are all his children, made in his image and likeness.
It is in this spirit that I embrace all of you: the Patriarch, my brother bishops and priests, the consecrated men and women, the lay faithful, and the many children who today make their First Holy Communion, together with their families. I also embrace with affection the many Christian refugees from Palestine, Syria and Iraq: please bring my greeting to your families and communities, and assure them of my closeness.
Dear friends! The Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus in the Jordan and thus inaugurated his work of redemption to free the world from sin and death. Let us ask the Spirit to prepare our hearts to encounter our brothers and sisters, so that we may overcome our differences rooted in political thinking, language, culture and religion. Let us ask him to anoint our whole being with the oil of his mercy, which heals the injuries caused by mistakes, misunderstandings and disputes. And let us ask him to send us forth, in humility and meekness, along the demanding but enriching path of seeking peace.”Shared From Radio Vatican
2014
Pope Francis meets with Disabled Youth and Refugees at Jordan River - Video and Text
(Vatican Radio) Following in the footsteps of his predecessors John Paul II and Benedict XVI, Pope Francis on Saturday travelled to the site on the banks of the River Jordan believed by some experts to be the exact spot where Jesus came to be baptised by John the Baptist. Archaeological excavations, which began in 1999, are still going on to uncover the different ancient churches that were built over the spot in the first centuries but have long since been destroyed by earthquakes and wars. Looking out across the windswept desert landscape, it’s quite clear that little has changed since the days of the prophets and first Christian hermits who inhabited the caves in the surrounding hillsides. Close to Al-Maghtas, as the Baptism site is known in Arabic, pilgrims can climb the hill where Elijah lived and from where he ascended into heaven in his chariot of fire. And it’s at this same spot that Joshua led the Israelites, following Moses death, across the River Jordan to continue their journey to the Promised Land.
Located at 350 metres below sea level, close to where the Jordan flows into the Dead Sea, this popular tourist spot is located within sight of the ancient walled city of Jericho, believed to be one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world. The actual Baptism site on the river bank is surrounded by reeds and low bushes offering a natural habitat for bees that continue to provide honey for local people, just as they did in John the Baptist’s day. Back then, as we know from ancient texts, the waters were deep enough for people to immerse themselves as they came to be baptised by the man who is still the patron saint of the Hashemite Kingdom. But today the River Jordan is polluted and reduced to a trickle in many places and there are several international organisations working to preserve this natural environment and safeguard its precious resources.
After arriving at the site in an oversized golf cart driven by his host, King Abdullah, Pope Francis walked down the stone steps to the waters’ edge and spent a few moments in silent prayer. He was then driven to the nearby Catholic Church which is still under construction following its inauguration during the 2009 visit of Pope Benedict XVI. Here he met with several hundred refugees and young disabled people, reminding them that Jesus came to be baptised by John so that he could fully take on our human condition and heal us through his love. Here too he made his second appeal of the day for an end to the conflict in neighbouring Syria. Departing from his prepared text, he denounced in the strongest possible terms those who sells weapons to warring parties. The root of evil and conflict, he said is ”the hatred and greed for money” of those who produce and sell arms and he prayed that God would convert the hearts of “these criminals, these poor people.” The Pope thanked the Jordanian government and people for the way they have welcomed so many refugees and praised the work of organisations like Caritas Jordan who provide assistance and solidarity to all, regardless of religious beliefs, ethnic origins or political persuasions. Asking God to change the hearts of the violent and those who seek war, the Pope also urged the international community to support Jordan in the task of tackling the humanitarian emergency caused by the arrival of so many refugees.
It may have been a very short visit to Jordan but the Pope’s words will certainly be ringing in the ears of leaders across this troubled region and beyond.
Located at 350 metres below sea level, close to where the Jordan flows into the Dead Sea, this popular tourist spot is located within sight of the ancient walled city of Jericho, believed to be one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world. The actual Baptism site on the river bank is surrounded by reeds and low bushes offering a natural habitat for bees that continue to provide honey for local people, just as they did in John the Baptist’s day. Back then, as we know from ancient texts, the waters were deep enough for people to immerse themselves as they came to be baptised by the man who is still the patron saint of the Hashemite Kingdom. But today the River Jordan is polluted and reduced to a trickle in many places and there are several international organisations working to preserve this natural environment and safeguard its precious resources.
After arriving at the site in an oversized golf cart driven by his host, King Abdullah, Pope Francis walked down the stone steps to the waters’ edge and spent a few moments in silent prayer. He was then driven to the nearby Catholic Church which is still under construction following its inauguration during the 2009 visit of Pope Benedict XVI. Here he met with several hundred refugees and young disabled people, reminding them that Jesus came to be baptised by John so that he could fully take on our human condition and heal us through his love. Here too he made his second appeal of the day for an end to the conflict in neighbouring Syria. Departing from his prepared text, he denounced in the strongest possible terms those who sells weapons to warring parties. The root of evil and conflict, he said is ”the hatred and greed for money” of those who produce and sell arms and he prayed that God would convert the hearts of “these criminals, these poor people.” The Pope thanked the Jordanian government and people for the way they have welcomed so many refugees and praised the work of organisations like Caritas Jordan who provide assistance and solidarity to all, regardless of religious beliefs, ethnic origins or political persuasions. Asking God to change the hearts of the violent and those who seek war, the Pope also urged the international community to support Jordan in the task of tackling the humanitarian emergency caused by the arrival of so many refugees.
It may have been a very short visit to Jordan but the Pope’s words will certainly be ringing in the ears of leaders across this troubled region and beyond.
Pope Francis Celebrates Mass in Jordan - Watch Video and Text Homily
Pope Francis' Full Text Homily Below. (Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has called for peace and unity among different people, saying variety always enriches. His appeal came during his homily at the Mass celebrated on Friday in Amman’s International Stadium, on the first day of his visit to Jordan. The Pope said we need to overcome our differences rooted in political thinking, language, culture and religion.
Pope Francis speaks with Journalists on his Plane ride
Pope Francis' Full Text Homily Below. (Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has called for peace and unity among different people, saying variety always enriches. His appeal came during his homily at the Mass celebrated on Friday in Amman’s International Stadium, on the first day of his visit to Jordan. The Pope said we need to overcome our differences rooted in political thinking, language, culture and religion.
Pope Francis speaks with Journalists on his Plane ride
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis briefly greeted on Friday the journalists who were travelling with him on his plane to Jordan to report on his pilgrimage to the Holy Land. He joked that he comes like Daniel or a lamb (amongst them) but said he "knows the lions don’t bite" and therefore he goes in peace. He thanked the journalists for their help and their reporting and acknowledged that it will be a very busy trip for them. He then greeted the journalists one by one and confirmed that he intends to hold a news conference on the return flight to Rome even though it had been suggested beforehand that the trip would be too exhausting for that to happen.
Welcoming Ceremony for Pope Francis in Jordan - Video
Pope Francis Arrives in Jordan - Video
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has arrived in Jordan, the first leg of his three-day pilgrimage to the Holy Land. He will also visit Palestine and Israel before returning to Rome on Monday evening.
Saint May 24 : St. Vincent of Lerins : Monk and Writer : France
St. Vincent of Lerins
MONK AND WRITER
Feast: May 24
 Information:
| St. Vincent was of Gaulish extraction, had a polite education, was afterwards for some time an officer in the army, and lived with dignity in the world. He informs us in his Prologue, that having been some time tossed about in the storms of a bustling military life, he began seriously to consider the dangers with which he was surrounded, and the vanity and folly of his pursuits. He desired to take shelter in the harbor of religion, which he calls the safest refuge from the world. His view in this resolution was, that he might strenuously labor to divest his soul of its ruffling passions, of pride and vanity, and to offer to God the acceptable sacrifice of a humble and Christian spirit, and that being further removed from worldly temptations, he might endeavor more easily to avoid not only the wrecks of the present life, but also the burnings of that which is to come. In these dispositions he retired from the crowds of cities, and made for the desired haven with all the sail he could. The place he chose for his retirement was in a small remote island, sheltered from the noise of the world. This Gennadius assures us to have been the famous monastery of Lerins, situated in the lesser of the two agreeable green islands which formerly bore the name of Lerins, not far from the coast of Lower Provence towards Antibes. In this place he shut himself up, that he might attend solely to what God commands us, and study to know him. Vincent reflected that time is always snatching something from us: its fleeting moments pass as quick as they come, never, never more to return, as water which is gone from its source runs to it no more. Our course is almost run out; the past time appears as a shadow; so will that which is now to come when it shall be once over, and no tears, no entreaties, no endeavors, can recall the least moment we have already let slip unimproved. In these reflections the fervent servant of God assures us that he earnestly strove to redeem time,and to be always turning it to the best account, that this invaluable grace might not rise up at the last day in judgment against him. He considered that true faith is necessary to salvation no less than morality, and that the former is the foundation of Christian virtue; and he grieved to see the church at that time pestered with numberless heresies, which sucked their poison from their very antidote, the Holy Scriptures, and which, by various wiles, spread on,, every side their dangerous snares. To guard the faithful against the false and perplexing glosses of modern subtle refiners, and to open the eyes of those who had been already seduced by them, he, with great clearness, eloquence, and force of reasoning, wrote a book, which he entitled, A Commonitory against Heretics, which he composed in 434, three years after the general council of Ephesus had condemned the Nestorians. He had chiefly in view the heretics of his own times, especially the Nestorians and the Apollinarists, but he confuted them by general, clear principles, which overturn all heresies to the end of the world. Together with the ornaments of eloquence and erudition, the inward beauty of his mind, and the brightness of his devotion, sparkle in every page of his book. Out of humility, he disguises himself under the name of Peregrinus, to express the quality of being a pilgrim or stranger on earth, and one by his monastic state, in a more particular manner, estranged from the world. He styles himself The least of all the servants of God, and less than the least of all the saints, unworthy to bear the holy name of a Christian. He lays down this rule, or fundamental principle, in which he found, by a diligent inquiry, all Catholic pastors and the ancient fathers to agree, that such doctrine is truly Catholic as hath been believed in all places, at all times, and by all the faithful. By this test of universality, antiquity, and consent, he saith, all controverted points in belief must be tried. He showeth, that while Novatian, Photinus, Sabellius, Donatus, Arius, Eunomius, Jovinian, Pelagius, Celestius, and Nestorius expounded the divine oracles different ways, to avoid the perplexity of errors, we must interpret the Holy Scriptures by the tradition of the Catholic church, as the clew to conduct us in the truth. For this tradition, derived from the apostles, manifesteth the true meaning of the Holy Scriptures, and all novelty in faith is a certain mark of heresy; and, in religion, nothing is more to be dreaded than itching ears after new teachers. He saith: "They who have made bold with one article of faith will proceed on to others; and what will be the consequence of this reforming of religion, but only that these refiners will never have done till they have reformed it quite away." He elegantly expatiates on the divine charge given to the church, to maintain inviolable the sacred depositum of faith. He takes notice that heretics quote the sacred writings at every word, and that in the works of Paulus Samosatenus, Priscillian, Eunomius, Jovinian, and other like pests of Christendom, almost every page is painted and laid on thick with scripture texts, which Tertullian also remarks. But in this, saith, St. Vincent, heretics are like those poisoners or quacks who put off their destructive potions under inscriptions of good drugs, and under the title of infallible cures. They imitate the father of lies, who quoted scripture against the Son of God when he tempted him. The saint adds, that if a doubt arise in interpreting the meaning or the scriptures in any point of faith we must summon in the holy fathers, who nave lived and died in the faith and communion of the Catholic church, and by this test we shall prove the false doctrine to be novel. For that only we must look upon as indubitably certain and unalterable, which all, or the major part of these fathers have delivered, like the harmonious consent of a general council. But if any one among them, be he ever so holy, ever so learned, holds any thing besides, or in opposition to the rest, that is to be placed in the rank of singular and private opinions, and never to be looked upon as the public, general, authoritative doctrine of the church. After a point has been decided in a general council, the definition is irrefragable. These general principles, by which all heresies are easily confounded, St. Vincent explains with equal eloquence and perspicuity." His diction is pure and agreeable, his reasoning close and solid; and no controversial book ever expressed so much, and such deep sense, in so few words. The same rules are laid down by Tertullian in his book of Prescriptions, by St. Irenaeus and other fathers. St. Vincent died in the reigns of Theodosius II. and Valentinian III., consequently before the close of the year 456. His relics are preserved with respect at Lerins, and his name occurs in the Roman Martyrology. St. Vincent observes that souls which have lost the anchorage of the Catholic faith, "are tossed and shattered with inward storms of clashing thoughts, that by this restless posture of mind they may be made sensible of their danger; and taking down the sails of pride and vanity which they have unhappily spread before every gust of heresy, they may make all the sail they can into the safe and peaceful harbor of their holy mother the Catholic church; and being sick from a surfeit of errors, may there discharge those foul and bitter waters to make room for the pure waters of life. There they may unlearn well what they have learned ill; may get a right notion of all those doctrines of the church they are capable of understanding, and believe those that surpass all understanding." |
source: http://www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/V/stvincentoflerins.asp#ixzz1vkQfWBbY
Friday, May 23, 2014
Viral Video of Dying Teen Zach - SHARE this Amazing Story of Hope!
Zach was the third of the Sobiech family’s four children and was a student at St. Croix Catholic School in 2009 when he was diagnosed. He felt pain in his hip during a jog; eventually, they took him in for a CT scan which revealed cancer.
They are a Catholic family and Zach's mother Laura said, “Identifying with Mary’s suffering has been huge”. “To meditate from her point of view, watching her son suffer, has just really brought me peace and shown me how to do it. She had quiet strength. The Way of the Cross, Mary was there for the whole thing, and there was nothing she could really do but be there.”
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“Any time we have a struggle in the family, I go right to the rosary because I know that’s where we’re going to get the grace — or I’m going to get the grace — to get through things,” she said. “I just don’t have to do it on my own. It’s my safety net.”
Matthew Brown greets Bishop Lee Piché after being confirmed during a Mass April 22 at St. Mary in Stillwater. His scheduled confirmation was moved up to accommodate the failing health of his sponsor, Zach Sobiech, center. (Dave Hrbacek/The Catholic Spirit)
Laura said. “I think all of us felt that the Holy Spirit really was there, not just for Matt, but was spilling over to all of us." (Quotes and Pictures from Diocese Website - TheCatholicSpirit)
“He has this sense of joy, and he shares it with everyone, even when he’s down,” Adamle said. “His faith has made my faith stronger because even in dark times, he still looks to God. It helps me know that I can do that.”
Laura wrote a message on his CaringBridge site: “Zachary passed away this morning. He was surrounded by his sisters, brother, parents and girlfriend. We love him dearly.”
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