2015
Catholic #Quote to SHARE by Mother Teresa on Kindness...
#PopeFrancis "....one of the most beautiful passages contained in the Gospel." #Lent Homily
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Monday warned against righteous hypocrisy and urged Christians to be merciful.
During his homily at morning Mass in the Casa Santa Marta, the Pope reflected on the Gospel readings of the day and on another Gospel passage pointing out that “where there is no mercy there is no justice”.
Referring to three women in the Bible, Pope Francis said they represent three allegorical figures of the Church. The women he said are: Susanna - an innocent woman; an adulteress – a sinner; and a poor and needy widow.
They symbolize – the Pope said – the holy Church, the sinning Church and the needy Church.
They are all judged and ‘condemned’ by judges who are evil and corrupt.
Speaking of the Scribes and the Pharisees who took the adulteress before Jesus, Francis said their hearts were corrupted by rigidity: “they thought they were pure because they observed the law” (…) but they did not know mercy” he said.
“They were not saints, they were corrupt. Because this kind of rigidity leads one live a double life: on the one hand they were condemning these women, and on the other they were seeking them out for a bit of fun. The description used by Jesus for them is hypocrites: they had double standards.”
And the Pope referred to those within the Church who judge and condenn others, saying they too have double standards. “With such rigidity – he said – one cannot breathe”.
Then speaking of the two elders (judges) who tried to blackmail Susanna, the Pope said they were corrupted by depravation and had the vice of lust, a vice – he said – that becomes more ferocious and evil with age.
As regards the judge who was called upon by a poor widow to render a just decision against an adversary, the Pope said he was a judge who “neither feared God nor respected any human being”; he only cared about himself and was corrupted by the vice of greed for money and prestige.
All these judges – Pope Francis said – “the profiteer, the depraved and the rigid, did not know what the word mercy meant.”
“Corruption did not allow them to understand what mercy is, that one must be merciful. The Bible tells us that justice is to be found in mercy. The three women: the saint, the sinner and the needy, allegorical figures that represent the Church, suffer for lack of mercy. And God’s people today can find themselves before ‘judges’ who lack mercy, both in a civilian environment and in an ecclesiastical one. Where there is no mercy there is no justice. When God’s people come close asking for forgiveness, it often finds itself condemned by one of these judges”.
The people of God – Francis said - come across persons “who exploit and make the most of them; “who deprive their souls of oxygen, robbing them of hope”; “who punish penitent sinners for the very sins they conceal within themselves”. “This – the Pope said – is called lack of mercy”.
“I would just like to say one of the most beautiful passages contained in the Gospel. It never fails to move me: ‘Has no one condemned you?’ ‘No one, sir.’ ‘Neither do I condemn you’: one of the most beautiful passages because it is full of mercy.”(Linda Bordoni)
#Breaking 2 Churches Attacked in India and Faithful Beaten - Please Pray
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India, fresh attacks on two Catholic churches "evil and dangerous" by Nirmala Carvalho
Stones fired at St. George’s in Mumbai (Maharashtra); extremists beat and rob some faithful in Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh), and then demolish the door of the cathedral. Catholic bishops condemn the attacks to AsiaNews. Religious leaders denounce the pervasive climate of impunity: "Extremists are becoming increasingly brazen."
Mumbai (AsiaNews) - "I am pained and saddened at these two incidents, which are malicious and mischievous, and an assault on our people and I strongly condemn these incidents. We pray for our India, Inter faith Dialogue and Peaceful Coexistence, and mutual respect among all peoples for the progress and development of community, society and our nation". This is the reaction of Card. Oswald Gracias, archbishop of Mumbai and president of the Council of Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI), commenting to AsiaNews on two separate attacks on a church in Mumbai (Maharashtra) and a cathedral in Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh) two days ago.
Earlly March 22, three people threw stones at the statue of the saint to whom the Catholic St. George church is dedicated, in the district of New Panvel Mumbai. CCTV cameras filmed the vandals, who, however, were wearing masks. The church was built in 2007 and can accommodate over 800 people.
Earlier in Jabalpur a group of people broke into the courtyard of the Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul, where the participants in a seminar biblical were sleeping. Msgr. Gerald Almeida, Bishop of Jabalpur, told AsiaNews: "We organized the seminar after having requested and obtained the necessary permits from the local administration and police. The three-day convention began Friday, March 20: the faithful of all the districts of dioceses came and we have hosted them in St. Thomas school".
At the end of the first day, the prelate continued, "participants who live in the area are back to sleep in their homes, while about 200 people were in the dorm. The police had been alerted, but had only sent a few agents who said: 'You Christians are peaceful people'. Around one o'clock in the morning, a large number of people raided the building, attacking the faithful and stealing their belongings. After the beating, the attackers destroyed the door of the cathedral and some vehicles. The police arrived several hours later, only at 4 am, when it was all over. "
Msgr. Cornelius Leo, archbishop of Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh), told AsiaNews: "Some elements are getting bolder because no action has been taken since the BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party, the Hindu nationalist right - ed] has come to power and this is dangerous for our democratic values. These anti-social elements encourage each other to indulge in anti-social activities. They have no religious meaning but use religion to create a polarization. The government is not too serious. The BJP's activities affect the state. The prime minister has released statements that there will be no religious intolerance or polarization. But these elements have sought encouragement in the fact that the Centre is not dealing with them in a harsh way"
The Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) strongly condemns the new anti-Christian attacks that took place in India. "These episodes - President Sajan George told AsiaNews - reveal the fragile situation of religious freedom in our country. The right-wing groups carry out their reign of terror against the vulnerable Christian community."
In Madhya Pradesh, says the GCIC, leader "the Hindu Dharma Sena terrifies minorities exploiting the draconian anti-conversion law, which is used to move false accusations against innocent Christians. These extremists enjoy the protection policy of the government and endanger the lives of the Christian community". Shared from AsiaNewsIT
Today's Mass Readings : Monday March 23, 2015
Monday of the Fifth Week of Lent
Lectionary: 251
Reading 1DN 13:1-9, 15-17, 19-30, 33-62
In Babylon there lived a man named Joakim,
who married a very beautiful and God-fearing woman, Susanna,
the daughter of Hilkiah;
her pious parents had trained their daughter
according to the law of Moses.
Joakim was very rich;
he had a garden near his house,
and the Jews had recourse to him often
because he was the most respected of them all.
That year, two elders of the people were appointed judges,
of whom the Lord said, “Wickedness has come out of Babylon:
from the elders who were to govern the people as judges.”
These men, to whom all brought their cases,
frequented the house of Joakim.
When the people left at noon,
Susanna used to enter her husband’s garden for a walk.
When the old men saw her enter every day for her walk,
they began to lust for her.
They suppressed their consciences;
they would not allow their eyes to look to heaven,
and did not keep in mind just judgments.
One day, while they were waiting for the right moment,
she entered the garden as usual, with two maids only.
She decided to bathe, for the weather was warm.
Nobody else was there except the two elders,
who had hidden themselves and were watching her.
“Bring me oil and soap,” she said to the maids,
“and shut the garden doors while I bathe.”
As soon as the maids had left,
the two old men got up and hurried to her.
“Look,” they said, “the garden doors are shut, and no one can see us;
give in to our desire, and lie with us.
If you refuse, we will testify against you
that you dismissed your maids because a young man was here with you.”
“I am completely trapped,” Susanna groaned.
“If I yield, it will be my death;
if I refuse, I cannot escape your power.
Yet it is better for me to fall into your power without guilt
than to sin before the Lord.”
Then Susanna shrieked, and the old men also shouted at her,
as one of them ran to open the garden doors.
When the people in the house heard the cries from the garden,
they rushed in by the side gate to see what had happened to her.
At the accusations by the old men,
the servants felt very much ashamed,
for never had any such thing been said about Susanna.
When the people came to her husband Joakim the next day,
the two wicked elders also came,
fully determined to put Susanna to death.
Before all the people they ordered:
“Send for Susanna, the daughter of Hilkiah,
the wife of Joakim.”
When she was sent for,
she came with her parents, children and all her relatives.
All her relatives and the onlookers were weeping.
In the midst of the people the two elders rose up
and laid their hands on her head.
Through tears she looked up to heaven,
for she trusted in the Lord wholeheartedly.
The elders made this accusation:
“As we were walking in the garden alone,
this woman entered with two girls
and shut the doors of the garden, dismissing the girls.
A young man, who was hidden there, came and lay with her.
When we, in a corner of the garden, saw this crime,
we ran toward them.
We saw them lying together,
but the man we could not hold, because he was stronger than we;
he opened the doors and ran off.
Then we seized her and asked who the young man was,
but she refused to tell us.
We testify to this.”
The assembly believed them,
since they were elders and judges of the people,
and they condemned her to death.
But Susanna cried aloud:
“O eternal God, you know what is hidden
and are aware of all things before they come to be:
you know that they have testified falsely against me.
Here I am about to die,
though I have done none of the things
with which these wicked men have charged me.”
The Lord heard her prayer.
As she was being led to execution,
God stirred up the holy spirit of a young boy named Daniel,
and he cried aloud:
“I will have no part in the death of this woman.”
All the people turned and asked him, “What is this you are saying?”
He stood in their midst and continued,
“Are you such fools, O children of Israel!
To condemn a woman of Israel without examination
and without clear evidence?
Return to court, for they have testified falsely against her.”
Then all the people returned in haste.
To Daniel the elders said,
“Come, sit with us and inform us,
since God has given you the prestige of old age.”
But he replied,
“Separate these two far from each other that I may examine them.”
After they were separated one from the other,
he called one of them and said:
“How you have grown evil with age!
Now have your past sins come to term:
passing unjust sentences, condemning the innocent,
and freeing the guilty, although the Lord says,
‘The innocent and the just you shall not put to death.’
Now, then, if you were a witness,
tell me under what tree you saw them together.”
“Under a mastic tree,” he answered.
Daniel replied, “Your fine lie has cost you your head,
for the angel of God shall receive the sentence from him
and split you in two.”
Putting him to one side, he ordered the other one to be brought.
Daniel said to him,
“Offspring of Canaan, not of Judah, beauty has seduced you,
lust has subverted your conscience.
This is how you acted with the daughters of Israel,
and in their fear they yielded to you;
but a daughter of Judah did not tolerate your wickedness.
Now, then, tell me under what tree you surprised them together.”
“Under an oak,” he said.
Daniel replied, “Your fine lie has cost you also your head,
for the angel of God waits with a sword to cut you in two
so as to make an end of you both.”
The whole assembly cried aloud,
blessing God who saves those who hope in him.
They rose up against the two elders,
for by their own words Daniel had convicted them of perjury.
According to the law of Moses,
they inflicted on them
the penalty they had plotted to impose on their neighbor:
they put them to death.
Thus was innocent blood spared that day.
But Susanna cried aloud:
“O eternal God, you know what is hidden
and are aware of all things before they come to be:
you know that they have testified falsely against me.
Here I am about to die,
though I have done none of the things
with which these wicked men have charged me.”
The Lord heard her prayer.
As she was being led to execution,
God stirred up the holy spirit of a young boy named Daniel,
and he cried aloud:
“I will have no part in the death of this woman.”
All the people turned and asked him,
“What is this you are saying?”
He stood in their midst and continued,
“Are you such fools, O children of Israel!
To condemn a woman of Israel without examination
and without clear evidence?
Return to court, for they have testified falsely against her.”
Then all the people returned in haste.
To Daniel the elders said,
“Come, sit with us and inform us,
since God has given you the prestige of old age.”
But he replied,
“Separate these two far from each other that I may examine them.”
After they were separated one from the other,
he called one of them and said:
“How you have grown evil with age!
Now have your past sins come to term:
passing unjust sentences, condemning the innocent,
and freeing the guilty, although the Lord says,
‘The innocent and the just you shall not put to death.’
Now, then, if you were a witness,
tell me under what tree you saw them together.”
“Under a mastic tree,” he answered.
Daniel replied, “Your fine lie has cost you your head,
for the angel of God shall receive the sentence from him
and split you in two.”
Putting him to one side, he ordered the other one to be brought.
Daniel said to him, “Offspring of Canaan, not of Judah,
beauty has seduced you, lust has subverted your conscience.
This is how you acted with the daughters of Israel,
and in their fear they yielded to you;
but a daughter of Judah did not tolerate your wickedness.
Now, then, tell me under what tree you surprised them together.”
“Under an oak,” he said.
Daniel replied, “Your fine lie has cost you also your head,”
for the angel of God waits with a sword to cut you in two
so as to make an end of you both.”
The whole assembly cried aloud,
blessing God who saves those who hope in him.
They rose up against the two elders,
for by their own words Daniel had convicted them of perjury.
According to the law of Moses,
they inflicted on them
the penalty they had plotted to impose on their neighbor:
they put them to death.
Thus was innocent blood spared that day.
who married a very beautiful and God-fearing woman, Susanna,
the daughter of Hilkiah;
her pious parents had trained their daughter
according to the law of Moses.
Joakim was very rich;
he had a garden near his house,
and the Jews had recourse to him often
because he was the most respected of them all.
That year, two elders of the people were appointed judges,
of whom the Lord said, “Wickedness has come out of Babylon:
from the elders who were to govern the people as judges.”
These men, to whom all brought their cases,
frequented the house of Joakim.
When the people left at noon,
Susanna used to enter her husband’s garden for a walk.
When the old men saw her enter every day for her walk,
they began to lust for her.
They suppressed their consciences;
they would not allow their eyes to look to heaven,
and did not keep in mind just judgments.
One day, while they were waiting for the right moment,
she entered the garden as usual, with two maids only.
She decided to bathe, for the weather was warm.
Nobody else was there except the two elders,
who had hidden themselves and were watching her.
“Bring me oil and soap,” she said to the maids,
“and shut the garden doors while I bathe.”
As soon as the maids had left,
the two old men got up and hurried to her.
“Look,” they said, “the garden doors are shut, and no one can see us;
give in to our desire, and lie with us.
If you refuse, we will testify against you
that you dismissed your maids because a young man was here with you.”
“I am completely trapped,” Susanna groaned.
“If I yield, it will be my death;
if I refuse, I cannot escape your power.
Yet it is better for me to fall into your power without guilt
than to sin before the Lord.”
Then Susanna shrieked, and the old men also shouted at her,
as one of them ran to open the garden doors.
When the people in the house heard the cries from the garden,
they rushed in by the side gate to see what had happened to her.
At the accusations by the old men,
the servants felt very much ashamed,
for never had any such thing been said about Susanna.
When the people came to her husband Joakim the next day,
the two wicked elders also came,
fully determined to put Susanna to death.
Before all the people they ordered:
“Send for Susanna, the daughter of Hilkiah,
the wife of Joakim.”
When she was sent for,
she came with her parents, children and all her relatives.
All her relatives and the onlookers were weeping.
In the midst of the people the two elders rose up
and laid their hands on her head.
Through tears she looked up to heaven,
for she trusted in the Lord wholeheartedly.
The elders made this accusation:
“As we were walking in the garden alone,
this woman entered with two girls
and shut the doors of the garden, dismissing the girls.
A young man, who was hidden there, came and lay with her.
When we, in a corner of the garden, saw this crime,
we ran toward them.
We saw them lying together,
but the man we could not hold, because he was stronger than we;
he opened the doors and ran off.
Then we seized her and asked who the young man was,
but she refused to tell us.
We testify to this.”
The assembly believed them,
since they were elders and judges of the people,
and they condemned her to death.
But Susanna cried aloud:
“O eternal God, you know what is hidden
and are aware of all things before they come to be:
you know that they have testified falsely against me.
Here I am about to die,
though I have done none of the things
with which these wicked men have charged me.”
The Lord heard her prayer.
As she was being led to execution,
God stirred up the holy spirit of a young boy named Daniel,
and he cried aloud:
“I will have no part in the death of this woman.”
All the people turned and asked him, “What is this you are saying?”
He stood in their midst and continued,
“Are you such fools, O children of Israel!
To condemn a woman of Israel without examination
and without clear evidence?
Return to court, for they have testified falsely against her.”
Then all the people returned in haste.
To Daniel the elders said,
“Come, sit with us and inform us,
since God has given you the prestige of old age.”
But he replied,
“Separate these two far from each other that I may examine them.”
After they were separated one from the other,
he called one of them and said:
“How you have grown evil with age!
Now have your past sins come to term:
passing unjust sentences, condemning the innocent,
and freeing the guilty, although the Lord says,
‘The innocent and the just you shall not put to death.’
Now, then, if you were a witness,
tell me under what tree you saw them together.”
“Under a mastic tree,” he answered.
Daniel replied, “Your fine lie has cost you your head,
for the angel of God shall receive the sentence from him
and split you in two.”
Putting him to one side, he ordered the other one to be brought.
Daniel said to him,
“Offspring of Canaan, not of Judah, beauty has seduced you,
lust has subverted your conscience.
This is how you acted with the daughters of Israel,
and in their fear they yielded to you;
but a daughter of Judah did not tolerate your wickedness.
Now, then, tell me under what tree you surprised them together.”
“Under an oak,” he said.
Daniel replied, “Your fine lie has cost you also your head,
for the angel of God waits with a sword to cut you in two
so as to make an end of you both.”
The whole assembly cried aloud,
blessing God who saves those who hope in him.
They rose up against the two elders,
for by their own words Daniel had convicted them of perjury.
According to the law of Moses,
they inflicted on them
the penalty they had plotted to impose on their neighbor:
they put them to death.
Thus was innocent blood spared that day.
OrDN 13:41C-62
The assembly condemned Susanna to death.But Susanna cried aloud:
“O eternal God, you know what is hidden
and are aware of all things before they come to be:
you know that they have testified falsely against me.
Here I am about to die,
though I have done none of the things
with which these wicked men have charged me.”
The Lord heard her prayer.
As she was being led to execution,
God stirred up the holy spirit of a young boy named Daniel,
and he cried aloud:
“I will have no part in the death of this woman.”
All the people turned and asked him,
“What is this you are saying?”
He stood in their midst and continued,
“Are you such fools, O children of Israel!
To condemn a woman of Israel without examination
and without clear evidence?
Return to court, for they have testified falsely against her.”
Then all the people returned in haste.
To Daniel the elders said,
“Come, sit with us and inform us,
since God has given you the prestige of old age.”
But he replied,
“Separate these two far from each other that I may examine them.”
After they were separated one from the other,
he called one of them and said:
“How you have grown evil with age!
Now have your past sins come to term:
passing unjust sentences, condemning the innocent,
and freeing the guilty, although the Lord says,
‘The innocent and the just you shall not put to death.’
Now, then, if you were a witness,
tell me under what tree you saw them together.”
“Under a mastic tree,” he answered.
Daniel replied, “Your fine lie has cost you your head,
for the angel of God shall receive the sentence from him
and split you in two.”
Putting him to one side, he ordered the other one to be brought.
Daniel said to him, “Offspring of Canaan, not of Judah,
beauty has seduced you, lust has subverted your conscience.
This is how you acted with the daughters of Israel,
and in their fear they yielded to you;
but a daughter of Judah did not tolerate your wickedness.
Now, then, tell me under what tree you surprised them together.”
“Under an oak,” he said.
Daniel replied, “Your fine lie has cost you also your head,”
for the angel of God waits with a sword to cut you in two
so as to make an end of you both.”
The whole assembly cried aloud,
blessing God who saves those who hope in him.
They rose up against the two elders,
for by their own words Daniel had convicted them of perjury.
According to the law of Moses,
they inflicted on them
the penalty they had plotted to impose on their neighbor:
they put them to death.
Thus was innocent blood spared that day.
Responsorial PsalmPS 23:1-3A, 3B-4, 5, 6
R. (4ab) Even though I walk in the dark valley I fear no evil; for you are at my side.
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
In verdant pastures he gives me repose;
Beside restful waters he leads me;
he refreshes my soul.
R. Even though I walk in the dark valley I fear no evil; for you are at my side.
He guides me in right paths
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk in the dark valley
I fear no evil; for you are at my side
With your rod and your staff
that give me courage.
R. Even though I walk in the dark valley I fear no evil; for you are at my side.
You spread the table before me
in the sight of my foes;
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
R. Even though I walk in the dark valley I fear no evil; for you are at my side.
Only goodness and kindness follow me
all the days of my life;
And I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
for years to come.
R. Even though I walk in the dark valley I fear no evil; for you are at my side.
but rather in his conversion, that he may live.
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
In verdant pastures he gives me repose;
Beside restful waters he leads me;
he refreshes my soul.
R. Even though I walk in the dark valley I fear no evil; for you are at my side.
He guides me in right paths
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk in the dark valley
I fear no evil; for you are at my side
With your rod and your staff
that give me courage.
R. Even though I walk in the dark valley I fear no evil; for you are at my side.
You spread the table before me
in the sight of my foes;
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
R. Even though I walk in the dark valley I fear no evil; for you are at my side.
Only goodness and kindness follow me
all the days of my life;
And I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
for years to come.
R. Even though I walk in the dark valley I fear no evil; for you are at my side.
Verse Before The GospelEZ 33:11
I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked man, says the Lord,but rather in his conversion, that he may live.
GospelJN 8:1-11
Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
But early in the morning he arrived again in the temple area,
and all the people started coming to him,
and he sat down and taught them.
Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman
who had been caught in adultery
and made her stand in the middle.
They said to him,
“Teacher, this woman was caught
in the very act of committing adultery.
Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women.
So what do you say?”
They said this to test him,
so that they could have some charge to bring against him.
Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with his finger.
But when they continued asking him,
he straightened up and said to them,
“Let the one among you who is without sin
be the first to throw a stone at her.”
Again he bent down and wrote on the ground.
And in response, they went away one by one,
beginning with the elders.
So he was left alone with the woman before him.
Then Jesus straightened up and said to her,
“Woman, where are they?
Has no one condemned you?”
She replied, “No one, sir.”
Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you.
Go, and from now on do not sin any more.”
But early in the morning he arrived again in the temple area,
and all the people started coming to him,
and he sat down and taught them.
Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman
who had been caught in adultery
and made her stand in the middle.
They said to him,
“Teacher, this woman was caught
in the very act of committing adultery.
Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women.
So what do you say?”
They said this to test him,
so that they could have some charge to bring against him.
Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with his finger.
But when they continued asking him,
he straightened up and said to them,
“Let the one among you who is without sin
be the first to throw a stone at her.”
Again he bent down and wrote on the ground.
And in response, they went away one by one,
beginning with the elders.
So he was left alone with the woman before him.
Then Jesus straightened up and said to her,
“Woman, where are they?
Has no one condemned you?”
She replied, “No one, sir.”
Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you.
Go, and from now on do not sin any more.”
Latest News from #Vatican Information and #PopeFrancis
 |
23-03-2015 - Year XXII - Num. 058
|
Summary | ||||
| - Be grains of wheat, offering the Gospel, the Cross and the witness of faith | ||||
| - Francis offers pocket Gospels from the hands of the neediest | ||||
| - Pope Francis' trip to Naples (21 March) | ||||
| - The Pope meets detainees at Poggioreale penitentiary | ||||
| - Francis to the clergy of Naples: “Gossip is the terrorism of brotherhood” | ||||
| - “Only in the Crucified Christ do we find the explanation of the mystery of sickness” | ||||
| - The Pope concludes his trip to Naples: “Our God is the God of words and of silence” | ||||
- Other Pontifical Acts
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| Be grains of wheat, offering the Gospel, the Cross and the witness of faith Vatican City, 22 March 2015 (VIS) – At midday today the Pope appeared at the window of his study in the Vatican Apostolic Palace for the Sunday Angelus prayer with the thousands of faithful and pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square. Before the Marian prayer, Francis commented on the day's Gospel reading, in which the evangelist John narrates that some 'Greeks', Hebrews, had asked the apostle Philip if they could see Jesus. The Pope explained that this request goes far beyond this particular episode, instead expressing something universal; it “reveals a desire present in the ages and cultures, a desire present in the heart of so many people who have heard of Christ, but have not yet met him. Jesus responds with a prophecy that reveals His identity and shows the path to know Him truly: 'The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified'. … The hour of the Cross, the darkest in history, is also the source of salvation for those who believe in Him”. Continuing in His prophecy, “Jesus uses a simple and suggestive image, that of the 'grain of wheat' that, once fallen in the earth, dies in order to produce fruit. In this image we find another aspect of Christ's Cross: fruitfulness. The death of Jesus, in fact, is an inexhaustible source of new life, because it carries within itself the regenerating strength of the love of God. Immersed in this love through Baptism, Christians can become 'grains of wheat' and produce much fruit if they, like Jesus, 'lose their own life' for the love of God and for their brothers and sisters”. Francis emphasised that all those who want to see Jesus, who search for Him, those who have not yet encountered Jesus or who have lost their faith, we are able to offer three things: the Gospel, where we can encounter Jesus, listen to Him, know Him; the Cross, sign of the love of Jesus who gave Himself for us; and our witness of faith, poor but sincere. “A faith that is translated into simple gestures of fraternal charity. But mainly, in the coherence of our life, between what we say and what we do, coherence between our faith and our life, between our words and our actions”. | |||||||||
| Francis offers pocket Gospels from the hands of the neediest Vatican City, 22 March 2015 (VIS) – Following today's Angelus prayer, the Pope thanked the people of Naples for the warm welcome offered to him during his apostolic trip on Saturday. He also remarked that today is the World Day of Water, promoted by the United Nations. “Water is the most essential element for life”, he said. “The future of humanity depends on our capacity to guard it and share it”. He made an appeal to the international community to ensure that the planet's waters are adequately protected and that no one is excluded or discriminated against in the use of this quintessential common good. As he did last year during Lent, the Pope offered all those present a pocket-sized Gospel, which was distributed by some homeless people who live in Rome. “Here we see a beautiful gesture”, he remarked. “Those ones most in need are the ones who give us the Word of God. Take this Gospel; keep it with you and read it often, every day. Carry it in your bag, in your pocket, but read it often. A verse, a passage every day. The Word of God is a light for our path. Read it, it will be good for you”. | |||||||||
| Pope Francis' trip to Naples (21 March) | |||||||||
| The Pope meets detainees at Poggioreale penitentiary Vatican City, 22 March 2015 (VIS) – Yesterday the Pope visited the Giuseppe Salvia Penitentiary in Poggioreale. Upon arrival he was welcomed by the director of the centre and the chaplain, and he greeted the detainees from the forecourt of the institution. After lunch the Holy Father handed them a brief written discourse, several paragraphs of which are reproduced below: “At times we feel disillusioned, discouraged, abandoned by everyone, but God does not forget his children – He never abandons them. He is always at our side, especially in times of difficulty; the Father is 'rich in mercy'. ... This is a certainty that gives comfort and hope, especially in difficult and sad times. Although we have erred in life, the Lord never tires of showing us the way back to the path and encounter with Him. … It is a fundamental certainty for us: nothing can separate us from the love of God! Not even the bars of a prison”. “Dear brothers, I know your painful situations: I receive many letters – some truly moving – from prisons around the world. Inmates often live in conditions unworthy of human beings, and subsequently are unable to reintegrate into society. But, thanks be to God, there are also leaders, chaplains, educators, pastoral workers who know how to stay close to you in the right way. There are some good and meaningful experiences of reintegration. We must work on this, to develop these positive experiences, so they help nurture a different attitude in the civil community and also in the community of the Church. At the basis of this commitment is the conviction that love can always transform the human person. And so, a place of marginalisation, as a prison may be, in a negative sense, can then become a place of inclusion and stimulus for society as a whole, so that it becomes just and more attentive to people”. “I invite you to live every day, every moment in the presence of God, to Whom the future of the world and of man belong. This is Christian hope: the future is in God's hands. History makes sense because it is inhabited by God's goodness”. | |||||||||
| Francis to the clergy of Naples: “Gossip is the terrorism of brotherhood” Vatican City, 22 March 2015 (VIS) – After visiting the Poggioreale penitentiary yesterday, the Holy Father transferred to the Cathedral of the Assumption in Naples to venerate the relics of St. Januarius, the patron of the city, and to meet with the clergy, men and women religious and permanent deacons of the archdiocese. The episcopal vicars for the clergy and for consecrated life posed two questions to the Pope on behalf of those in attendance: the first on the mission of the priesthood in a city of great contrasts such as Naples, and the second regarding the difficulties and joys in the life of consecrated persons. Francis preferred to answer directly, setting aside the official discourse he had prepared and, seated rather than on foot, he spoke with those present. “One of the testimonies you asked of me is this: that of always being on the move”, he said. “The path of consecrated life is that which follows Jesus. … If at the centre of my life … there is the fact of being opposed to a bishop, or a parish priest, or another priest, my entire life is absorbed by this battle. But this means losing your life! Not having a family, not having children, not having conjugal love, which is so good and beautiful, just to end up arguing with the bishop, with brother priests, with the faithful, and to end up with a sour face: this is not bearing witness. … When Jesus is at the centre, these difficulties are there all the same, they are everywhere, but we face them in a different way. In a convent, perhaps I don't like the superior, but I tolerate her and I ensure that the other superiors understand the situation. But no-one can take away my joy: the joy of following Jesus”. He then addressed the seminarians. “What I would like to say to you is this: if you do not have Jesus at your centre, defer your ordination. If you are not sure that Jesus is the centre of your life, wait a little, in order to be certain. The alternative is setting out on a path without knowing where it will finish”. The Pope then went on to speak about a second witness, that of the spirit of poverty, which is necessary also for priests, “who do not make this vow, but must have this spirit … When the Church enters into business, either for priests or for persons religious, it is not good. … Consecrated persons – be they priests, or men and women religious – must never be businesspeople. The spirit of poverty is not, however, the spirit of miserliness. A priest, who has never taken a vow of poverty, may keep his savings but in an honest and reasonable way. But when one becomes greedy and starts getting involved in business … How many scandals in the Church, and what a lack of freedom, due to money!”. Francis gave the example of benefactors whose lives are less than exemplary, but to whom priests are not free to speak frankly because of the money they contribute. He added, “When money is involved, we begin to discriminate between people. Therefore, I would ask all seminarians to examine their consciences in this respect”. The third testimony for the Holy Father is mercy. “We have forgotten about works of mercy … and I offer you an example: in the great Christian cities, there are baptised children who do not know how to make the sign of the Cross. And where is the work of mercy of teaching in this case? … We need to resume works of mercy, both corporal and spiritual. If there is a sick person near my house and I would like to visit him, but the time I have available coincides with a television show, and I choose the television show rather than a work of mercy, then this will not do. .. These are the things that draw us closer to the spirit of the world, which is another thing I would like to speak about: the danger of worldliness. … Think about the priestly prayer, when Jesus beseeches His Father: 'I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one'. Worldliness is contrary to witness, while the spirit of prayer is a witness that we see … and this witness attracts vocations”. Another question posed by the vicar for the clergy regarded priestly fraternity, and the bishop of Rome answered that promoting this fraternity was easy neither in the convent, in consecrated life, nor in the presbytery. “For me, the sign that there is no brotherliness is gossip. … The terrorism of gossip. … In a presbytery there may be various points of view and differences: this is normal and it is Christian, but these differences must be brought our by having the courage to speak directly to others. … And when this is not possible, because at times it cannot be done, tell another person who can act as an intermediary. But you cannot speak against another person, because gossip is the terrorism of diocesan fraternity, of priestly fraternity, of religious communities”. Joy is also a form of witness. “The joy of a full life, the joy of having chosen well, the joy of seeing every day that the Lord is faithful to me. ... Boring, sad priests or consecrated persons, with bitterness in their hearts, have something wrong and should seek a good spiritual adviser”. “I would like to finish with three things”, said the Holy Father, at the end of his meeting in the cathedral. “Firstly, worship: we have lost the meaning of the worship of God, and we need to resume this. Secondly, it is not possible to love Jesus without loving His spouse. Love for the Church. … Thirdly, and this is important: apostolic zeal, which is missionary in nature. The love of the Church will lead you to know this, to come out of yourselves, to go forth and preach Christ's Revelation, but it will also urge you to come out of yourselves to reach another transcendence, which is worship”. Finally, the Pope venerated the reliquary that contains the blood of St. Januarius; its miraculous liquefaction is awaited every year by Neapolitan faithful on 19 September during a solemn religious ceremony lead by the archbishop. This time the blood was only half liquefied, and Francis affirmed: “We see that the Spirit loves us by half. We must all convert, so that He will love us more. Thank you, and do not forget to pray for me”. | |||||||||
| “Only in the Crucified Christ do we find the explanation of the mystery of sickness” Vatican City, 22 March 2015 (VIS) - “It is not easy to approach a patient. The most beautiful and most miserable things in life are reserved, they conceal themselves. One tries to hide the greatest love, out of modesty; and for modesty we also hide those things that demonstrate our human misery”. With these words the Pope addressed the patients he met in the Basilica of Gesù Nuovo yesterday, explaining that to approach a patient it is necessary to go to him, since the modesty of life leads him to conceal himself. “When there are lifelong illnesses, when we find ourselves faced with maladies that affect an entire life, we prefer to hide them, because going to visit a patient means going and finding our own sickness. It means having the courage to say to oneself: I too have a malady of the heart, of the soul, of the spirit; I too am spiritually afflicted”. Francis spoke of the mystery of sickness, explaining that although God created us to change the world, to be efficient, to dominate Creation, “when we find ourselves before sickness, we see that the ailment prevents this: that man or that woman who was born this way, or who became this way, seems to say 'no' to the mission of transforming the world. … We are only able to approach the sick … if we accustom ourselves to looking at the Crucified Christ, as here is the only explanation for this 'failure', this human failure, this ailment throughout our lives”. “If you cannot understand the Lord”, he said to the patients present, “I ask the Lord to make you understand in your hearts that you are the flesh of Christ”. Francis thanked the volunteers who spend their time “caressing Christ's flesh, serving the crucified and living Christ”, and the doctors and nurses who have not transformed their profession into a form of trade, as “when medicine turns into trade, into business, it is like the priesthood when it acts in the same way: it loses the kernel of its vocation”. Finally, he urged all the Christians of the diocese of Naples not to forget what Jesus asked us, and what we will all be judged upon: “I was sick, and you cared for me”. “The sick suffer: they are a reflection of the suffering Christ”, he concluded. “Do not be afraid to draw close to Christ Who suffers”. | |||||||||
| The Pope concludes his trip to Naples: “Our God is the God of words and of silence” Vatican City, 22 March 2015 (VIS) – The final stage of the Pope's visit to Naples yesterday took place on the Caracciolo seafront promenade, where he met with the people of the city. The Holy Father again answered three questions. The first was posed by a young woman who wanted to know how to interpret God's silence when faced with difficulties such as corruption, and how to respond to this with signs of hope. “God, our God is a God of words, He is a God of gestures, and He is a God of silence. We know the God of words because in the Bible there are the words of God: God talks to us and seeks us. The God of gestures is the God around us. … And then there is the God of silence. Think of the great silences in the Bible: for instance, the silence in the heart of Abraham when he went to offer his son as a sacrifice. …. But God's greatest silence was the Cross: Jesus heard his Father's silence, to the point of defining it as abandonment. … And then there occurred God's miracle, that word, that grandiose gesture of the Resurrection. Our God is also the God of silence, and there are silences of God's that cannot be explained if you do not look to the Cross. For example, why do children suffer? Where is there a word from God to explain why children suffer? … I do not say that the silence of God can be 'understood', but we can draw nearer to God's silences by looking upon the crucified Christ, Christ abandoned from the Mount of Olives unto the Cross. … But 'God created us to be happy'. Yes, it is true. But very often He says nothing. And this is the truth. I cannot deceive you by saying, 'No, have faith and all will go well, you will be happy, you will have good fortune, you will have money …'. No, our God also remains in silence. Remember: He is the God of words, the God of gestures, and the God of silences, and you have to unite these three things in your life. This is what I can say to you. I am sorry. I have no other 'recipe'”. The second question was from an elderly woman, aged 95, who thanked the Pope for his defence of old age, a gift that today's society does not appreciate or discards, and commented that she had found a Christian community that showed her affection and gave her strength, and which had become like a family to her. “You used a key word for our culture: 'discard'. The elderly are discarded, because this society throws away what is no longer useful, what is 'disposable'. Children are not useful, so why have them? … We discard children, and we discard the elderly, because we leave them by themselves. We elderly have ailments and problems, and we bring problems to others, and people discard us perhaps because of these ailments, because we are no longer useful. And then there is this habit of – excuse the expression – leaving people to die, and since we like using euphemisms, we use a technical word: euthanasia. But euthanasia is carried out not only by injection; there is also a hidden euthanasia, that of no longer giving medicine, of not offering cures, of making life sad, and so one dies, one expires. … But this path that you have found is the best medicine for a long life: closeness, friendship, tenderness. … Solitude is the most potent poison for the elderly. … Sons and daughters, I remind you of the fourth commandment. Are you affectionate with your parents? Do you embrace them, do you tell them you love them? … Examine your consciences. Affection is the best medicine for the elderly”. Finally, a married couple asked the Pope how best to communicate the beauty of the family, through a pastoral ministry of outreach rather than defence. “The family is in crisis: this is true, and it is not new”, answered Francis. “Young people do not want to get married, preferring instead to live together, easily and without compromises; then, if a child comes along, they marry out of necessity. … The crisis of the family is a social reality. Then there are the ideological colonisations of the family, modes and proposals from Europe and also from overseas. The error of the human mind that is gender theory creates a lot of confusion. … What can we do, faced with such active secularisation? What can we do with these ideological colonisations? What can be done with a culture that does not consider the family, in which people prefer not to marry? I do not have a recipe: the Church is aware of this and the Lord has inspired the convocation of a Synod on the family, on its many problems. … For example, there is the problem of preparation for marriage. Preparation is not a question of a course: became a married couple in eight lessons. … It is another thing entirely. It begins at home, with friends, with youth, during engagement. Engagement has lost the sacred meaning of respect. Today, normally, engagement and cohabitation are almost the same thing. Not always, as there are good examples. How can we prepare an engagement to mature? It is like fruit. If you do not gather it when it is ripe, it is not good. But all this is a crisis, and I ask you to pray a lot. I have no recipes for this, but the witness of love and the witness of how to resolve problems are important”. At the end of the meeting, the Pope transferred to the maritime station of Naples in order to depart by helicopter. He arrived in Rome at 7 p.m. | |||||||||
| Other Pontifical Acts Vatican City, 21 March 2015 (VIS) – The Holy Father has: - appointed Bishop Stanislav Stolarik, auxiliary of Kosice, Slovakia, as bishop of Roznava (area 7,000, population 389,400, Catholics 223,100, priests 120, religious 95), Slovakia. He succeeds Bishop Vladimir Filo, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese upon reaching the age limit was accepted by the Holy Father. - appointed Bishop Charles Phillip Richard Moth, formerly military ordinary for Great Britain, as bishop of Arundel and Brighton (area 4,998, population 3,225,000, Catholics 198,200, priests 192, permanent deacons 36, religious 499), England. - appointed Msgr. Javier Gerardo Roman Arias as bishop of Limon (area 9,188, population 323,000, Catholics 263,453, priests 23, religious 36), Costa Rica. The bishop-elect was born in Alajuela, Costa Rica in 1962 and was ordained a priest in 1987. He has served in a number of pastoral roles, including deputy priest and parish priest in various parishes of the archdiocese of San Jose de Costa Rica. He is currently adjunct secretary of the Episcopal Conference of Costa Rica, parish priest of the “Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe” parish, and bursar of the archdiocese of San Jose de Costa Rica. - accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the archieparchy of Istanbul of the Armenians, Turkey, presented by Bishop Hovhannes Tcholakian, upon reaching the age limit. - confirmed the appointment of Bishop Levon Boghos Zekiyan, apostolic administrator of the archieparchy of Istanbul of the Armenians, Turkey, as archbishop of the same see. - accepted the resignation from the office of apostolic administrator presented by Bishop Nechan Karakeheyan of the Ordinariate for Armenian Catholics resident in Greece, upon reaching the age limit. - appointed Rev. Hovsep Bezazian as apostolic administrator of the Ordinariate for Armenian Catholics resident in Greece, without episcopal rank. - Archbishop Aldo Cavalli, formerly apostolic nuncio in Malta and Libya, as apostolic nuncio in the Netherlands.
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Sunday, March 22, 2015
Saint March 23 : St. Turibius de Mogrovejo : Patron of Native rights; Latin American bishops; Peru
Information:
| Feast Day: | March 23 |
| Born: | 16 November, 1538, Mayorga, Spain |
| Died: | 23 March, 1606, Saña, Peru |
| Canonized: | 1726 |
| Patron of: | Native rights; Latin American bishops; Peru |
CONFESSOR, ARCHBISHOP OF LIMA
After a suitable preparation, he received the four minor orders on four successive Sundays, the better to dispose himself for the functions of each; and after passing through the other orders, he was consecrated bishop. Immediately after which he set out for Peru, and landed at Lima, in the year 1581, of his age the forty-third. That diocese is extended one hundred and thirty leagues along the coast, comprising three cities and many towns and villages, with innumerable cottages scattered over two ridges of the mountains of the Andes, esteemed the highest and the most rugged in the whole world. Some of the European generals, who first invaded that country were men who seemed to measure every thing by their insatiable avarice and ambition, and had so far lost all sentiments of humanity towards the poor savages, that they deserved the name rather of tyrants and plunderers than of conquerors. Civil wars and dissension completed the misfortune of that country; and covetousness, cruelty, treachery, fraud, and debauchery seemed triumphant. Nor were the repeated orders of the Spanish court able to redress these evils. The sight of these disorders moved the good pastor often to tears, but his prudence and zeal overcame all difficulties, extirpated public scandals, and made the kingdom a flourishing portion of the Christian church. Upon his arrival, he immediately began a visitation of his vast diocese- an undertaking of incredible fatigue, and attended with many dangers. He often crept over the steepest and most rugged mountains, covered with ice or snow, to visit some poor hut of Indians, and give them suitable comfort and instruction. He travelled often on foot, and sometimes barefoot, and by fasting and prayer never ceased to implore the divine mercy for the salvation of the souls committed to his charge. He placed everywhere able and zealous pastors, and took care that no one in the most remote corners of the rocks should be left destitute of the means of instruction and of the benefit of the sacraments. To settle and maintain discipline, he appointed diocesan synods to be held every two years, and provincial synods every seven; and was vigilant and severe in chastising the least scandal, especially of avarice, in the clergy. Without respect of persons, he reproved injustice and vice, and made use of all the means which his authority nut into his hands, to check the insolence of public sinners, and to protect the poor from oppression. Many of the first conquerors and governors of Peru, before the arrival of the most virtuous viceroy Francis of Toledo, were men who often sacrificed every thing to their passions, and for their private ends. From some of these the saint suffered many persecutions, and was often thwarted by them in the discharge of his duty. But by the arms of meekness and patience he overcame all affronts and injuries, and with an invincible constancy he maintained the rights of justice and truth. He showed that many sinners misconstrued the law of God to make it favour their passions; but that, as Tertullian observes, "Christ calls himself the truth, not custom," and will weigh our actions not in the false balance of the world, but in the true scales of the sanctuary. Thus he extirpated the most inveterate abuses, and established with so great fervour the pure maxims of the gospel, as to revive in many the primitive spirit of Christianity. To extend and perpetuate the advantages of religion, which by his zeal he had procured, he filled this country with seminaries, churches, and many hospitals; but would never suffer his own name to be recorded in any of his munificent charities or foundations. When he was at Lima, he every day visited several hospitals, comforted and exhorted the sick. and administered the sacraments. When a pestilence, though that calamity is seldom known in Peru, raged in some parts of his diocese, Turibius distributed his own necessaries in relieving the afflicted: he preached penance, because sins are the cause of chastisements, and infinitely the worst of evils. He walked in the processions, bathed in tears, with his eyes always fixed on a crucifix, and offering himself to God for his flock; fasted, watched, and prayed for them without intermission, till God was pleased to remove the scourge.
Nothing gave the saint so much pleasure as the greatest labours and dangers, to procure the least spiritual advantage to one soul. Burning with the most vehement desire of laying down his life for his flock, and of suffering all things for him who died for us, he feared no dangers. When he heard that poor Indians wandered in the mountains and deserts, he sought them out; and to comfort, instruct, or gain one of them he often suffered incredible fatigues and dangers in the wildernesses, and boldly travelled through the haunts of lions and tigers.1 He spent seven years in performing his first visitation; his second employed him four years, but the third was shorter. He converted innumerable infidels, and left everywhere monuments of his charity. In travelling, he either prayed or discoursed on heavenly things.. On his arrival at a place, it was his custom to repair first to the church to pray before the altar. To catechise the poor, he would sometimes stay two or three days in places where he had neither bed nor any kind of food. He visited every part of his vast diocese, and when others suggested to him the dangers that threatened him from rocks, precipices, marshes, rivers, robbers, and savages, his answer was that Christ came from heaven to save man, we ought not therefore to fear dangers for the sake of immortal glory. He preached and catechised without intermission, having for this purpose learned, in his old age, all the various languages of the barbarous nations of that country. Even on his journeys he said mass every day with wonderful fervour and devotion. He always made a long meditation before and after it, and usually went to confession every morning; though they who best knew his interior testified that they were persuaded he had never in his whole life forfeited his baptismal innocence by any mortal sin. He seemed to have God and the divine honor alone before his eyes in all his words and actions so as to give little or no attention to any thing else; by which means his prayer was perpetual. He retired in private to that exercise often in the day, and for a long time together. In it his countenance seemed often to shine with a divine light. The care with which he studied to disguise and conceal his great mortifications and works of piety, was the proof of his sincere humility. His munificence in relieving the poor of every class, especially those who were too bashful to make their necessities publicly known, always exhausted his revenues. The decrees of his provincial councils are monuments of his zeal, piety, learning, and discretion: they have been ever since esteemed, not only in the new world, but also in Europe, and at Rome itself, as oracles. The flourishing state of the church of Peru, the great numbers of saints and eminent pastors with which it abounded, and the establishment of innumerable seminaries of piety and learning, and hospitals for the poor, were the fruit of his zeal. If he did not originally plant the faith, he was at least the great propagator of it, and the chief instrument of God in removing scandals and advancing true piety in that vast country, which till then had been a land of abominations: whilst Francis of Toledo, the great viceroy, first settled the civil government in peace and tranquillity by salutary laws, which have procured him the title of the Legislator of Peru. St. Turibius, in the sixty-eighth year of his age, in 1606 during the visitation of his diocese, fell sick at Santa, a town one hundred and ten leagues distant from Lima. He foretold his death, and ordered him to be rewarded who should bring him the first account from his physician that his recovery was despaired of. The ardour of his faith, his hope, his love of his Creator and Redeemer, his resignation, and perfect sacrifice of himself, gathered strength in the fervent exercises and aspirations which he repeated almost without ceasing in his illness. By his last will he ordered what he had about him to be distributed among his servants, and whatever else he otherwise possessed to be given to the poor. He would be carried to the church, there to receive the holy Viaticum, but received extreme unction in his sick bed. He often repeated those words of St. Paul, ; and in his last moments he ordered to be sung by his bedside those of the Psalmist, He died on the 23rd of March, repeating those other words of the same prophet, His body being translated the year after to Lima, was found incorrupt, the joints flexible, and the skin soft. His historian, and the acts of the canonization, mention many sick restored to their health, and a girl raised to life by him whilst he was living; also many miracles wrought through his intercession after his death. He was beatified by Innocent XI in 1679,1 and solemnly canonized by Pope Benedict XIII in 1726. On the miracles wrought by his inter. cession, see Benedict XIV,2 and especially the acts of his canonization.
A pastor of souls must be careful to animate all his exterior actions and labours in the service of his neighbour with the interior spirit of compunction, humility, zeal, charity, and tender devotion. Without this he loses the fruit of all the pains he takes, and by them will often deserve only chastisements in the world to come; so much will his intention and the affections of his heart be infected with self-love, and depraved by various imperfections, and secret sinister desires, even in the most holy functions. Therefore, a fervent noviciate, employed in the exercises of an interior life, ought to be a part of the preparation for this state; and in the discharge of his duties, a person ought always to unite contemplation with action, and reserve to himself sufficient-time for conversing with God and his own soul, and taking a frequent review of his own interior. From his labors he must return frequently to prayer, and constantly nourish in his soul a spirit of fervent devotion, which will thus accompany all his exterior actions and keep his thoughts and affections always united to God. Those who are not faithful in thus maintaining and improving in themselves an interior spirit of piety, and in watching with fear and compunction over the motions of their own hearts, will generally advance very little the kingdom of Christ in the souls of others, and are in great danger of losing their own. This is what St. Bernard feared in his disciple Pope Eugenius III, whom he conjured with tears never to give himself up entirely to the care of others, so as not to live also for himself; so to communicate a spirit of piety to others, as not to suffer it to be drained in his own heart; to be a basin to hold it, not a pipe for it to run through. This lesson is applicable, with due proportion, to other states, especially that of teaching the sciences, in which the exercises of an interior life are so much the more necessary, as the employment is more distracting, more tumultuous, and more exposed to the waves of vanity, jealousy, and other secret petty passions.
source: http://www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/T/stturibiusdemogrovejo.asp#ixzz1pudK1KRx
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