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Wednesday, November 4, 2015

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2015


Francis -- The Family Pope - #Family

Saint November 4 : St. Charles Borromeo : Patron of Catechists, Catechumens, Seminarians
 (photo credit: Aleteia Image Department via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0)
Pope Francis has been called, "The People's Pope", and perhaps that is true. He does seem have an appeal among all people, including those of different faiths or no faith whatsoever. Regardless of his overarching appeal, his catechesis is narrowly focused. He has his laser pointer fixed on the family.

In his general audience today, he continued to preach about the value and necessity of family through the lens of forgiveness. This unites his teaching on the family to the upcoming Jubilee Year of Mercy which begins on the Solemnity of the Immaculate, December 8, 2015, and ends on November 20, 2016, the Feast of Christ the King.

Pope Francis begins by reminding the world about the Synod that just ended:
 Following the recent Assembly of the Synod of Bishops which reflected on the vocation and mission of the family, today we reflect on the importance of the family as the place where we learn the value of forgiveness. 
In the family "we learn the value of forgiveness". Families live in close quarters, and it is in the home that most often the stress of the world is released in a safe and secure environment. His statement hearkens back to the old adage: "You always hurt the one you love." This isn't a fallacy, it's truth. We tend to lash out at those we know will love us even in our bleakest moments. It reminds me of the song by the same title sung by The Mills Brothers in 1957. The lyrics go: 
You always hurt the one you love
The one you shouldn't hurt at all
You always take the sweetest rose
And crush it till the petals fall

You always break the kindest heart
With a hasty word you can't recall
So if I broke your heart last night
It's because I love you most of a-all 
It sounds harsh and cold, but it is true. It is a common occurrence in the family because there we are truly and naturally the best and worst of ourselves. It is often thoughtlessness, exhaustion, illness, the stress of the day, that pile up and leave us vulnerable to hurt those "with hasty words you can't recall... because I love you most of all".

Holy Father takes it to heart today in his general audience. He reminds us:
Each day, in the words of the Our Father, we ask God to forgive us and to grant us the grace to forgive others.  As difficult as forgiveness may be, it is essential for our personal growth, our capacity to acknowledge our failures and to mend broken relationships.
Pope Francis reminds us each day to pray -- not just reciting the words, but hearing, internalizing and living the words of the Lord's Prayer. He recognizes how hard forgiveness is, but call the faithful nonetheless to reach higher, to draw from the indwelling power to restore broken or strained relationships.

The pope goes on to say: 
It is a virtue we learn first in the family.  Forgiveness strengthens families in love and, through them, makes society as a whole more loving and humane.  It is a solid rock on which to build our lives and an eloquent sign of our Christian discipleship and obedience to the Father’s will.
Virtue. Forgiveness is a virtue that all are called to perfect through its practice. It makes man more "loving and humane" and builds up society. So many people are struggling with disordered behaviors and thoughts about family and family life. In many cases, it is not their fault that they can't see past the error of their own judgements and behaviors -- society has given them a false perception of personal dignity and freedom.

The decline of loving witness to living a virtuous life, a witness that first shows charity and compassion and then teaches truth, beauty and goodness, leaves the lost and lonely right where they are, stuck in their own demise. Pope Francis speaks of "Christian discipleship and obedience to the Father's will"; it is the mission of the Church to teach the virtue of forgiveness, but it must first be learned through interaction and socialization within the family. Ite missa est, the Latin words of the Concluding Rite of the Mass, means "Go, she [the Church] has been sent" -- and we are sent first to those to whom we are first responsible -- our family. Within the family exists the domestic church where parents, in good times and bad, teach the faith through living good and holy lives, giving witness to the teachings of the Church, and preparing children to live in and among those who need this example in their lives.

The Holy Father concludes his audience with these words, a prayer of hope and mission: 
May the coming Jubilee of Mercy encourage families everywhere to rediscover the power of forgiveness, and enable the great family of the Church to proclaim the power of God’s reconciling love at work in our world.
 Pope Francis' words reach beyond Catholic boundaries. "Families everywhere" are enjoined to rediscover the power of forgiveness, to search their own brokenness, and attempt to heal it with the power of mercy. And, the "family of the Church" is called to be representative witnesses of this powerful mercy within their family and in the world.

He may carry the moniker of "People's Pope", but he truly is the "Family Pope", working and building a body of teaching on the beauty and virtue of the family for all the world to discover and consider in the depths of their hearts. by : Kathy Vestermark - Professor at CDU
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Today's Mass Readings and Video : Wed. November 4, 2015


Memorial of Saint Charles Borromeo, Bishop
Lectionary: 487


Reading 1ROM 13:8-10

Brothers and sisters:
Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another;
for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
The commandments, You shall not commit adultery;
you shall not kill;
you shall not steal;
you shall not covet,
and whatever other commandment there may be,
are summed up in this saying, namely,
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Love does no evil to the neighbor;
hence, love is the fulfillment of the law.

Responsorial PsalmPS 112:1B-2, 4-5, 9

R. ( 5a) Blessed the man who is gracious and lends to those in need.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Blessed the man who fears the LORD,
who greatly delights in his commands.
His posterity shall be mighty upon the earth;
the upright generation shall be blessed.
R. Blessed the man who is gracious and lends to those in need.
or:
R. Alleluia.
He dawns through the darkness, a light for the upright;
he is gracious and merciful and just.
Well for the man who is gracious and lends,
who conducts his affairs with justice.
R. Blessed the man who is gracious and lends to those in need.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Lavishly he gives to the poor;
his generosity shall endure forever;
his horn shall be exalted in glory.
R. Blessed the man who is gracious and lends to those in need.
or:
R. Alleluia.

Alleluia1 PT 4:14

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
If you are insulted for the name of Christ, blessed are you,
for the Spirit of God rests upon you.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

GospelLK 14:25-33

Great crowds were traveling with Jesus,
and he turned and addressed them,
“If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother,
wife and children, brothers and sisters,
and even his own life,
he cannot be my disciple.
Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me
cannot be my disciple.
Which of you wishing to construct a tower
does not first sit down and calculate the cost
to see if there is enough for its completion?
Otherwise, after laying the foundation
and finding himself unable to finish the work
the onlookers should laugh at him and say,
‘This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.’
Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down
and decide whether with ten thousand troops
he can successfully oppose another king
advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops?
But if not, while he is still far away,
he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms.
In the same way,
everyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions
cannot be my disciple.”
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#BreakingNews Baby survives a Plane Crash in South Sudan -

A plane has crashed shortly after taking off from an airport in South Sudan;  killing more than 40 people. Three passengers reportedly survived including a baby.  The crash took place near the airport in Juba, the capital, on Wednesday. The aircraft was a cargo plane with five Russian crew and seven passengers, There were also reports of casualties on the ground. Eighteen people were aboard the flight: 12 South Sudanese passengers and six crew members -- five Armenians and one Russian. Three people survived: two South Sudanese passengers and an infant boy less than a year old,   The cause of the crash might have been engine failure but this is not confirmed. The plane crashed near the White Nile River at 9 a.m. The plane was bound for the South Sudanese town of Paloich, in an area of oil fields in the north of the country.
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#BreakingNews Woman Stoned to Death in Afghanistan - Please PRAY

RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan has obtained video footage from an eyewitness that appears to show the brutal stoning last week of a 19-year-old Afghan woman in the central province of Ghor. The two-minute clip shows a group of men throwing stones with increasing intensity at a covered individual crammed in a hole in the ground.
A crowd of onlookers are seen capturing the incident on their mobile phones and a woman's pitiful cries can plainly be heard. Local official Mohammad Zaman Azimi, in a previous report, blamed Taliban militants for the execution. Azimi said the woman, identified as 19-year-old Rokhshana, was stoned to death after being accused of having premarital sex with her fiance, a 23-year-old man named Mohammad Gul, who was reportedly lashed. It was unclear why the young woman would have received a more severe punishment, although Taliban and religious courts in the past have been more lenient toward men.
 Azimi added that the stoning took place in the village of Ghalmin on the outskirts of Firoz Koh, the provincial capital. The couple allegedly had fled their families in a bid to find a place to be married. Unmarried girls in Afghanistan are often restricted to their homes and banned from having contact with men outside their immediate families. Brutal punishments often await Afghan women and girls who break the social norm. Death by stoning for convicted adulterers is banned under Afghan law, although adulterers face long prison terms.
The penal code, originating in 1976, makes no provision for the use of stoning. Afghanistan's Constitution prescribes that "no law can be contrary to the beliefs and provisions of the sacred religion of Islam" and sometimes appears at odds with more liberal and democratic elements within it. Capital punishment was widely practiced by the Taliban regime, which ruled much of the country from 1996-2001, when convicted adulterers were routinely shot or stoned in executions conducted in front of large crowds. In rural areas, where Taliban militants exert considerable influence, some Afghans still turn to Taliban courts for settling disputes, as many view government bodies as corrupt or unreliable. The Taliban courts employ strict interpretations of Shari'a law, which prescribes punishments such as stoning and executions. In many Taliban-controlled areas, men or women found guilty of having a relationship outside marriage or an extramarital affair are sentenced to death, or in other cases publicly flogged. Afghan officials often blame the Taliban for such punishments. Since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001, there have been sporadic reports of Afghan stonings but no conclusive evidence. There have been instances of other harsh punishments being meted out, however, seemingly in keeping with strict interpretations of Islam. In one prominent case, in 2012, a 16-year-old girl in the western city of Herat was flogged and then killed along with her alleged boyfriend. Afghanistan is an Islamic country and Ghor is one of the provinces of Afghanistan, and we cannot disobey what the law of Islam and our constitution says." -- Ghor Governor Sima Joyenda, as quoted by Ariana News In 2013, there was a government proposal to reintroduce public stoning as punishment for adultery. But the government backed away from the proposal after international condemnation. The abandoned legislation had set the punishment for extramarital sex between unmarried individuals at 100 lashes; sex outside marriage was punished by stoning to death if the adulterer or adulteress was married. Masooma Anwari, the head of women's affairs in Ghor, expressed grave concern over the situation of women in the province. She said the "incompetence" of the local authorities in governance and security has paved the way for such incidents.
 The stoning is just the most recent in a string of public punishments in Ghor that have sparked outrage. On August 31, a young man and woman found guilty of adultery were lashed publicly. Sima Joyenda, Ghor's embattled female governor, came under criticism from rights activists at home and abroad for supporting the sentence. Joyenda, who is under pressure to resign, added that the sentence, which was carried out based on the ruling of a primary court, was in keeping with the law. "Afghanistan is an Islamic country and Ghor is one of the provinces of Afghanistan, and we cannot disobey what the law of Islam and our constitution says," Ariana News quoted her as saying last month. Ghor, a mountainous and remote province in the central highlands, is one of the poorest and most unstable areas in the country. The provincial government's power extends little beyond Firoz Koh. Dozens of illegal, armed groups run by former warlords and militia leaders are active in Ghor, a key transit route for arms and drugs, and the resulting clashes are seen to be the source of much of the violence in the province. Written by Frud Bezhan based on reporting by Radio Free Afghanistan's Abdul Qadir Ghafoori Shared from Radio Free Europe Library
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#PopeFrancis "As difficult as forgiveness may be, it is essential for our personal growth..." FULL TEXT - Video at Audience

 Staff Reporter | Here is a ZENIT translation of the address Pope Francis gave at this morning’s general audience in Saint Peter’s Square. * * * Dear Brothers and Sisters, good morning! The Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, which ended a short while ago, reflected in depth on the vocation and mission of the family in the life of the Church and of contemporary society. It was an event of grace. At the end the Synodal Fathers gave me the text of their conclusions. I wanted this text to be published so that all would be participants in the work that has seen us committed together for two years. This is not the moment to examine those conclusions, on which I myself must meditate. In the meantime, however, life does not stop, in particular the life of families does not stop! You, dear families, are always moving forward. And you already write continually, in the pages of concrete life, the beauty of the Gospel of the Family. In a world that at times becomes arid of life and love, you speak every day of the great gifts that marriage and the family are. Today I would like to stress this aspect: that the family is a great training ground of gift and of mutual forgiveness, without which no love can last for long; without giving oneself and without forgiving one another love does not remain, it does not last! In the prayer that Jesus himself taught us – namely the Our Father – He has us ask the Father: “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” And at the end He comments: “”For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will forgive you; but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:12.14-15). We cannot live without forgiving one another, or at least we cannot live well, especially in the family. Every day we wrong one another. We must take these mistakes into account, which are due to our fragility and our egoism. What we are asked, however, is to heal immediately the wounds we cause, to reweave the threads that we break in the family. If we wait too long, everything becomes more difficult. And there is a simple secret to heal the wounds and to break off the accusations: not to let the day end without apologizing to one another, without making peace between husband and wife, between parents and children, between brothers and sisters ... between daughter-in-law and mother-in-law! If we learn to apologize immediately and to forgive one another, the wounds heal, the marriage is strengthened, and the family becomes an ever more solid home, which resist the knocks of our little and great spiteful acts. And for this, a great speech is not necessary; a caress is enough and everything begins again. But do not end the day in war! If we learn to live thus in the family, we do so also outside, wherever we find ourselves. It is easy to be skeptical about this. Many – also among Christians – think that it is an exaggeration. It is said: yes, they are beautiful words, but it’s impossible to put them into practice. However, thank God, this isn’t so. In fact, it is precisely by receiving forgiveness from God that we are capable, in turn, to forgive others. Therefore Jesus has us repeat these words every time that we recite the prayer of the Our Father, namely every day. And it is indispensable that, in a society that is sometimes merciless, there are places, such as the family, where we can learn to forgive one another. The Synod revived our hope also on this: the capacity to forgive and to forgive one another is part of the vocation and mission of the family. The practice of forgiveness not only saves families from division, but renders them capable of helping society to be less evil and less cruel. Yes, every gesture of forgiveness repairs the cracks of the home and consolidates its walls. Dear families, the Church is always by your side to help you to build your home on the rock of which Jesus spoke. And let us not forget these words that precede immediately the parable of the house: “Not every one who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of my Father.” And he adds: “On that day many will say to me , ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you’” (cf. Matthew 7:21-23). It is a strong statement, no doubt, which has the purpose to shake us and to call us to conversion. I assure you, dear families, that if you are capable of walking ever more decisively on the way of the Beatitudes, learning and teaching to forgive one another mutually, the capacity will grow, in the whole great family of the Church, to give witness of the renewing strength of God’s forgiveness. Otherwise, we might engage in very beautiful preaching, and perhaps even cast out a devil, but at the end the Lord will not recognize us as his disciples because we did not have the capacity to forgive and to be forgiven by others! Truly Christian families can do much for today’s society, and also for the Church. Therefore I desire that, in the Jubilee of Mercy, families rediscover the treasure of mutual forgiveness. Let us pray that families will are increasingly capable of living and building concrete ways of reconciliation, where no one feels abandoned to the weight of his debts. With this intention, we say together: “Our Father, forgive us our trespasses, as we also forgive those who trespass against us.” [Original text: Italian] [Translation by ZENIT] [Greeting in English:] Dear Brothers and Sisters: Following the recent Assembly of the Synod of Bishops which reflected on the vocation and mission of the family, today we reflect on the importance of the family as the place where we learn the value of forgiveness. Each day, in the words of the Our Father , we ask God to forgive us and to grant us the grace to forgive others. As difficult as forgiveness may be, it is essential for our personal growth, our capacity to acknowledge our failures and to mend broken relationships. It is a virtue we learn first in the family. Forgiveness strengthens families in love and, through them, makes society as a whole more loving and humane. It is a solid rock on which to build our lives and an eloquent sign of our Christian discipleship and obedience to the Father’s will. May the coming Jubilee of Mercy encourage families everywhere to rediscover the power of forgiveness, and enable the great family of the Church to proclaim the power of God’s reconciling love at work in our world. Speaker: I greet the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors taking part in today’s Audience, including those from England, Norway, Sweden, Japan, Korea and the United States of America. Upon you and your families I invoke the Lord’s blessings of joy and peace. God bless you all! [Greeting in Italian:] I give a cordial welcome to the Italian-speaking pilgrims. I greet the Sisters Oblates of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Sisters of Saint Dorothy, on the occasion of their respective General Chapters, the Sielistes Group of Brothers of the Christian and La Salle schools. I greet the group of the Apostolic Vicariate of Anatolia, the “Friends Together” Association and the Pleasant and Friendship Foundation. I invite all to pray for the deceased in this month of November, and may your pilgrimage to the Apostolic See reinforce your sense of belonging to the one ecclesial family. A thought goes to young people, the sick and newlyweds. Yesterday we celebrated the Memoria of Saint Martin of Porres. May his great charity be an example to you, dear young people, to live life as a gift; may his abandonment in Christ the Savior support you, dear sick, in the most difficult moment of suffering; and may his spiritual vigor strengthen you, dear newlyweds, in your conjugal journey. [Original text: Italian] [Translation by ZENIT]
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Saint November 4 : St. Charles Borromeo : Patron of Catechists, Catechumens, Seminarians

CATHOLIC ONLINE SOURCE: Charles was the son of Count Gilbert Borromeo and Margaret Medici, sister of Pope Pius IV. He was born at the family castle of Arona on Lake Maggiore, Italy on October 2. He received the clerical tonsure when he was twelve and was sent to the Benedictine abbey of SS. Gratian and Felinus at Arona for his education.
In 1559 his uncle was elected Pope Pius IV and the following year, named him his Secretary of State and created him a cardinal and administrator of the see of Milan. He served as Pius' legate on numerous diplomatic missions and in 1562, was instrumental in having Pius reconvene the Council of Trent, which had been suspended in 1552. Charles played a leading role in guiding and in fashioning the decrees of the third and last group of sessions. He refused the headship of the Borromeo family on the death of Count Frederick Borromeo, was ordained a priest in 1563, and was consecrated bishop of Milan the same year. Before being allowed to take possession of his see, he oversaw the catechism, missal, and breviary called for by the Council of Trent. When he finally did arrive at Trent (which had been without a resident bishop for eighty years) in 1556, he instituted radical reforms despite great opposition, with such effectiveness that it became a model see. He put into effect, measures to improve the morals and manners of the clergy and laity, raised the effectiveness of the diocesan operation, established seminaries for the education of the clergy, founded a Confraternity of Christian Doctrine for the religious instruction of children and encouraged the Jesuits in his see. He increased the systems to the poor and the needy, was most generous in his help to the English college at Douai, and during his bishopric held eleven diocesan synods and six provincial councils. He founded a society of secular priests, Oblates of St. Ambrose (now Oblates of St. Charles) in 1578, and was active in preaching, resisting the inroads of protestantism, and bringing back lapsed Catholics to the Church. He encountered opposition from many sources in his efforts to reform people and institutions.
He died at Milan on the night of November 3-4, and was canonized in 1610. He was one of the towering figures of the Catholic Reformation, a patron of learning and the arts, and though he achieved a position of great power, he used it with humility, personal sanctity, and unselfishness to reform the Church, of the evils and abuses so prevalent among the clergy and the nobles of the times. His feast day is November 4th.
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Free Catholic Movie St. Martin de Porres - Star Pedro Telemaco

Free Catholic Movie Fray Martin de Porres (2007) Video | 101 min | Biography, Drama | 18 September 2007 (USA) Director: Raymundo Calixto (as Raymundo Calixto Sánchez) Writers: Hada Bejar (screenplay), Abigaíl Truchsess (screenplay) Stars: Pedro Telémaco, Dad Dager, Juan Carlos Gardié | - with English Subtitles
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