Jesus Forsaken, my dearest friend

Today I find it particularly difficult to maintain conversation with you Jesus Forsaken! Thank you for the wonderful gifts today, for a beautiful phone call from Salvatore from Italy! Full of love, for a visit from priest friend. Today I offer all these gifts, and also the various new pains, the temporary absence of vision, my lack of patience with my self and others, tiredness for Elio, everything for Elio, for our Mariapoli, for Emmaus and the Pope that they have peace

Today I was reminded of the “conveyor belt full of candles! If I miss some occasion to love, to be there for the other enough to start again in the present moment! And here I return to the conversation with you. Jesus Forsaken after a day living, loving our brothers and sisters whilst in pain going beyond the wound of loneliness. And I find you here with me, and I had the impression be alone, and yet I found  that you were always with me! Thanks Jesus for so beautiful a day, we spent together!

God is love

Yesterday’s reading stayed with me all day! Especially, St. John. It’s a powerful conviction: God is love, despite the rain and the cold, the tiredness, the food or the lack of it, the mistakes I  have already made this morning, the people  I already upset! Today I am in hospital first thing and then in the hospice all day. Today I offer for that we but as long as we love one another God will live in us and amongst us. What an extraordinary gift! God love us, each of us and nobody can separate us from that love! Jesus, give me strength to love today in each present moment!

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My dear people,

let us love one another

since love comes from God

and everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.

Anyone who fails to love can never have known God,

because God is love.

God’s love for us was revealed

when God sent into the world his only Son

so that we could have life through him;

this is the love I mean:

not our love for God,

but God’s love for us when he sent his Son

to be the sacrifice that takes our sins away.

My dear people,

since God has loved us so much,

we too should love one another.

No one has ever seen God;

but as long as we love one another

God will live in us

and his love will be complete in us.

We can know that we are living in him

and he is living in us

because he lets us share his Spirit.

We ourselves saw and we testify

that the Father sent his Son

as saviour of the world.

If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God,

God lives in him, and he in God.

We ourselves have known and put our faith in

God’s love towards ourselves.

God is love

and anyone who lives in love lives in God,

and God lives in him.

As a reflection in a tangible way I came across Chiara’s commentary to the Word of life below. I take it as a motto to build the day full of God’s love together with you!

           

August 2006

Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. (Eph 4:32)

This agenda for life is practical and to the point. It would be enough on its own to create a different kind of society, more brotherly, more supportive. It was part of a broader project put before Christians in Asia Minor.

In these communities ‘peace’ had been reached between Jews and Gentiles, the two peoples representative of humanity till then divided.

The unity given by Christ has to be constantly renewed and translated into practical social action wholly inspired by mutual love. This is the basis for suggesting how our relationships should be:

Kindness: wanting the good of others. It means ‘making ourselves one’ with them, approaching them being completely empty of ourselves, of our own interests, our own ideas, of the many preconceptions that cloud our vision, to take on ourselves their burdens, their needs, their sufferings, and to share in their joys.

It means entering into the hearts of the people we meet in order to understand their mindset, their culture, their traditions, so as to make them, in a certain sense, our own, and really understand what they need and be able to discern those values God has planted in the heart of every person. In a word: kindness means to live for whoever is near us.

Tender-heartedness: welcoming others as they are, not as we would like them to be, with a different character, with our political views or our religious convictions, and without those faults and habits that annoy us so much. No, we need to expand our hearts and make them able to welcome everyone, with their differences, their shortcomings and troubles.

Forgiveness: always seeing other people as new. Even where there are the best and most peaceful relationships, in the family, at school, at work, there are inevitably moments of friction, differences of opinion, clashes. People sometimes reach the point of not speaking to each other, of avoiding one another, to say nothing of when real and true hatred towards someone who thinks differently roots itself in the heart. We have to make a strong and rigorously thorough commitment to try and see each person as though they were new, completely new, not remembering at all how they have hurt us, but covering everything with love, with a complete amnesty in our hearts, imitating God who forgives and forgets.

True peace and unity are attained when kindness, tender-heartedness and forgiveness are lived not only by people individually, but together, with one to another mutually.

And just as the embers of a fire have to be poked every now and then, so that they are not smothered by the ashes, so too from time to time it is necessary deliberately to revive the decision to love one another, to revive our relationships with everyone, so that they are not covered up by the ashes of indifference, apathy, selfishness.

Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, ...

These attitudes demand to be translated into life, into practical action.

Jesus showed us what love is when he healed the sick, when he fed the crowds, when he brought the dead back to life, when he washed the feet of his disciples. Actions, deeds: this is what it means to love.

I remember an African mother whose daughter, Rosangela, lost an eye after an aggressive young boy hurt her with a stick. He even continued to make fun of her afterwards. Neither of the boy’s parents said that they were sorry. The silence, the lack of communication with that family, made the mother feel bitter. ‘Don’t be upset,’ said Rosangela who had forgiven the boy, ‘I am lucky because I can see with my other eye!’

Rosangela’s mother told us: ‘One morning the boy’s mother asked me to go round to her house because she felt ill. My reaction was: “Look, now she is coming to me for help. With so many other neighbours she could have asked, she asks me, after all her boy has done to us!”

‘But right away I remembered that love has no limits. I ran to her house. She opened the door and fainted into my arms. I took her to the hospital and stayed with her until the doctors saw her. A week later she was discharged from the hospital and came to my house to thank me. I welcomed her with all my heart and I felt that I had finally managed to forgive her. Now we are in touch again. In fact, our relationship is totally new.’

Every day of ours, too, can be filled with real acts of service, humble and intelligent expressions of our love. We will then see brotherhood and peace grow around us.

The Pope and the people

Pope Francis referred in his farewell speech to the civilisation of love, which made me think of the Mariapolis! At WYD how many challenges there were, accommodation, no room, no electric power, misunderstandings, the rain! Despite everything there a civilisation of love was slowly emerging, through each participant following the law of love in the present moment. That’s like a mega Mariapolis! Below is the text of the Pope’s speech this morning, a true Meditation!

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Dear Cardinals and Brother Bishops, Dear Friends,

I am about to leave your country to return to Rome. I depart with many happy memories which I know will nourish my prayers. Already I am beginning to miss Brazil, this great people showing so much affection and friendship. I shall miss the natural and warm smiles I have seen in so many faces, and the enthusiasm shown by the volunteers. I shall miss the hope filling the eyes of the young people in the Hospital of Saint Francis. I shall miss the faith and joy shown by the residents of Varginha in the midst of their hardship. I know that Christ is truly present in the lives of countless young people and in the lives of many whom I have met during this unforgettable week. Thank you for the warm welcome and the friendship that have been offered to me. This too I shall miss.

In particular, I would like to thank Madam President for expressing the sentiments of the entire population of Brazil towards the Successor of Peter. I warmly extend gratitude to my brother Bishops and to their many collaborators for making this week a splendid celebration of the richness and joy of our faith in Jesus Christ. I thank all those who took part in the Eucharistic celebrations and other events, and I thank those who organized them and those who worked to broadcast them through the media. Finally, I wish to thank all those who in one way or another rose to the challenge of hosting and organizing the large numbers of young people. And not least my gratitude goes to the many people who prayed, often in silence and simplicity, for this World Youth Day to be an authentic experience of growth in faith. May God reward all of you, as only he can!

As I express my thanks and bid farewell, my thoughts turn to those who are at the heart of these celebrations: the young people! May God bless you for the beautiful witness of your lives and for your intense and joyful participation over these last few days. Many of you came here as disciples; I have no doubt that all of you will leave as missionaries. Through your joyful witness and service, help to build a civilization of love. Show, by your life, that it is worth giving your time and talents in order to attain high ideals, it is worth recognizing the dignity of each human person, and it is worth taking risks for Christ and his Gospel. It is he that we have come to seek because he first sought us. It is he who has inflamed our hearts with the desire to take the Good News to the large cities and to the small communities, to the countryside and to all the corners of this vast planet. I will always place my hopes in the young people of Brazil and in the young around the world: through them, Christ is preparing a new springtime all over the earth. I have seen its first fruits and I know that others will joyfully reap the full harvest.

Finally, my thoughts turn to Our Lady of Aparecida, to whom I also bid farewell. In that beloved Shrine I knelt to pray for the entire human family and in particular for all Brazilians. I implored Mary to strengthen you in the Christian faith, which forms part of the noble soul of Brazil, as indeed of many other countries; this faith is your culture’s treasure and serves as encouragement and support in the task of building a renewed humanity in harmony and solidarity.

As he departs, the Pope says to all of you affectionately: “see you soon”. He asks you not to forget to pray for him. The Pope needs the prayers of all of you. I offer you an affectionate embrace. May God bless you!

The Pope to the young people: be builders of a church more beautiful and a better world!

Pope Francis joined over a million young people on Copacabana beach yesterday evening, for a prayer vigil on the eve of the final Mass marking World Youth Day, 2013 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The centerpiece of the vigil was a Eucharistic procession. The event featured litanies and hymns, as well as the testimonies of four different young people.

In his remarks to the youthful pilgrims, Pope Francis focused on the image of the field of faith – the name of the venue at which the vigil was originally to have taken place, before the week’s inclement weather rendered it unusable: the field as a place to sow seed and raise crops; the field as a place of training; the field as construction site.

The Holy Father also had words of encouragement for the many young people around the world – and especially in Brazil, who in recent days and weeks have taken to the streets to call for the betterment of their societies in a spirit of greater brotherhood. “I encourage them,” he said, “in an orderly, peaceful and responsible manner, motivated by the values ​​of the Gospel, to continue overcoming apathy and offering a Christian response to social and political concerns present in their countries.”

Please find the full text of Pope Francis’ remarks, below:

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Dear Young Friends,

We have just recalled the story of Saint Francis of Assisi. In front of the crucifix he heard the voice of Jesus saying to him: “Francis, go, rebuild my house”. The young Francis responded readily and generously to the Lord’s call to rebuild his house. But which house? Slowly but surely, Francis came to realize that it was not a question of repairing a stone building, but about doing his part for the life of the Church. It was a matter of being at the service of the Church, loving her and working to make the countenance of Christ shine ever more brightly in her.

Today too, as always, the Lord needs you, young people, for his Church. Today too, he is calling each of you to follow him in his Church and to be missionaries. How? In what way? Well, I think we can learn something from what happened in these days: as we had to cancel due to bad weather, the realization of this vigil on the campus Fidei, in Guaratiba. Lord willing might we say that the real area of ​​faith, the true campus fidei, is not a geographical place - but we, ourselves? Yes! Each of us, each one of you. And missionary discipleship means to recognize that we are God’s campus fidei, His “field of faith”! Therefore, from the image of the field of faith, starting with the name of the place, Campus Fidei, the field of faith, I have thought of three images that can help us understand better what it means to be a disciple and a missionary. First, a field is a place for sowing seeds; second, a field is a training ground; and third, a field is a construction site.

1.         A field is a place for sowing seeds. We all know the parable where Jesus speaks of a sower who went out to sow seeds in the field; some seed fell on the path, some on rocky ground, some among thorns, and could not grow; other seed fell on good soil and brought forth much fruit (cf. Mt 13:1-9). Jesus himself explains the meaning of the parable: the seed is the word of God sown in our hearts (cf. Mt 13:18-23). This, dear young people, means that the real Campus Fidei, the field of faith, is your own heart, it is your life. It is your life that Jesus wants to enter with his word, with his presence. Please, let Christ and his word enter your life, blossom and grow.

Jesus tells us that the seed which fell on the path or on the rocky ground or among the thorns bore no fruit. What kind of ground are we? What kind of terrain do we want to be? Maybe sometimes we are like the path: we hear the Lord’s word but it changes nothing in our lives because we let ourselves be numbed by all the superficial voices competing for our attention; or we are like the rocky ground: we receive Jesus with enthusiasm, but we falter and, faced with difficulties, we don’t have the courage to swim against the tide; or we are like the thorny ground: negativity, negative feelings choke the Lord’s word in us (cf. Mt 13:18-22). But today I am sure that the seed is falling on good soil, that you want to be good soil, not part-time Christians, not “starchy” and superficial, but real. I am sure that you don’t want to be duped by a false freedom, always at the beck and call of momentary fashions and fads. I know that you are aiming high, at long-lasting decisions which will make your lives meaningful. Jesus is capable of letting you do this: he is “the way, and the truth, and the life” (Jn 14:6). Let’s trust in him. Let’s make him our guide!

2.         A field is a training ground. Jesus asks us to follow him for life, he asks us to be his disciples, to “play on his team”. I think that most of you love sports! Here in Brazil, as in other countries, football is a national passion. Now, what do players do when they are asked to join a team? They have to train, and to train a lot! The same is true of our lives as the Lord’s disciples. Saint Paul tells us: “athletes deny themselves all sorts of things; they do this to win a crown of leaves that withers, but we a crown that is imperishable” (1 Cor 9:25). Jesus offers us something bigger than the World Cup! He offers us the possibility of a fulfilled and fruitful life; he also offers us a future with him, an endless future, eternal life. But he asks us to train, “to get in shape”, so that we can face every situation in life undaunted, bearing witness to our faith. How do we get in shape? By talking with him: by prayer, which is our daily conversation with God, who always listens to us. By the sacraments, which make his life grow within us and conform us to Christ. By loving one another, learning to listen, to understand, to forgive, to be accepting and to help others, everybody, with no one excluded or ostracized. Dear young people, be true “athletes of Christ”!

3.         A field is a construction site. When our heart is good soil which receives the word of God, when “we build up a sweat” in trying to live as Christians, we experience something tremendous: we are never alone, we are part of a family of brothers and sisters, all journeying on the same path: we are part of the Church; indeed, we are building up the Church and we are making history. Saint Peter tells us that we are living stones, which form a spiritual edifice (cf. 1 Pet 2:5). Looking at this platform, we see that it is in the shape of a church, built up with stones and bricks. In the Church of Jesus, we ourselves are the living stones. Jesus is asking us to build up his Church, but not as a little chapel which holds only a small group of persons. He asks us to make his living Church so large that it can hold all of humanity, that it can be a home for everyone! To me, to you, to each of us he says: “Go and make disciples of all nations”. Tonight, let us answer him: Yes, I too want to be a living stone; together we want to build up the Church of Jesus! Let us all say together: I want to go forth and build up the Church of Christ!

In your young hearts, you have a desire to build a better world. I have been closely following the news reports of the many young people who throughout the world have taken to the streets in order to express their desire for a more just and fraternal society - (and here in Brazil), they have gone out into the streets to express a desire for a more just and fraternal civilization. These are young people who want to be agents of change. I encourage them, in an orderly, peaceful and responsible manner, motivated by the values ​​of the Gospel, to continue overcoming apathy and offering a Christian response to social and political concerns present in their countries. But the question remains: Where do we start? What are the criteria for building a more just society? Mother Teresa of Calcutta was once asked what needed to change in the Church. Her answer was: you and I!

Dear friends, never forget that you are the field of faith! You are Christ’s athletes! You are called to build a more beautiful Church and a better world. Let us lift our gaze to Our Lady. Mary helps us to follow Jesus, she gives us the example by her own “yes” to God: “I am the servant of the Lord; let it be done to me as you say” (Lk 1:38). All together, let us join Mary in saying to God: let it be done to me as you say. Amen!

The way of the Cross

ope Francis prayed the Via crucis on Friday evening with pilgrims gathered for World Youth Day celebrations in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Nearly 300 artists and volunteers from several countries including the United States animated the popular devotion. The meditations accompanying each of the 14 stations depicting the principal episodes of Christ’s Passion, death and burial focused on a theme of particular significance in the life of contemporary youth, including: mission, conversion, community, and vocation; others involved pressing social challenges and existential issues such as suffering, illness and mortality. The texts of the meditations were prepared by a pair of Brazilian priests, Fr. José Zezinho and Fr. João Joãozinho, both of whom are well known in their native country for their work with young people.

In remarks to the pilgrims, Pope Francis spoke of the Cross of Christ as the source of hope, to which anyone and everyone can and ought to bring his deepest joys, sufferings and failures. The Holy Father also spoke of Christ’s Cross as a challenge to all of us: an invitation to allow ourselves to be smitten by his love, as well as a lesson and a reminder to us always to look upon others with mercy and tenderness – especially the suffering, and those we meet who are in distress and need help, whether in the form of a word of encouragement, or a concrete action that could take us beyond ourselves.

Please find the full text of Pope Francis’ address, below:

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Apostolic Journey of Pope Francis to Brazil

Address of the Holy FatherVia Crucis

(Rio de Janeiro – Copacabana, 26 July 2013)

Dear Young Friends,

We have come here today to accompany Jesus on his journey of sorrow and love, the Way of the Cross, which is one of the most intense moments of World Youth Day. At the end of the Holy Year of Redemption, Blessed John Paul II chose to entrust the Cross to you, young people, asking you “to carry it throughout the world as a symbol of Christ’s love for humanity, and announce to everyone that only in the death and resurrection of Christ can we find salvation and redemption” (Address to Young People, 22 April 1984). Since then, the World Youth Day Cross has travelled to every continent and through a variety of human situations. It is, as it were, almost “steeped” in the life experiences of the countless young people who have seen it and carried it. No one can approach and touch the Cross of Jesus without leaving something of himself or herself there, and without bringing something of the Cross of Jesus into his or her own life. I have three questions that I hope will echo in your hearts this evening as you walk beside Jesus: What have you left on the Cross, dear young people of Brazil, during these two years that it has been crisscrossing your great country? What has the Cross of Jesus left for you, in each one of you? Finally, what does this Cross teach us?

1.            According to an ancient Roman tradition, while fleeing the city during the persecutions of Nero, Saint Peter saw Jesus who was travelling in the opposite direction, that is, toward the city, and asked him in amazement: “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus’ response was: “I am going to Rome to be crucified again.” At that moment, Peter understood that he had to follow the Lord with courage, to the very end. But he also realized that he would never be alone on the journey; Jesus, who had loved him even unto death on the Cross, would always be with him. Jesus, with his Cross, walks with us and takes upon himself our fears, our problems, and our sufferings, even those which are deepest and most painful. With the Cross, Jesus unites himself to the silence of the victims of violence, those who can no longer cry out, especially the innocent and the defenceless; with the Cross, he is united to families in trouble, those who mourn the loss of their children, or who suffer when they see them fall victim to false paradises, such as that offered by drugs. On the Cross, Jesus is united with every person who suffers from hunger in a world where tons of food are thrown out each day; on the Cross, Jesus is united with those who are persecuted for their religion, for their beliefs or simply for the colour of their skin; on the Cross, Jesus is united with so many young people who have lost faith in political institutions, because they see in them only selfishness and corruption; he unites himself with those young people who have lost faith in the Church, or even in God because of the counter-witness of Christians and ministers of the Gospel. The Cross of Christ bears the suffering and the sin of mankind, including our own. Jesus accepts all this with open arms, bearing on his shoulders our crosses and saying to us: “Have courage! You do not carry your cross alone! I carry it with you. I have overcome death and I have come to give you hope, to give you life” (cf. Jn 3:16).

2.            And so we can answer the second question: What has the Cross given to those who have gazed upon it or touched it? What has it left in each one of us? It gives us a treasure that no one else can give: the certainty of the unshakable love which God has for us. A love so great that it enters into our sin and forgives it, enters into our suffering and gives us the strength to bear it. It is a love which enters into death to conquer it and to save us. The Cross of Christ contains all the love of God, his immeasurable mercy. This is a love in which we can place all our trust, in which we can believe. Dear young people, let us entrust ourselves to Jesus, let us give ourselves over entirely to him (cf. Lumen Fidei, 16)! Only in Christ crucified and risen can we find salvation and redemption. With him, evil, suffering, and death do not have the last word, because he gives us hope and life: he has transformed the Cross from an instrument of hate, defeat and death into a sign of love, victory and life.

The first name given to Brazil was “The Land of the Holy Cross”. The Cross of Christ was planted five centuries ago not only on the shores of this country, but also in the history, the hearts and the lives of the people of Brazil and elsewhere. The suffering Christ is keenly felt here, as one of us who shares our journey even to the end. There is no cross, big or small, in our life which the Lord does not share with us.

3.            But the Cross of Christ invites us also to allow ourselves to be smitten by his love, teaching us always to always look upon others with mercy and tenderness, especially those who suffer, who are in need of help, who need a word or a concrete action which requires us to step outside ourselves to meet them and to extend a hand to them. How many people were with Jesus on the way to Calvary: Pilate, Simon of Cyrene, Mary, the women… Sometimes we can be like Pilate, who did not have the courage to go against the tide to save Jesus’ life, and instead washed his hands. Dear friends, the Cross of Christ teaches us to be like Simon of Cyrene, who helped Jesus to carry that heavy wood; it teaches us to be like Mary and the other women, who were not afraid to accompany Jesus all the way to the end, with love and tenderness. And you? Who are you like? Like Pilate? Like Simon? Like Mary?

Dear friends, let us bring to Christ’s Cross our joys, our sufferings and our failures. There we will find a Heart that is open to us and understands us, forgives us, loves us and calls us to bear this love in our lives, to love each person, each brother and sister, with the same love. Amen!

Do not allow yourselves to be marginalized

Pope Francis on Thursday met with young people from Argentina gathered in Rio’s Cathedral to greet him.

The unscheduled late morning event saw the Pope speaking off the cuff in his native Spanish after the welcoming words of the President of the Argentinian Bishops’ Conference, Archbishop José Maria Arancedo.

After words of thanks to the Argentinian youth for their presence, both inside the Cathedral and outside where he noted some 30,000 young people were standing in the rain, the Pope revealed that following a special personal request, the organizer of the Papal trip had managed to set up this event.

To a cheering congregation, many of whom were dressed in the blue and white colours of Argentina, Pope Francis said: “I would like to tell you what my expectations are regarding this World Youth Day” said Pope Francis “I would like us to make noise, I would like those inside the Dioceses to go out into the open; I want the Church to be in the streets; I want us to defend ourselves against all that is worldliness, comfort, being closed and turned within – Parishes, colleges and institutions must get out otherwise they risk becoming NGOs, and the Church is not a Non-Governmental Organization”.

And Pope Francis spoke with concern of this moment of history in which material wealth is worshiped and in which a philosophy which excludes the young and the old risks perpetrating what he called a kind of hidden euthanasia.

The young – he said - who do not have the experience and the dignity of work, and the aged who are not allowed to speak are being marginalized.

And Pope Francis invited young people to go out and to fight for these values: he urged the aged to speak out, to pass on history and memory, and said that young people must not be against the elderly: “they must listen to them”.

Young people and old people in this moment of history – the Pope continued - are condemned to the same destiny: exclusion. “Don’t let yourselves be excluded!”

And Pope Francis invited the youth to embrace the way of the Cross, the incarnation of Jesus. He urged them to not water down their faith which is something solid, and encouraged them to read the Beatitudes: Matthew 25.

And almost apologizing for having to speak to them from a distance, the Pope said he felt “as if in a cage”, but he acknowledged security reasons and asked for prayers.

Culture of selfishness must give way to solidarity

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

It is wonderful to be here with you! From the start, my wish in planning this visit to Brazil was to be able to visit every district throughout the nation. I would have liked to knock on every door, to say “good morning”, to ask for a glass of cold water, to take a cafezinho, to speak as one would to family friends, to listen to each person pouring out his or her heart – parents, children, grandparents ... But Brazil is so vast! It is impossible to knock on every door! So I chose to come here, to visit your community, which today stands for every district in Brazil. How wonderful it is to be welcomed with such love, generosity, and joy! One need only look at the way you have decorated the streets of the community; this is a further mark of affection, it comes from your heart, from the heart of all Brazilians in festive mood. Many thanks to each of you for this kind welcome! And I thank Archbishop Orani Tempesta as well as Rangler and Joana for their kind words.

1. From the moment I first set foot on Brazilian soil, right up to this meeting here with you, I have been made to feel welcome. And it is important to be able to make people welcome; this is something even more beautiful than any kind of ornament or decoration. I say this because when we are generous in welcoming people and sharing something with them – some food, a place in our homes, our time – not only do we no longer remain poor: we are enriched. I am well aware that when someone needing food knocks at your door, you always find a way of sharing food; as the proverb says, one can always “add more water to the beans”! And you do so with love, demonstrating that true riches consist not in material things, but in the heart!

And the Brazilian people, particularly the humblest among you, can offer the world a valuable lesson in solidarity, a word that is too often forgotten or silenced, because it is uncomfortable. I would like to make an appeal to those in possession of greater resources, to public authorities and to all people of good will who are working for social justice: never tire of working for a more just world, marked by greater solidarity! No one can remain insensitive to the inequalities that persist in the world! Everybody, according to his or her particular opportunities and responsibilities, should be able to make a personal contribution to putting an end to so many social injustices. The culture of selfishness and individualism that often prevails in our society is not what builds up and leads to a more habitable world: it is the culture of solidarity that does so, seeing others not as rivals or statistics, but brothers and sisters.

I would like to encourage the efforts that Brazilian society is making to integrate all its members, including those who suffer most and are in greatest need, through the fight against hunger and deprivation. No amount of “peace-building” will be able to last, nor will harmony and happiness be attained in a society that ignores, pushes to the margins or excludes a part of itself. A society of that kind simply impoverishes itself, it loses something essential. Let us always remember this: only when we are able to share do we become truly rich; everything that is shared is multiplied! The measure of the greatness of a society is found in the way it treats those most in need, those who have nothing apart from their poverty!

2. I would also like to tell you that the Church, the “advocate of justice and defender of the poor in the face of intolerable social and economic inequalities which cry to heaven” (Aparecida Document, 395), wishes to offer her support for every initiative that can signify genuine development for every person and for the whole person. Dear friends, it is certainly necessary to give bread to the hungry – this is an act of justice. But there is also a deeper hunger, the hunger for a happiness that only God can satisfy. There is neither real promotion of the common good nor real human development when there is ignorance of the fundamental pillars that govern a nation, its non-material goods: life, which is a gift of God, a value always to be protected and promoted; the family, the foundation of coexistence and a remedy against social fragmentation; integral education, which cannot be reduced to the mere transmission of information for purposes of generating profit; health, which must seek the integral well-being of the person, including the spiritual dimension, essential for human balance and healthy coexistence; security, in the conviction that violence can be overcome only by changing human hearts.

I would like to add one final point. Here, as in the whole of Brazil, there are many young people. Dear young friends, you have a particular sensitivity towards injustice, but you are often disappointed by facts that speak of corruption on the part of people who put their own interests before the common good. To you and to all, I repeat: never yield to discouragement, do not lose trust, do not allow your hope to be extinguished. Situations can change, people can change. Be the first to seek to bring good, do not grow accustomed to evil, but defeat it. The Church is with you, bringing you the precious good of faith, bringing Jesus Christ, who “came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (Jn 10:10).

Today, to all of you, especially to the residents of this Community of Varginha, I say: you are not alone, the Church is with you, the Pope is with you. I carry each of you in my heart and I make my own the intentions that you carry deep within you: thanksgiving for joys, pleas for help in times of difficulty, a desire for consolation in times of grief and suffering. I entrust all this to the intercession of Our Lady of Aparecida, Mother of all the poor of Brazil, and with great affection I impart my blessing.

The whole law is fulfilled in one word, 'You shall love your neighbour as yourself'.

This word of life comes from Paul, the Apostle: it is a short, incisive, marvellous word, which clarifies matters. I am always struck by this reflection because living  it well, i should be prepared for my meeting with Jesus!

It tells us what should be the foundation of our Christian behaviour and what should always be our inspiration: love for our neighbour.

The Apostle sees the fulfilment of the law in the practice of this commandment. The law tells us not to commit adultery, not to kill, not to steal, not to covet ... and we know that someone who loves does not do all this. Someone who loves does not kill, does not steal ...

Someone who loves does not just avoid evil. Someone who loves opens out to others, desires what is good, and does good, giving himself to the point of giving his life for the person who is loved.

This is why Paul writes that in love for our neighbour not only is the law observed but the whole law is fulfilled.

The whole law is fulfilled in one word, 'You shall love your neighbour as yourself'.

If the law consists in love for our neighbour, we should see the other commandments as means to illustrate and guide us so that we can find the way to love others in the intricate situations of life: we need to know how to read God's intention, his will, in the other commandments.

He wants us to be obedient, chaste, mortified, humble, merciful, poor ... in order to carry out the commandment of charity in a better way.

The whole law is fulfilled in one word, 'You shall love your neighbour as yourself'.

We might ask, how is it that the Apostle omits to talk about the love of God?

The fact is that the love of God and of our neighbour are not in competition. The one is the expression of the other, love of our neighbour is the expression of the love of God.

To love God means doing his will. It is his will that we love our neighbour.

The whole law is fulfilled in one word, 'You shall love your neighbour as yourself'.

How are we to put this word into practice?

It is clear: by loving our neighbour, truly loving our neighbour. This means giving, giving disinterestedly, to our neighbour.

Anyone who uses his neighbour as an instrument to achieve his own ends, even the most spiritual ends, such as his own satisfaction, is not loving. We must love our neighbour, not ourselves.

It is certain however that someone who loves in this way will really become holy, will be 'perfect like the Father', because he will have achieved the very best that he could achieve. He will have got to the heart of God's will and put it into practice and so will have fulfilled the whole law.

Will it not be solely on this love that we will be examined at the end of our life?

Universal brotherhood

in these times a short reflection proposed by Chiara Lubich came to mind with e question: Am I really loving everybody?Politicians, friends holding opposite opinions from myself, people I don't like, people I annoy me. quite an exam of conscience!

UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD

Universal brotherhood, universal brotherhood. This is what I have been asked these days. “Let’s work to establish it!” Even this terrorism, I think that this terrorism will be won over by universal brotherhood, because the real root of all this is the division between rich and poor countries. But as I say: goods must circulate a bit, but goods do not walk alone, we must move hearts. So if the Chinese were able to love the Vietnamese etc., little by little we will be able to...

We then have this hope because we have this network all over the world, in 182 countries. In each of these countries the Movement is active like in Rome. Once a month, we are all connected by a worldwide telephone conference call. The way the people respond, how they receive the news, how they respond also through e-mails etc., one can feel the vitality, the presence and the power of the Movement even in Tierra del Fuego (Argentina), in Alaska or even in Melbourne (Australia), even in Japan. ... We did not know why we were destined for the whole world, but we are beginning to understand it. Does God perhaps want more unity not only in Europe, but also in the other continents? The network would be already prepared, our network, but then there are many other networks of other Movements, with the showering of other graces. Universal brotherhood.

We ourselves have known and put our faith in God's love towards ourselves. (1 John 4:16)

This morning it struck me that all that remains to bring to God is love! We are made to contemplate his love for us! in that sense all we have done out of love will remain!

This phrase from the first letter of St. John, which speaks of "knowing" and "putting our faith W' the love of God, expresses in short not only the fundamental experience of Jesus' first disciples, but also what can be the most important experience in everyone's life.

In St. John's writing the verb "to know" is not so much meant in the intellectual and theoretical sense, but rather means "entering into a living, personal, relationship," of which we become conscious and aware. This quite original kind of "knowing" contrasts with "believing," which is our response to God who shows himself. In this phrase it means in particular the grateful acceptance of God's love.

The experience of the first disciples, described here was first and foremost a real relationship with Jesus. St. John says: "God's love for us was shown by this-that God sent his only begotten son into the world, and that he gave his life for us." They had seen him and touched him, and believed in him, and he had formed a very deep relationship with them, which went even beyond death, after his resurrection and ascension.

Likewise the love of God is shown to us chiefly in Jesus. His coming, his death, and resurrection were passed on to us by those who knew him, but in addition he himself is still alive and present among us. The spirit he gave us also bears witness to this. If we know the love of God in and through Jesus, one result is the disappearance from our minds of that fairytale image of God, dressed up in one way or another with philosophical terms, which often blocks us. This is the image of the good and omnipotent guardian, an infinite and faraway being, an uncompromising judge, and so on. God who loves us is in fact so unreachable that he continually challenges our imagination, and yet is at the same time so close that each person can say he knows him. His love is infinite but has all the shades of tenderness of the human heart.

When you "know" and "believe" in this love, that is when you accept it and form a relationship with him, you can experience what is above all a discovery. You discover something which you already knew, but with quite a different awareness. This is a new, conscious, adult meeting with God. This meeting can happen at a different time for each person, in youth or later in life, or even at the end of your life, in widely varying circumstances, and in a particular way for each person.

At times it can mean holding on and believing in the dark. Very often, however, this discovery goes side by side with an interior experience of a relationship with God, which is strong enough to make all previous experiences in your life seem nothing. Believing in God's love means letting his love penetrate you, responding to it with your whole being, and opening yourself to the infinity of God and the particular of each man.

If people say that a relationship with God "alienates," it could be because they have never known, even indirectly, the authenticity of such an experience. This experience brings man the realization that the "armour" which hampered him is thrown off, and the "trap" he was caught in is sprung.

This discovery will grow, and be renewed, but it depends on us. In fact it goes alongside our discovery of the numerous ways in which God communicates with us, and grows as our faith becomes more robust, and as our hope and love are increased.

And in due course it is an experience which will undergo a severe test. We may for instance become convinced by the surrounding tumult that it is all an illusion. The growth of love never comes without moments of darkness, difficulty and weakness. But more often, it is when out of the blue we are struck by suffering, when the person closest to us dies or when we find ourselves faced by terrible injustice, catastrophes, or inhuman cruelty, and we ask ourselves in anguish, "How is this possible, if God loves us?"

Modern humanity has cruelly experienced this trial, being witness to the atrocities of war and concentration camps. And it is very difficult to find an answer for someone who does not know Jesus Crucified, who cries out with us his "Why?" to the abandonment by God. But if you know him, you know that God did not stand by and watch, he became man, and became involved.

And you know that Jesus was there beside every suffering man, in the cries of the wounded and in the concentration camps. There are men who found their faith in those places, and men like Kolbe, Bonhoeffer and many others, who witnessed in those places in an outstanding way that Love is stronger than death.

For each of us the moment comes when our "belief in the love of God" is put to the test. At that moment your reason will be of no use, for only the thought of Jesus Forsaken or of Mary standing at the foot of her son's cross, can give you the certainty that God loves you just the same. And though you do not understand, one day when the suffering has stopped, you will understand God's plan.

It is often only afterwards that you realize how then, during that test, like at no other time, something solid and eternal was being built inside you: a faith as immovable as a rock, and a strong love truly like the love of God.

This is my commandment: love one another as I have loved you.

You may want to know when it was Jesus said these words. He spoke in this way just before his passion began. These words were part of his farewell discourse to his disciples, part of his testament.

Just think how important they are! If the words a father says, shortly before dying can never be forgotten, how much more so the words of a God?

So let's take them very seriously and try to understand them in depth.

Jesus was about to die and what he said reflected this forthcoming event. Because of his imminent departure one problem needed solving: how could he remain among his own and take care of the Church?

You know of course that Jesus is present for example in the sacraments; he becomes present in the Eucharist.

But Jesus is also present wherever there are people who live mutual love. For he told us: 'Wherever two or three are united in my name' (and this is possible through mutual love) 'there am I in the midst of them.' (Mt. 18:20).

Thus. in a community where life is deeply rooted in mutual love, he can continue to be present and active. And through the community he can continue to reveal himself to the world and make his influence felt.

Isn't this splendid? Doesn't this make you want to start right now to live this love with your fellow Christians?

According to St John, who recorded the words we are now meditating on, mutual love is the most important commandment of the Church, whose vocation is, in fact, to be communion, to be unity.

In fact Jesus said: "By this love you have for one another, everyone will know that you are my disciples" (John 13:35).

If therefore you want to know the true mark of authentic disciples of Christ, if you want to know their distinctive characteristic, you will find it in the mutual love they live. Christians are recognised by this sign. If it is missing, the world will no longer recognise in Christians disciples of Jesus.

Mutual love brings about unity. Jesus also said: "... May they all be one... so that the world may believe..." (John 17:21). Unity, by revealing Christ's presence, draws the world to follow him. When the world sees unity and mutual love, it believes in him.

In the same farewell discourse Jesus called this commandment 'his'. It is his and is therefore particularly dear to him. You should not simply take it as a norm or rule or a commandment just like the others. Here Jesus wants to reveal a way of life to you. He wants to tell you how to build your life. The first Christians in fact placed this commandment at the basis of their lives. As Peter said: "Above all, let your love for one another be constant" (I Pt 4:8).

Before going to work, before going to study, before going to church, before any activity, check whether mutual love reigns between you and whoever lives with you. If so, then on this basis everything is worthwhile. Without this foundation, nothing is pleasing to God.

Jesus tells you that this commandment is 'new'. 'I give you a new commandment'. What did he mean? That this commandment was previously unknown? No 'new' showed that it belonged to the 'new times'. What do these words mean, then?

Look, Jesus died for us. Therefore he loved us in the greatest way possible. But with what kind of love did he love us? Certainly not with a love like ours. His love was, and is, 'divine'. In fact he said, 'As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you' (Jn. 15:9). He loved us with the same love with which he and the Father love each other.

It is with this same love that we must love one another in order to carry out the 'new' commandment.

However, as human beings, you and I do not possess this kind of love. But happily, as Christians, we have received it. The Holy Spirit pours it into our hearts and into the hearts of all believers.

There is, therefore, a bond between the Father, the Son and us Christians, because of this unique, divine love which we possess. It is this love which introduces us into the life of the Trinity. It is this love which makes us children of God.

Heaven and earth are thus linked by a great current of love. By means of this love the Christian community shares in God's life and divine life dwells on earth wherever believers love one another.

Don't you feel all this is infinitely beautiful and that Christian life is extraordinarily fascinating?

Chiara Lubich

Love your neighbour as yourself.

Today's passaparola recalls to mind the following reflection 

Love your neighbour as yourself. (Matt. 22: 39)

These words can also be found in the Hebrew scriptures (Leviticus 19:18), and Jesus quotes them in response to someone who had been trying to catch him out with a trick question. His answer is in line with a well established rabbinical tradition, begun by the prophets, which tried to understand God’s teaching in the Torah by looking for a unifying principle in all its books. One of Jesus’ contemporaries, Rabbi Hillel, had written, "What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour. That is all there is in the Torah. All the rest is merely explanation." (1)

All Jewish teachers saw love of neighbour as a consequence of loving God. After all, He had created humanity in his own image and likeness, so it was impossible to love God without loving the people he had made. So this is the real motive for loving our neighbour. It is what has been described as "a great and general principle of the law." (2)

Jesus highlighted this principle, and he pointed out that the command to love your neighbour is similar to the first great commandment: ‘love God with all your heart, mind and soul’. In emphasising the similarity between these two commandments, Jesus bound them together inextricably, and Christian tradition has preserved the link ever since. As the apostle John so clearly states: "If someone does not love the brother or sister whom they have seen, how can they love God whom they have not seen?" (1 Jn 4:20)

The entire Gospel shows clearly that ‘our neighbour’ is every human being, man or woman, friend or enemy, to whom we owe respect, consideration and esteem. Love of neighbour is both universal and personal. It embraces all of humanity and finds concrete expression in the person who is next to us.

But who can give us such a big heart, and stir up in us such a degree of kindness that we feel close to, and regard as neighbours, those who are least like us? Who can make us overcome our self-love, so that we recognise this "self" in others? It is a gift from God. Indeed it is the very love of God which "has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit that has been given to us". (Rm. 5:5).

So it’s not an ordinary love. It’s not just simple friendship or philanthropy. In fact it is nothing less than the love which was poured into our hearts at baptism. This love is the life of God himself. It is the life of the blessed Trinity, in which we participate.

So love is literally everything, but if our love is to be authentic we need to learn something about its qualities as they are described in the Gospel and more generally in Scripture. A few fundamental points sum them up:

• Jesus died for everyone. By loving everyone he teaches us that true love is to be given to all. Often the love in our hearts is simply human. It confines itself to relatives, friends and a few others. But Jesus wants our love to be free of discrimination, having no regard for whether people are friendly or hostile, attractive or not, adults or children. This love doesn't notice whether people are members of my Church or of another one, of my religion or another. True love loves everyone, and we should do the same: love everyone.

• True love makes us want to be the first to love instead of waiting for someone else to love us. Generally speaking, we love because we are loved, but the Father sent his Son to save us while we were still sinners and therefore not loving. So true love takes the initiative. In other words, we should love everyone, and we should be the first to love.

• True love sees Jesus in every neighbour. At the final judgement Jesus will say to us, "You did it to me", (Cf. Mt. 25:40) and this will apply to the good that we do and also, unfortunately, to the bad we do.

• True love makes us love both friends and enemies alike, praying for them and doing good things for them. Jesus wants the love that he brought on earth to become mutual so that one person loves the other and vice versa, in order to achieve unity.

All these qualities of love help us to understand and live the Word of Life for this month.

True love means loving others as we love ourselves. This should be taken literally. We should truly see the other person as another self and do for them what we would do for ourselves. True love leads us to suffer with those who are suffering and to rejoice with those who rejoice, carrying other people's burdens. As Paul says, it causes us to makes ourselves one with the person who is loved, so it is not just a question of feelings or words. It involves real action.

People of other religious convictions try to do the same thing by putting into practice the so-called 'Golden Rule,' which can be found in all religions. It wants us to do to others what we would like others to do to us. Gandhi explained it very simply and effectively: "I can't harm you without hurting myself".

So this month could be an opportunity to re-focus on love of neighbour. Our neighbour has so many faces: the person next door, a classmate, a friend or a close relative. But there are also the anguished faces of humanity that television brings into our homes from war-torn cities and natural disasters. In the past they were unknown to us: they were thousands of miles away. Now they too have become our neighbours.

Love will suggest what we should do in each situation, and, little by little, it will open our hearts to the greatness of the heart of Jesus.

Be merciful

God is so merciful toward us. We too should learn to be merciful, especially with those who suffer.

Open the doors to hope

Pope Francis on Sunday visited the hill top town of Castelgandolfo, urging the thousands of locals and visitors to be visible signs of hope and peace in the world. Some ten thousand people, led by the mayor and bishop of nearby Albano, gathered in the square and side streets surrounding the papal summer residence ahead of the Holy Father’s arrival on Sunday morning.
Greeting each and every well-wisher in Castelgandolfo, Pope Francis thanked especially the religious and civil authorities, as well as all the staff who work in the Pontifical Villa where popes have traditionally spent time over the summer period – in particular he remembered his two immediate predecessors, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and Blessed Pope John Paul II

Speaking at the midday Angelus prayer, Pope Francis reflected on the Sunday Gospel which recounts the story of the Good Samaritan and recalled the figure of a 16th century Italian priest who is popularly known as a patron saint of the sick and all who care for them.

St Camillo de Lellis, who died on July 14th 1614, founded a congregation known as the Camillians recognized by a large red cross on their cassocks which they wore as they took care of the sick and dying on the battlefield. Today, the anniversary of his death, marks the opening of a year of celebrations for the four centenaries of those who have followed in his footsteps and Pope Francis prayed especially for all doctors, nurses and healthcare workers who continue to work as Good Samaritans in our suffering world today.

The Pope also looked ahead to his forthcoming visit to Brazil to celebrate World Youth Day with hundreds of thousands of young people from all over the world. He prayed for all those taking part in the pilgrimage to Rio de Janeiro, that their hearts may be open to the mission that Christ gives them.

Joking with his enthusiastic audience, Pope Francis said there are clearly many young people here today, but he congratulated everyone present for feeling 'young at heart!'

Following the recitation of the Angelus prayer, Pope Francis remembered Christians in Ukraine who are today marking the 70th anniversary of a Second World War massacre of tens of thousands of Polish civilians by a Ukrainian nationalist militia. The Pope prayed for all the dead and injured, as well as asking God for the grace of true reconciliation between the peoples of Poland and Ukraine.

let us aim to do something concrete every day to know Jesus Christ better.

In this Year of Faith let us aim to do something concrete every day to know Jesus Christ better.

The present moment

Today I have rediscovered the immense value of living the present moment I went with a friend to my GP to plan some practical steps in case of my rapid decline. He gave me a "just in case" prescription of various medicines. When we left the surgery I couldn't face losing my life! But then I realised why: because I don't trust in God's love AND because I wasn't living in the present moment loving the person next to me. Often, in the past I said to God: here is my life, it's yours, but soon I found out it is not just a formula! He takes me seriously! But he never leaves me alone and gives me all the help I need. It is like Mary under the cross who offered her son, who died! And besides God never says "no". He says "no" to our desires because they are in many ways focussed on loving ourselves than the other. I discovered that it is ok to complain to God so I found a psalm that described my situation quite accurately

psalm 102  

1 Hear my prayer, Lord;

    let my cry for help come to you.

2 Do not hide your face from me

    when I am in distress.

Turn your ear to me;

    when I call, answer me quickly.

3 For my days vanish like smoke;

    my bones burn like glowing embers.

4 My heart is blighted and withered like grass;

    I forget to eat my food.

5 In my distress I groan aloud

    and am reduced to skin and bones.

6 I am like a desert owl,

    like an owl among the ruins.

7 I lie awake; I have become

    like a bird alone on a roof.

8 All day long my enemies taunt me;

    those who rail against me use my name as a curse.

9 For I eat ashes as my food

    and mingle my drink with tears

10 because of your great wrath,

    for you have taken me up and thrown me aside.

11 My days are like the evening shadow;

    I wither away like grass.

12 But you, Lord, sit enthroned forever;

    your renown endures through all generations.

13 You will arise and have compassion on Zion,

    for it is time to show favour to her;

    the appointed time has come.

14 For her stones are dear to your servants;

    her very dust moves them to pity.

15 The nations will fear the name of the Lord,

    all the kings of the earth will revere your glory.

16 For the Lord will rebuild Zion

    and appear in his glory.

17 He will respond to the prayer of the destitute;

    he will not despise their plea.

18 Let this be written for a future generation,

    that a people not yet created may praise the Lord:

19 “The Lord looked down from his sanctuary on high,

    from heaven he viewed the earth,

20 to hear the groans of the prisoners

    and release those condemned to death.”

21 So the name of the Lord will be declared in Zion

    and his praise in Jerusalem

22 when the peoples and the kingdoms

    assemble to worship the Lord.

23 In the course of my life[b] he broke my strength;

    he cut short my days.

24 So I said:

“Do not take me away, my God, in the midst of my days;

    your years go on through all generations.

25 In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth,

    and the heavens are the work of your hands.

26 They will perish, but you remain;

    they will all wear out like a garment.

Like clothing you will change them

    and they will be discarded.

27 But you remain the same,

    and your years will never end.

28 The children of your servants will live in your presence;

    their descendants will be established before you.”