L`O S S E RVATOR E ROMANO

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L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO
WEEKLY EDITION
IN ENGLISH
Unicuique suum
Fiftieth year, number 6 (2483)
Non praevalebunt
Vatican City
Friday, 10 February 2017
At the General Audience an appeal on behalf of the Rohingya and exploited migrants
A scourge we must overcome
After his catechesis at the General
Audience in the Paul VI Hall on
Wednesday, 8 February, the Holy
Father recalled the Day of Prayer
and Awareness against Human
Trafficking and made an appeal on
behalf of exploited migrants, in
particular the Rohingya people. “They
are our brothers and sisters”, he said,
inviting the faithful to pray together
for them. The following is a
translation of the Holy Father’s
appeal and special greetings after the
Audience.
Yesterday, in Osaka, Japan, Justo
Takayama Ukon, a faithful Japanese layman martyred in Manila in
1615, was beatified. Rather than
compromise, he renounced honours
and comforts, accepting humiliation and exile. He remained faithful to Christ and to the Gospel; for
this reason, he represents an admirable example of fortitude in the
faith and dedication in charity.
Today we celebrate the Day of
Prayer and Awareness against Human Trafficking, this year dedicated
in particular to children and adolescents. I encourage all those
who in various ways help enslaved
and abused minors to free themselves from such oppression. I
hope that those who have government responsibility firmly fight this
scourge, giving voice to the littlest
of our brethren, humiliated in their
dignity. We must make every effort
to eradicate this shameful and intolerable crime.
Next Saturday, the Feast of the
Blessed Virgin Mary of Lourdes,
Serenity and praise
Pope Francis addressed consecrated
men and women during Mass in
the Vatican Basilica on Thursday
afternoon, 2 February, Feast of the
Presentation of the Lord.
PAGE 12
Hope builds
bridges not walls
will be the 25th World Day of the
Sick. The main celebration will take
place in Lourdes, and will be
presided over by the Cardinal Secretary of State. I invite you to pray,
through the intercession of our
Blessed Mother, for all the sick, especially those most critically ill and
most lonely, and also for all those
who care for them.
I return to today’s celebration,
the Day of Prayer and Awareness
against Human Trafficking, which
is celebrated today because today is
the Feast of Saint Josephine
Bakhita [he shows a leaflet that
speaks about her]. This young woman enslaved in Africa, exploited,
CONTINUED ON PAGE 3
Holy Father’s Message for Lent
The poor are knocking
at our door
“The Word is a gift. Other persons are a gift”. This is the
theme of Pope Francis’ Message
for Lent 2017, which was released
on Tuesday, 7 February. He drew
inspiration for this year’s reflection from the parable of the rich
man and Lazarus (Lk 16:19-31),
which “helps us to make a good
preparation for the approach of
Easter”. Lazarus, the Holy Father
says, reminds the faithful that “a
right relationship with people
consists in gratefully recognizing
their value”, while the rich man
allows us “to catch a dramatic
glimpse of the corruption of sin”
progressing through the stages of
“love of money, vanity and
pride”. In life, the rich man
failed to heed God’s word and
therefore faces torment in the afterlife. The parable thus reminds
us that “the word of God is alive
and powerful, capable of converting hearts and leading them
back to God”. Thus the Pontiff
encourages the faithful to pray
that “the Holy Spirit lead us on
a true journey of conversion, so
that we can rediscover the gift of
God’s word”.
In his continuing series of catecheses
on Christian hope, the Pontiff noted
at the General Audience on Wednesday, 8 February, that the virtue of
hope is rooted in the Lord’s Resurrection and the promise of our own.
The witness of Christian hope, Pope
Francis said, “does not remain closed
within the confines of the Christian
community: it echoes in all its vigour
even outside it, in the social and civil
context, as an appeal not to build
walls but bridges” so as “to live in
peace with everyone”.
PAGE 3
Appeals court rules
on U.S. travel ban
A U.S. federal appeals court on
Thursday, 9 February, upheld a prior
ruling that blocked the implementation of a controversial executive order temporarily banning people from
seven
Muslim-majority
countries
from entering the United States. The
order, issued on 27 January, which
also suspended entry to refugees,
sparked widespread protests and debate on both sides of the issue, both
in the country and internationally.
The latest ruling may not be the final
word on the matter, however, as the
President remains steadfastly behind
the order and has vowed to challenge
the appellate court’s decision.
PAGE 5
Interview with Cardinal Ribat
Facing a changing world
STEFANO GIROLA
ON
PAGE 6/7
“The rich man and Lazarus”, Willy Fries
page 2
VATICAN BULLETIN
AUDIENCES
Thursday, 2 February
Cardinal Kevin Joseph Farrell, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity,
Family and Life
Cardinal Dominique Mamberti, Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the
Apostolic Signatura
Msgr Giampiero Dal Toso, Secretary
Delegate of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development
Friday, 3 February
Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller,
Prefect of the Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith
Archbishop Giambattista Diquattro,
titular Archbishop of Giru Mons,
Apostolic Nuncio in India
Bishop Carlos José
Quilmes, Argentina
Tissera
of
Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development
Saturday, 4 February
Cardinal Marc Ouellet, PSS, Prefect
of the Congregation for Bishops
Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, Prefect
of the Congregation for the Oriental
Churches
Jesuit community from the Campano Pontifical Interregional Seminary
Monday, 6 February
Cardinal Theodore Edgar McCarrick, Archbishop emeritus of Washington, USA
Members of the Patriarchal See of
Alexandria for Copts, on a visit ad
limina Apostolorum:
H.B. Ibrahim Isaac Sedrak, Patriarch of Alexandria for Copts, with
the Curial Bishop Youhanna Golta,
titular Bishop of Andropolis
Bishop Kyrillos William of Assiut
for Copts
Bishop Antonios Aziz Mina, Bishop emeritus of Guizeh for Copts
Bishop Makarios Tewfik of Ismayliah for Copts
Bishop Emmanuel Ayad Bishay of
Luqsor for Copts
Bishop Botros Fahim Awad
Hanna of Minya for Copts
Bishop Youssef Aboul El Kher of
Sohag for Copts
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ECCLESIASTICAL PROVINCE AND
METROPOLITAN CHURCH
of Itabuna. Until now he has been
Bishop of Teixeira de FreitasCaravelas, Brazil (2 Feb.).
The Holy Father erected the Ecclesiastical Province of Chittagong,
Bangladesh, elevating the episcopal
See of the same name to the rank of
Metropolitan Church, and assigning
to it as suffragans the Diocese of
Khulna and Barisal. The Holy Father has appointed Bishop Moses M.
Costa, CSC, as the first Archbishop
of Chittagong. Until now he has
been Bishop of Chittagong (2
Feb.).
Bishop dos Santos, 61, was born
in Tobias Barreto, Brazil. He was ordained a priest on 21 May 1983. He
was ordained a bishop on 26 July
2005, subsequent to his appointment
as Bishop of Teixeira de FreitasCaravelas.
Archbishop Costa, 66, was born
in Toomilla. He was ordained a
priest on 5 February 1981. He was
ordained a bishop on 6 September
as Bishop of Dinajpur, Bangladesh.
On 6 April 2011 he was appointed
Bishop of Chittagong.
CHANGES
IN
EPISCOPATE
The Holy Father accepted the resignation of Bishop Ignazio Zambito of
Patti, Italy (1 Feb.).
The Holy Father appointed Msgr
Guglielmo Giombanco as Bishop of
Patti. Until now he has been Vicar
General of the Diocese of Acireale,
Italy (1 Feb.).
The Holy Father accepted the resignation of Bishop Josef Hrdlička, titular Bishop of Thunudruma, from
his office as Auxiliary of the Archdiocese of Olomouc, Czech Republic (2 Feb.).
The Holy Father accepted the resignation of Archbishop Ramon C. Argüelles of Lipa, the Philippines (2
Feb.).
The Holy Father appointed Bishop
Gilbert Armea Garcera as Archbishop of Lipa. Until now he has been
Bishop of Daet, the Philippines (2
Feb.).
Archbishop Garcera, 58, was born
in Magarao, the Philippines. He was
ordained a priest on 29 May 1983.
He was ordained a bishop on 29
June 2007, subsequent to his appointment as Bishop of Daet.
Bishop-elect Giombanco, 50, was
born in Catania, Italy. He holds a
degree in theology and a doctorate
in utroque iure. He was ordained a
priest on 7 September 1991. He has
served in parish ministry and as: secretary to the Bishop and vice chancellor of the Curia; promoter of
justice; defender of the bond of the
diocesan tribunal; judicial vicar;
judge of the Sicilian Regional Ecclesiastical Tribunal; professor of canon
law at the Studio Theologico di
Catania; member of the Presbyteral
Council, College of Consulters and
administrator of the Basilica of
Saints Peter and Paul in Acireale;
episcopal vicar for divine worship
and the sacraments; coordinator of
the diocesan commission for permanent formation of the clergy;
head of young presbyters; chaplain
of the municipal Police Force in
Acireale.
Friday, 10 February 2017, number 6
The Holy Father accepted the resignation of Bishop Ronald Paul
Herzog of Alexandria, USA. He is
succeeded by Bishop David Prescott
Talley, Coadjutor of the same diocese (2 Feb.).
Bishop Talley, 66, was born in
Columbus, USA. He was ordained a
priest on 3 June 1989. He was ordained a bishop on 2 April 2013,
subsequent to his appointment as
titular Bishop of Lambaesis and
Auxiliary of Atlanta, USA. On 21
September 2016 he was appointed
coadjutor of Alexandria.
The Holy Father accepted the resignation of Bishop Jean Khamsé
Vithavong, OMI, titular Bishop of
Moglena, from his office as Vicar
Apostolic of the Apostolic Vicariate
of Vientiane, Laos (2 Feb.).
Louis-Marie Ling Mangkhanekhoun, Vicar Apostolic of Paksé,
Laos, as Apostolic Administrator
sede vacante et ad nutum Sanctae
Sedis of the Apostolic Vicariate of
Vientiane (2 Feb.).
Bishop Mangkhanekhoun, 72, was
born in Bonha-Lovang, Laos. He
was ordained a priest on 5 November 1972. He was ordained a bishop
on 22 April 2001, subsequent to his
appointment as titular Bishop of AcCONTINUED ON PAGE 8
Members of the Patriarchal See
of Alexandria for Copts on their
visit ‘ad limina Apostolorum’
The Holy Father accepted the resignation of Bishop Czesław Stanula,
CSSR, of Itabuna, Brazil (1 Feb.).
Carlos Alberto dos Santos as Bishop
GIOVANNI MARIA VIAN
Editor-in-Chief
On Monday morning, 6 February, the Holy Father met with Members of the Patriarchal See of
Alexandria for Copts, on their visit ‘ad limina Apostolorum’
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number 6, Friday, 10 February 2017
page 3
At the General Audience Francis reminds the faithful that Christians are called to live in peace with everyone
Hope builds bridges not walls
“A Christian must never say: ‘you will pay for this!’”, because “offence is defeated
by forgiveness”. Pope Francis emphasized this at the General Audience on
Wednesday, 8 February, in the Paul VI Hall. Continuing a series of catecheses on
the theme of Christian hope, the Holy Father commented on the First Letter to
the Thessalonians (5:12-22), and offered such hope “as an appeal not to build
walls but bridges, not to exchange evil for evil, but to conquer evil with good,
offence with forgiveness”. The following is a translation of Francis’ catechesis,
which he offered in Italian.
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Good morning!
Last Wednesday we saw that Saint
Paul, in the First Letter to the Thessalonians, exhorts them to remain
deeply rooted in the hope of resurrection (cf. 5:4-11), with that beautiful phrase: “we shall always be with
the Lord” (4:17). In the same con-
text, the Apostle shows that Christian hope has not only a personal, individual scope, but a communitary,
ecclesial one. We all hope; we all
have hope, also as a community.
For this reason, the gaze is immediately broadened by Paul to all the
situations that comprise the Christian community, asking them to pray
for one another and to support each
other. That we help each other. But
not only that we help each other in
need, in the many needs of daily
life, but help each other to hope,
support one another in hope. It is
not a coincidence that we begin precisely by referring to those who are
entrusted with responsibility and pastoral guidance. They are the first to
be called to nourish hope, and this
is not because they are better than
the others, but by virtue of a divine
ministry that goes far beyond their
strength. For this reason, they need,
more than ever, everyone’s respect,
understanding and benevolent support.
Attention is then placed on the
brothers and sisters most at risk of losing hope, of succumbing to despair.
We always hear news of people who
succumb to despair and do bad
things.... Despair leads them to
many bad things. The reference is to
one who is discouraged, who is
weak, who feels discouraged by the
burden of life and of his own faults,
and no longer manages to pick himself up. In these cases, the closeness
and warmth of the entire Church
must be even more intense and loving, and must take on the exquisite
form of compassion, which is not
simply sympathy: compassion is to
endure with the other, to suffer with
the other, to draw near to the one
who is suffering. A word, a caress,
but given from the heart; this is
compassion. For the one who needs
comfort and consolation. This is
more important than ever: Christian
A scourge we must overcome
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
humiliated, did not lose hope, and
ended up coming to Europe as a
migrant. Here she heard the Lord’s
call and became a nun. Let us pray
to Saint Josephine Bakhita for all
migrants, refugees, the exploited
who suffer so very, very much.
In speaking about migrants being driven away, exploited, I would
like to pray with you today in a
special way for our Rohingya
brothers and sisters: driven out of
Myanmar, they go from one place
to another, because they are not
wanted.... They are good, peaceful
people. They are not Christians;
they are good; they are our brothers and sisters! They have been suffering for years. They have been
tortured, killed, simply because
they carry on their traditions, their
Muslim faith. Let us pray for them.
I invite you to pray for them, ‘O ur
Father who art in Heaven’, everyone together, for our Rohingya
brothers and sisters.
[Our Father....]
Saint Josephine Bakhita, pray for
us. A round of applause for Saint
Josephine Bakhita!
I address a cordial welcome to
the Italian-speaking pilgrims. I
greet the Committee of the Interna-
tional Day of Prayer
and Awareness against
Human Trafficking. I
want to see you, stand
up! There they are.
Thank you for what
you do, thank you! I
greet
the
young
people participating in
the meeting sponsored
by the Youth of the
European
People’s
Party and the school
band of Negrar, whom
I thank for their appreciated performance,
and I invite them to
continue to play.
Lastly, I greet young
people, the sick and
newlyweds. May today’s
commemoration of Sr
Josephine
Bakhita,
who from childhood
was a victim of trafficking, grow in you,
dear young people, attention for your peers
who are most disadvantaged and in difficulty; help
you, dear sick people, to offer your
suffering for the Christian education of the younger generations;
and encourage you, dear newlyweds,
to trust in the help of Providence
and not only in your abilities. Mar-
riage without God’s help does not
go forward; we must ask for it
every day. And you, dear sick people,
next Saturday is the Day of Prayer
for you to Our Lady of Lourdes:
we will all observe it together.
Thank you.
hope cannot do without genuine
and concrete charity. The Apostle to
the Gentiles himself, in the Letter to
the Romans, affirms with his heart
in his hand: “We who are strong” —
for we have faith, hope, or we do
not have many difficulties — “ought
to bear with the failings of the weak,
and not to please ourselves” (15:1).
To bear with, to bear with the weaknesses of others. This witness, then,
does not remain closed within the
confines of the Christian community: it echoes in all its vigour
even outside it, in the social and
civil context, as an appeal not to
build walls but bridges, not to exchange evil for evil, but to conquer
evil with good, offence with forgiveness — a Christian must never say:
‘you will pay for this!’. Never; this is
not a Christian gesture; offence is
defeated by forgiveness — to live in
peace with everyone. This is the
Church! And this is what motivates
Christian hope, when it takes a
strong line while maintaining love at
the same time. Love is strong and
tender. It is beautiful.
Thus one understands that one
does not learn to hope alone. No
one learns to hope alone. It is impossible. Hope, to be nourished, necessarily needs a ‘body’, in which the
various members support and revive
each other. This means, then, that if
we hope, it is because many of our
brothers and sisters have taught us
to hope and have kept our hope
alive. Distinguishable among these
are the little ones, the poor, the simple,
and the marginalized. Yes, because
one who is enclosed within his own
wellbeing does not know hope: he
hopes only in his wellbeing and this
is not hope: it is relative security;
one who is enclosed in his own fulfillment, who always feels that all is
well, does not know hope. Instead,
those who hope are those who each
day experience trials, precariousness
and their own limitations. These
brothers and sisters of ours give us
the strongest, most beautiful witness,
because they stand firm, trusting in
the Lord, knowing that, beyond the
sadness, oppression and inevitability
of death, the last word will be his,
and it will be a word of mercy, of
life and of peace. Whoever hopes,
hopes to one day hear this word:
“Come, come to me, brother; come,
come to me, sister, for all eternity”.
Dear friends, if — as we have said
— the natural dwelling of our hope
is a supportive ‘body’, in the case of
Christian hope this body is the
Church, while the vital breath, the
soul of this hope is the Holy Spirit.
Without the Holy Spirit one cannot
have hope. Here then is why the
Apostle Paul invites us to continuously invoke it to the end. If it is
not easy to believe, it is far less easy
to hope. It is more difficult to hope
than to believe; it is more difficult.
But when the Holy Spirit abides in
our hearts, it is he who makes us
understand that we must not fear,
that the Lord is near and takes care
of us; and it is he who forms our
communities, in a perennial Pentecost, as a living sign of hope for the
human family. Thank you.
page 4
The Pontiff condemns the idolatry of a financial system that is destroying millions of families
An economy of communion
To change the rules of a capitalism that continues to produce discarded people
Denouncing the idolatry of a financial system that is destroying millions of
families, Pope Francis invoked significant changes to the rules of a capitalism that
continues to produce discarded people. He spoke out on these topics in an address
to participants of a meeting on the economy of communion sponsored by the
Focolare Movement, whom he received in audience on Saturday morning, 4
February, in the Paul VI Hall. The following is the English text of the address
which the Holy Father delivered in Italian.
I am pleased to welcome you as representatives of a project in which I
have been genuinely interested for
some time. I convey my cordial
greeting to each of you, and I thank
in particular the coordinator, Prof.
Luigino Bruni, for his courteous
words. And I thank you for your
testimonies.
Economy and communion. These
are two words that contemporary
culture keeps separate and often
considers opposites. Two words that
you have instead joined, accepting
the invitation that Chiara Lubich
offered you 25 years ago in Brazil,
when, in the face of the scandal of
inequality in the city of São Paulo,
she asked entrepreneurs to become
agents of communion. She invited you
to be creative, skilful, but not only
this. You see the entrepreneur as an
agent of communion. By introducing into the economy the good
seed of communion, you have begun
a profound change in the way of
seeing and living business. Business
is not only incapable of destroying
communion among people, but can
edify it; it can promote it. With your
life you demonstrate that economy
and communion become more beautiful when they are beside each other. Certainly the economy is more
beautiful, but communion is also
more beautiful, because the spiritual
communion of hearts is even fuller
when it becomes the communion of
goods, of talents, of profits.
In considering your task, I would
like to say three things to you today.
The first concerns money. It is very
important that at the centre of the
economy of communion there be the
communion of your profits. The
economy of communion is also the
communion of profits, an expression
of the communion of life. Many
times I have spoken about money as
an idol. The Bible tells us this in
various ways. Not by chance, Jesus’
first public act, in the Gospel of
John, is the expulsion of the merchants from the temple (cf. 2:13-21).
We cannot understand the new
Kingdom offered by Jesus if we do
not free ourselves of idols, of which
money is one of the most powerful.
Therefore, how is it possible to be
merchants that Jesus does not expel? Money is important, especially
when there is none, and food,
school, and the children’s future depend on it. But it becomes an idol
when it becomes the aim. Greed,
which by no coincidence is a capital
sin, is the sin of idolatry because the
accumulation of money per se becomes the aim of one’s own actions.
It was precisely Jesus who defined
money as ‘lord’: “No one can serve
two lords, two masters”. There are
two: God and money, the anti-God,
the idol. Jesus said this. At the same
level of choice. Think about this.
When capitalism makes the seeking of profit its only purpose, it runs
the risk of becoming an idolatrous
framework, a form of worship. The
‘goddess of fortune’ is increasingly
the new divinity of a certain finance
and of the whole system of
gambling which is destroying millions of the world’s families, and
which you rightly oppose. This idolatrous worship is a surrogate for
eternal life. Individual products
(cars, telephones ...) get old and
wear out, but if I have money or
credit I can immediately buy others,
deluding myself of conquering
death.
Thus, one understands the ethical
and spiritual value of your choice to
pool profits. The best and most practical way to avoid making an idol of
money is to share it, share it with
others, above all with the poor, or to
enable young people to study and
work, overcoming the idolatrous
temptation with communion. When
you share and donate your profits,
you are performing an act of lofty
spirituality, saying to money through
deeds: ‘you are not God, you are
not lord, you are not master!’. And
do not forget that other philosophy
and that other theology that led our
grandmothers to say: “The devil
enters through the pockets”. Do not
forget this!.
The second thing I would like to
say to you concerns poverty, a central
theme of your movement.
Today, many initiatives, public
and private, are being carried out to
combat poverty. All this, on the one
hand, is a growth in humanity. In
the Bible, the poor, orphans, widows, those ‘discarded’ by the society
of those times, were aided by tithing
and the gleaning of grain. But most
of the people remained poor; that
aid was not sufficient to feed and
care for everyone. There were many
‘discarded’ by society. Today we
have invented other ways to care for,
to feed, to teach the poor, and some
of the seeds of the Bible have blossomed into more effective institutions than those of the past. The rationale for taxes also lies in this
solidarity, which is negated by tax
avoidance and evasion which, over
and above being illegal acts, are acts
which deny the basic law of life:
mutual care.
But — and this can never be said
enough — capitalism continues to produce discarded people whom it would
then like to care for. The principal
ethical dilemma of this capitalism is
the creation of discarded people,
then trying to hide them or make
sure they are no longer seen. A serious form of poverty in a civilization
is when it is no longer able to see its
poor, who are first discarded and
then hidden.
Aircraft pollute the atmosphere,
but, with a small part of the cost of
the ticket, they will plant trees to
compensate for part of the damage
created. Gambling companies finance campaigns to care for the
pathological gamblers that they cre-
name of merit. An entrepreneur of
communion
is
called
to
do
everything possible so that even
those who do wrong and leave home
can hope for work and for dignified
earnings, and not wind up eating
with the swine. No son, no man, not
even the most rebellious, deserves
acorns.
Lastly, the third thing concerns
the future. These 25 years of your
history say that communion and business can exist and grow together. An
ate. And the day that the weapons
industry finances hospitals to care
for the children mutilated by their
bombs, the system will have reached
its pinnacle. This is hypocrisy!
The economy of communion, if it
wants to be faithful to its charism,
must not only care for the victims,
but build a system where there are
ever fewer victims, where, possibly,
there may no longer be any. As long
as the economy still produces one
victim and there is still a single discarded person, communion has not
yet been realized; the celebration of
universal fraternity is not full.
Therefore, we must work toward
changing the rules of the game of
the socio-economic system. Imitating the Good Samaritan of the Gospel is not enough. Of course, when
an entrepreneur or any person happens upon a victim, he or she is
called to take care of the victim and,
perhaps like the Good Samaritan,
also to enlist the fraternal action of
the market (the innkeeper). I know
that you have sought to do so for 25
years. But it is important to act
above all before the man comes
across the robbers, by battling the
frameworks of sin that produce robbers and victims. An entrepreneur
who is only a Good Samaritan does
half of his duty: he takes care of
today’s victims, but does not curtail
those of tomorrow. For communion,
one must imitate the merciful Father
of the parable of the Prodigal Son
and wait at home for the children,
workers and co-workers who have
done wrong, and there embrace
them and celebrate with and for
them — and not be impeded by the
meritocracy invoked by the elder son
and by many who deny mercy in the
experience which for now is limited
to a small number of businesses —
extremely small if compared to the
world’s great capital. But the
changes in the order of the spirit
and therefore of life are not linked
to big numbers. The small flock, the
lamp, a coin, a lamb, a pearl, salt,
leaven: these are the images of the
Kingdom that we encounter in the
Gospels. And the prophets have announced to us the new age of salvation by indicating to us the sign of a
child, Emmanuel, and speaking to
us of a faithful ‘remnant’, a small
group.
It is not necessary to be in a large
group to change our life: suffice it
that the salt and leaven do not deteriorate. The great work to be performed is trying not to lose the ‘active ingredient’ which enlivens them:
salt does not do its job by increasing
in quantity — instead, too much salt
makes the meal salty — but by saving its ‘spirit’, namely, its quality.
Every time people, peoples and even
the Church have thought of saving
the world in numbers, they have produced power structures, forgetting
the poor. We save our economy by
being simply salt and leaven: a difficult job, because everything deteriorates with the passing of time.
What do we do so as not to lose the
active ingredient, the ‘enzyme’ of
communion?
When there were no refrigerators,
to preserve the mother dough of the
bread, they gave a small amount of
their own leavened dough to a
neighbour, and when they needed to
make bread again they received a
handful of leavened dough from
CONTINUED ON PAGE 9
page 5
Pope Francis’ Message for Lent
The poor are knocking
at our door
The parable of the rich man and Lazarus “provides a key to understanding what we need to do in
order to attain true happiness and eternal life. It exhorts us to sincere conversion”. Pope Francis reflects
on this “meaningful story” in his Message for Lent, released on Tuesday, 7 February, dedicated to the
theme: “The Word is a gift. Other persons are a gift”. The following is the English text of the Message.
change. The parable first invites us to open the
doors of our heart to others because each person is a gift, whether it be our neighbour or an
anonymous pauper. Lent is a favourable season
for opening the doors to all those in need and
recognizing in them the face of Christ. Each of
us meets people like this every day. Each life
that we encounter is a gift deserving acceptance, respect and love. The word of God helps
us to open our eyes to welcome and love life,
especially when it is weak and vulnerable. But
in order to do this, we have to take seriously
what the Gospel tells us about the rich man.
The Word is a gift.
Other persons are a gift
Lent is a new beginning, a path leading to the
certain goal of Easter, Christ’s victory over
death. This season urgently calls us to conversion. Christians are asked to return to God
“with all their hearts” (Joel 2:12), to refuse to
settle for mediocrity and to grow in friendship
with the Lord. Jesus is the faithful friend who
never abandons us. Even when we sin, he patiently awaits our return; by that patient expectation, he shows us his readiness to forgive
(cf. Homily, 8 January 2016).
Lent is a favourable season for deepening
our spiritual life through the means of sanctification offered us by the Church: fasting,
prayer and almsgiving. At the basis of
everything is the word of God, which during
this season we are invited to hear and ponder
more deeply. I would now like to consider the
parable of the rich man and Lazarus (cf. Lk
16:19-31). Let us find inspiration in this meaningful story, for it provides a key to understanding what we need to do in order to attain
true happiness and eternal life. It exhorts us to
sincere conversion.
2. Sin blinds us
The parable is unsparing in its description
of the contradictions associated with the rich
man (cf. v. 19). Unlike poor Lazarus, he does
not have a name; he is simply called “a rich
man”. His opulence was seen in his extravagant and expensive robes. Purple cloth was even
more precious than silver and gold, and was
thus reserved to divinities (cf. Jer 10:9) and
kings (cf. Jg 8:26), while fine linen gave one
an almost sacred character. The man was
clearly ostentatious about his wealth, and in
the habit of displaying it daily: “He feasted
sumptuously every day” (v. 19). In him we can
catch a dramatic glimpse of the corruption of
sin, which progresses in three successive stages:
1. The other person is a gift
The parable begins by presenting its two
main characters. The poor man is described in
greater detail: he is wretched and lacks the
strength even to stand. Lying before the door
of the rich man, he feeds on the crumbs falling
from his table. His body is full of sores and
dogs come to lick his wounds (cf. vv. 20-21).
The picture is one of great misery; it portrays a
man disgraced and pitiful.
The scene is even more dramatic if we consider that the poor man is called Lazarus: a
name full of promise, which literally means
God helps. This character is not anonymous.
His features are clearly delineated and he appears as an individual with his own story.
While practically invisible to the rich man, we
see and know him as someone familiar. He becomes a face, and as such, a gift, a priceless
treasure, a human being whom God loves and
cares for, despite his concrete condition as an
outcast (cf. Homily, 8 January 2016).
Lazarus teaches us that other persons are a
gift. A right relationship with people consists in
gratefully recognizing their value. Even the
poor person at the door of the rich is not a
nuisance, but a summons to conversion and to
dominate us, even to the point of becoming a
tyrannical idol (cf. Evangelii Gaudium, 55). Instead of being an instrument at our service for
doing good and showing solidarity towards
others, money can chain us and the entire
world to a selfish logic that leaves no room for
love and hinders peace.
The parable then shows that the rich man’s
greed makes him vain. His personality finds
expression in appearances, in showing others
what he can do. But his appearance masks an
interior emptiness. His life is a prisoner to outward appearances, to the most superficial and
fleeting aspects of existence (cf. ibid., 62).
The lowest rung of this moral degradation is
pride. The rich man dresses like a king and
acts like a god, forgetting that he is merely
mortal. For those corrupted by love of riches,
nothing exists beyond their own ego. Those
around them do not come into their line of
sight. The result of attachment to money is a
sort of blindness. The rich man does not see
the poor man who is starving, hurting, lying at
his door.
Looking at this character, we can understand
why the Gospel so bluntly condemns the love
of money: “No one can be the slave of two
masters: he will either hate the first and love
the second, or be attached to the first and despise the second. You cannot be the slave both
of God and of money” (Mt 6:24).
3. The Word is a gift
“Lazarus at the rich man’s gate”, Fyodor Bronnikov
love of money, vanity and pride (cf. Homily, 20
September 2013).
The Apostle Paul tells us that “the love
money is the root of all evils” (1 Tim 6:10).
is the main cause of corruption and a source
envy, strife and suspicion. Money can come
of
It
of
to
The Gospel of the rich man and Lazarus
helps us to make a good preparation for the
approach of Easter. The liturgy of Ash Wednesday invites us to an experience quite similar
to that of the rich man. When the priest imposes the ashes on our heads, he repeats the
words: “Remember that you are dust, and to
dust you shall return”. As it turned out, the
rich man and the poor man both died, and the
greater part of the parable takes place in the
afterlife. The two characters suddenly discover
that “we brought nothing into the world, and
we can take nothing out of it” (1 Tim 6:7).
We too see what happens in the afterlife.
There the rich man speaks at length with Abraham, whom he calls “father” (Lk 16:24, 27),
as a sign that he belongs to God’s people.
This detail makes his life appear all the more
contradictory, for until this moment there had
been no mention of his relation to God. In
fact, there was no place for God in his life. His
CONTINUED ON PAGE 10
page 6/7
Cathedral of Port
Moresby
An interview with Archbishop John Ribat, first Cardinal from Papua New Guinea
In response to a changing world
STEFANO GIROLA
John Ribat, MSC, was born in 1957 in
Volavolo, in the East New Britain
Province of Papua New Guinea. He
was appointed Archbishop of Port
Moresby in 2008. Previously, he
served as Bishop of Bereina, and also
worked for a time as Novice Master
in Rabaul and in Fiji. He has also
served as President of the Bishops’
Conference of Papua New Guinea
and the Solomon Islands and is currently the President of the Federation
of Catholic Bishops’ Conferences of
Oceania. He gave this interview on
25 October 2016, shortly after the announcement of his appointment as
the first Cardinal from Papua New
Guinea. He was created cardinal in
the Consistory of 19 November 2016,
and took possession of the Title of
San Giovanni Battista de’ Rossi on
Sunday, 5 February.
The news of the appointment of the first
Cardinal from Papua New Guinea has
been welcomed with joy and pride by the
local Church. What was your own reaction to this news?
It was a real surprise. I didn’t
know anything. When the Apostolic
Nuncio, Archbishop Kurian Mathew
Vayalunkal, received the news from
Rome, he called me late in the evening and told me he had an important
message for me. He asked me at what
time I was going to bed. ‘Between
10:00 and 10:30 PM’, I answered.
‘D on’t go to bed, I’ll come and see
you’. I was a bit concerned and began
to wonder: ‘What’s happening? What
have I done or what did I forget to
do?’ The Nuncio came, we sat at a
table, he shook my hand and announced:
‘Congratulations,
Pope
Francis has appointed you as a cardinal’. I remained silent for a while
and did not know what to reply. Then
I said: ‘If this is the Pope’s will, may
The Cardinal’s concerns
Rising sea level threatens Oceania
“Affected by continuous flooding and drought, populations have significantly
reduced the productive capacity of the land, and the natives are often forced
to flee”, stated Cardinal John Ribat, Archbishop of Port Moresby, Papua
New Guinea. This, he noted, contributes to the flow of migration that impacts the zone’s inhabitants. The Cardinal took part in the 11th Plenary Assembly of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences, which was held in
Negombo, Sri Lanka from 28 November to 4 December. He was present in
his role as President of the Federation of Catholic Bishops’ Conferences of
Oceania, which includes Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Fiji and 17 other small nations of the Pacific. Overall, he represents 84 dioceses in 21 countries, all of which vary in culture, economics
and religion, and many of which are Christian.
“Speaking to ‘Agenzia Fides’ on 5 December, he noted that “although we
are not responsible” for the negative effects of climate change, “we are
strongly affected”. Issues include the rising sea level, acidification of the
oceans and unseasonable rain, all of which are causing serious damage to the
local fishing communities and farmers. Expressing concern for the future welfare of Oceanic communities, he said that “in some cases, entire regions and
nations are threatened by the unquestionable rise of the sea level. For example, this concerns the Carteret Islands, Fead Islands, Kiribati, the Marshall
Islands, the Mortlock Islands, the Nukumanu Islands, Tokelau and Tuvalu islands”. Cardinal Ribat also spoke of hope in his region: “The Church in
Oceania is vibrant in faith. Overall we are a young Church with a vibrant
and dynamic community at a pastoral and social level. We are committed to a
permanent formation for our faithful. We have to thank the Churches of Asia,
who have sent missionaries”, among them “India, Philippines, Indonesia and
Vietnam”. A short time ago, celebrations were held in Oceania for the 50th
anniversary of several dioceses in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, and the Cardinal noted that “the growth of the local Church was possible thanks to the fraternal support of the Asian Churches”.
God give me strength to carry out
this responsibility’.
different clans. Christianity formed a
big new family, broadened our identity and sense of belonging. I think
this was missing in our traditional
cultures.
As a young boy growing up in a village
of Papua New Guinea, did you ever
imagine that this could happen?
You were born in 1957, so you were a
young seminarian in the post-Second
Vatican Council period. ‘Inculturation’
was then an important feature of Catholic missionary policy and evangelization. What are your recollections of that
period?
No, of course, but I always remember a strange episode during my
time in high school. I was around 15
years old and one year we went on a
holiday and while we were having a
picnic, one of the boys told me: ‘O ne
day you will give me Holy Communion’. I don’t really know why he
said this, since I wasn’t in seminary
yet and was not even thinking of
joining the seminary yet. I have
thought about this episode again, in
these days. That boy is now my
brother-in-law.
Why did you decide to become a priest?
When it comes to religion, I think
that the strongest influence in my life
was my parents. We lived in a village
and they were second-generation and
devout Catholics. They were simple
people, not well educated, but with a
strong faith. We lived far away from
the town where the school was and
where the Mass was celebrated by
the missionaries. We had to walk and
cross rivers by canoe to get there.
There were no good roads and the
trip could take up to eight hours.
The missionaries were German and I
admired their commitment to their
work and I noticed how the people
were faithful to them and trusted
them unconditionally. Something
surely was growing in me, silently
but deeply, when I was a child.
Later I studied in a co-educational
high school and there were Christians Brothers among the teachers.
There were many Catholic students
and both the Brothers and the nuns
were good at bringing boys and girls
up in a Christian environment. The
Christian Brothers were very close to
the boys and encouraged us to be
good Catholics. They helped us prepare the liturgy for the Mass, while
Nanias Maira - Ner Wiynmaiy 2011
Papua New Guinea
some of the elder students were helping the juniors and we prayed all together using the rosary. Their support made us feel good. It was at
that time that I decided I wanted to
become a priest.
How did the missionaries relate, in general, to your traditional culture?
Their attitude was positive although, of course, they also challenged some aspects of our traditions. I believe that there was
something missing in our cultures.
Our society was based on small
units, i.e., many different clans, and
there was no overarching sense of belonging among different clans. This
does not refer only to land ownership
or material goods. For example, there
were ceremonies and rituals that belonged only to one clan and others
would not know anything about it.
The Christian faith brought us together and united people from many
I entered the seminary in 1979 and
I do remember that there was much
discussion on inculturation and on
how our cultures and Christianity
could come together, particularly in
the liturgy. It is continuing today,
but it started to be very popular
when I was young. Here in Papua
New Guinea and in the Solomon Islands, the liturgy is very vibrant, especially on Sundays. The youth and
the community play a very active role
in it. There is a strong participation
by the people, who feel that the
Church is no longer an alien or foreign institution: it is ‘our Church’.
We know that the inculturation of the
Gospel is easier in theory than in practice and that, when we move from the
liturgical celebrations to other areas,
such as traditional marriage, there are
ongoing difficulties at the pastoral level.
You are right: it is difficult for
some persons to receive the sacrament of Catholic marriage because
traditional cultural requirements need
to be followed too and it is not easy
to reconcile them with Catholic doctrine and practice. Traditionally, the
marriage is fully valid and complete
only if is fertile. If children do not
arrive, the consequence may be separation of the couple or unfaithfulness. For those who have been
brought up as Catholics, but at the
same time have strong links with
their culture, it is not easy to accept
a childless marriage. Adoption is
sometimes a solution, but in reality
Indigenous clansmen in traditional dress paddle along the Sepik River in Papua New Guinea
some people delay their Catholic
marriage with various excuses, such
as: ‘I am not ready yet’, ‘I don’t have
good clothes yet’, etc. because they
do not want to admit that they are
torn.
Celibacy is also a challenge for us
and there are those who train for the
priesthood but then they give up because they find a girlfriend or want
to get married. Some young priests
unfortunately find solace in drinking.
It is hard to understand all the deep
motivations for this, but I always advise them of the importance of maintaining good relationships with their
families and the parishioners.
Even if you are not married, I believe that you can live a happy and
fulfilling life as a priest, because much
depends on the positive relationships
you build. As young seminarians, we
were taught to channel our energies in
ways that helped us to grow. If, instead, we channelled our energy in
opposite ways, towards behaviours
that were not appropriate to our ministry, then things would become too
difficult. I was taught to nurture the
good in me and always look for the
positive side in people, pursuing actions and behaviours that keep us together as brothers and sisters. Channelling my energies in this positive
way has helped me to overcome the
challenges characteristic of my religious choice, including celibacy.
With regard to the current priorities of
your Church, apart from ecclesiastical
matters, you have often expressed your
concern about the effects of climate
change. How is this affecting the
Melanesian region?
This is a very important issue for
us and we are seeing the effects of
climate change right here. There are
areas on some islands that have been
washed away and where once there
were roads or houses, there is nothing now; people had to move, reluctantly, to other places. This is
happening right now: we are not
making it up. Some small islands are
disappearing. Plus, farmers grow gardens; they plant vegetable and fruit
crops like taro, sweet potato and cassava, but when they harvest, they
cannot eat them: they are too salty.
And the problems are not limited to
the islands. In the mountains we now
have frequent and long droughts and
in some areas people are very hungry.
There are long periods without any
rain and then suddenly hailstorms
destroy the crops while the frost
burns the gardens. Farmers often
share with the Church their anxieties
on the dramatic changes that are affecting their lives.
The Church can make an important contribution: we have to get involved and speak out on this. We are
with the people, and the Church
should be there for them when the
government cannot help.
What are the other challenges and priorities for the Church, especially in your
Archdiocese of Port Moresby?
I think that some changes are happening too fast here and this poses
challenges also to the Church. Many
persons move daily to the capital
from their remote villages, hoping to
find jobs and financial security, but
soon they realize that this doesn’t
happen easily and it is very painful
for them. Many become desperate
and all bad things accompany their
disillusionment: crime, domestic violence, alcohol abuse.
Some try to go back to their villages, where life may have been poor
but not so degraded socially.
However, they left their villages a
long time ago and they have lost
links with people at home so, when
they go back, they cannot fit in anymore, they feel out of place: this is a
problem and we are very concerned
for them.
Our Archdiocese is now trying to
start a program to help these people,
to take care of those who have just
arrived in Port Moresby and do not
have any understanding about living
in a city. We want to give them information, making them understand
that there are very few opportunities
here to fulfil their original dreams
and that they should seriously ponder whether moving to Port Moresby
was the right choice. We will start
this programme soon and hopefully
other churches will join us. I take a
walk every morning at half past five
and I see so many people sleeping
on the ground on the side of the
road, with nothing in their pockets.
Homelessness is a very sad problem
and it is growing.
Another future challenge is probably secularisation. God and religion
are a strong part of the daily life of
most people here, where 90% of the
population identify as Christian.
However, in our part of the world,
changes always come from the West
and we are geographically at the end
of it. There are already some signs,
and although it may take some time,
we need to be prepared to live in a
more secular society.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 8
Cardinal Ribat takes Possession
On Sunday, 5 February, Cardinal John Ribat, MSC, Archbishop of Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea,
took possession of the Title of San Giovanni Battista de’ Rossi.
page 8
Francis’ prayer for the marginalized in large cities
Simply a coffee is enough
A small gesture of solidarity and friendship can transform the cold face of a
big city: simply a coffee, an embrace
and a kind word are enough to warm
up the day of a marginalized person.
The Pope’s words echo in his video
message for the prayer intention for the
month of February 2017, “Welcome the
needy”.
“Pray with me for all those who are
afflicted, especially the poor, refugees,
and marginalized”, Francis says speaking in his native Spanish, so that they
“may find welcome and comfort in our
communities”. The video, which offers
subtitles in English, French, Portuguese
and Spanish, is available at www.apmej.org, the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer
Network, Apostleship of Prayer.
As the Pope speaks, the scene unfolds, revealing how simple acts of kindness and attention can uplift a person in
difficulty.
“We live in cities that throw up skyscrapers and shopping centres and strike
big real estate deals ... but they abandon a part of themselves to marginal
settlements on the periphery. The result
of this situation is that great sections of
the population are excluded and marginalized: without a job, without options, without a way out. Don’t abandon them”, the Pope stresses.
Such a scene could take place anytime, anywhere. Indeed, the scene takes
us to a city street to see people of different cultures, genders and races offering solidarity to a young man in need.
With the simple gestures of attention
from four young passers-by, the cold,
lonely face of their peer — who sits
miserably on the ground outside a shop,
at last breaks into a smile of hope. The
video ends with the eloquent image of a
hand patting the back of the young
man in a sign of friendship and sharing.
As previous video messages, February’s was produced and distributed by
La Machi agency, in collaboration with
the Vatican Television Centre, which recorded it.
Holy Father meets the Jesuit
community from the Campano
Pontifical Interregional Seminary
On Saturday morning, 4 February, in the Hall of Popes in the Apostolic Palace,
the Holy Father received in Audience the Jesuit community and the formation group
from the Campano Pontifical Interregional Seminary.
Interview with Cardinal Ribat
What are the relationships between the Catholic Church
and other Christian churches in this part of the world?
Is ecumenism one of your priorities as well?
Ecumenism is among our priorities and in recent
years we have made constructive steps in this direction. We have the ‘Papua New Guinea Council of
Churches’, which unites the main Christian Churches
on matters of common concern. In 2010 we launched
the ‘Christian Leaders Alliance on HIV/AIDS’, an
inter-denominational enterprise that tries to provide a
unified Christian response to the HIV pandemic. In
Papua New Guinea and nearby areas, this disease is
still accompanied by fear, discrimination and stigma.
In general, the relationships with other mainstream
Churches are good, but we have some problems with
smaller groups such as the Seventh Day Adventists.
Some of them do not want to have anything to do
with us. We are aware of this, and this affects some of
our faithful. There are always new denominations
coming, Pentecostals in particular and other ‘Prosperity Gospel’ groups who attract some Catholics too.
I always encourage the faithful to be strong in
their own Catholic faith and at the same time to em-
brace all Christian brothers and sisters. We should
not turn away from them, we should welcome them
and make them feel at home. It may be hard, but we
should wish the best for everyone and always behave
as Christ would ask of us.
Finally, on a more personal level, how important was the
support of your family and how did they react to the
news of your appointment as Cardinal?
Throughout my life, I could always rely on the
persistent support of a very united family. I consider
this a blessing. My father died in 1972 and my mother in 2004. We are nine siblings and I am the seventh. We never saw our parents fighting. They would
argue, but not fight and my father never hit my
mother. He always told us as children: ‘Be kind to
one another and no fighting!’. Before my mum died,
she said: ‘I am happy, I brought you all up and I see
my family grow, with grandchildren and all living in
harmony; that is my joy. I go happily and I wish the
same for you one day’.
We have always tried to follow their teachings and
our family has remained peaceful until today. They are
organizing a big party for me back in Port Moresby.
VATICAN BULLETIN
quae Novae in Proconsulari and
Vicar Apostolic of Paksé.
Eusebio Ramos Morales as Bishop
of Caguas, Puerto Rico. Until now
he has been Bishop of FajardoHumacao, Puerto Rico (2 Feb.).
Bishop Ramos Morales, 64, was
born in Maunabo, Puerto Rico. He
was ordained a priest on 3 June
1983. He was ordained a bishop on
31 May 2008, subsequent to his appointment as Bishop of FajardoHumacao.
Jorge Vázquez as Coadjutor Bishop
of Morón, Argentina. Until now he
has been titular Bishop of Castra
nova and Auxiliary of Lomas de
Zamora, Argentina (3 Feb.).
Bishop Vázquez, 66, was born in
Lomas de Zamora, Argentina. He
was ordained a priest on 31 March
1983. He was ordained a bishop on
29 December 2013, subsequent to his
appointment as titular Bishop of
Castra nova and Auxiliary of Lomas
de Zamora.
The Holy Father appointed Fr Juan
Manuel González Sandoval, MNM,
as Bishop of Tarahumara, Mexico.
Until now he has been parish priest
of Sagrado Corazón Parish in
Tarahumara (4 Feb.).
Bishop-elect González Sandoval,
52, was born in Guáscuaro, Mexico.
He holds a degree in education science, with a specialization in pedagogy for the formation of vocations. He made his perpetual vows
on 7 September 1990 and was ordained a priest of the Congregation
of the Missionaries of the Nativity
of Mary on 2 July 1991. He has
served in parish ministry and as:
chaplain in Montaña de Cristo Rey,
Cubilete; formator in the Seminary
of
Santa
Ana
del
Conde,
Guanajuato. On his return to Mexico he served as lecturer and format-
or in ethics and pedagogy at the
Seminary of his Congregation; chaplain in various religious houses in
Léon; coordinator of permanent
formation of the Missionaries of the
Nativity of Mary; diocesan coordinator of catechesis; member of the
Presbyteral Council; and coordinator
of the Commission for Prophetic
Pastoral Ministry in the ecclesiastical
Province of Chihuahua.
Bishop Bugeja, 54, was born in
Xaghra, Malta. He made his solemn
vows for the Order of Friars Minor
on 28 August 1983 and was ordained
a priest on 5 July 1986. He was ordained a bishop on 4 September
as titular Bishop of San Leone and
Coadjutor of Tripoli.
The Holy Father accepted the resignation of Archbishop Maroun Elias
Lahham, titular Archbishop of
Medaba, from his office as Auxiliary
of the Patriarchal See of Jerusalem
for Latins (4 Feb.).
On Sunday, 5 February, Cardinal
John Ribat, MSC, Archbishop of
Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea,
took possession of the Title of San
Giovanni Battista de’ Rossi.
The Holy Father accepted the resignation of Bishop Giovanni Innocenzo Martinelli, OFM, titular Bishop
of Tabuda from his office as Vicar
Apostolic of the Apostolic Vicariate
of Tripoli, Libya. He is succeeded
by Bishop George Bugeja, OFM, Coadjutor of the same Apostolic Vicariate (5 Feb.).
CARDINAL
TAKES
POSSESSION
NECROLO GY
Archbishop Carmelo Cassati, MSC,
Archbishop emeritus of Trani-Barletta
-Bisceglie, Italy, at age 92 (3 Feb.)
Bishop José Gea Escolano, titular
Bishop of Arae in Numidia, Bishop
emeritus
of
Mondoñedo-Ferrol,
Spain, at age 87 (6 Feb.)
page 9
At the Angelus, the Holy Father calls for society to welcome every human being
Every life is sacred
“Every life is sacred”. Pope Francis
reiterated this truth at the Angelus in
Saint Peter’s Square on Sunday, 5
February, as the Church in Italy
celebrated the Day for Life. Earlier, the
Pontiff shared a reflection on the
Gospel reading for the day. The
following is a translation of the Pope’s
reflection, which he delivered in Italian.
Good morning!
These Sundays the liturgy offers us
the so-called Sermon on the Mount,
in the Gospel of Matthew. After
presenting the Beatitudes last
Sunday, today [Matthew] emphasizes Jesus’ words describing his disciples’ mission in the world. (cf. Mt
5:13-16). He uses the metaphors of
salt and light, and his words are directed to the disciples of every age,
therefore also to us.
Jesus invites us to be a reflection
of his light, by witnessing with good
works. He says: “Let your light so
shine before men, that they may see
your good works and give glory to
your Father who is in heaven” (v.
16). These words emphasize that we
are recognizable as true disciples of
the One who is the Light of the
World, not in words, but by our
works. Indeed, it is above all our behaviour that — good or bad — leaves
a mark on others. Therefore, we
have a duty and a responsibility towards the gift received: the light of
the faith, which is in us through
Christ and the action of the Holy
Spirit; and we must not withhold it
as if it were our property. Instead we
are called to make it shine
throughout the world, to offer it to
others through good works. How
much the world needs the light of
the Gospel which transforms, heals
and guarantees salvation to those
who receive it! We must convey this
light through our good works.
The light of our faith, in giving of
oneself,
does
not
fade
but
strengthens. However it can weaken
if we do not nourish it with love and
with charitable works. In this way
the image of light complements that
of salt. The Gospel passage, in fact,
tells us that, as disciples of Christ,
we are also “the salt of the earth” (v.
13). Salt is an ingredient which,
while it gives flavour, keeps food
from turning and spoiling — in Jesus’ time there were no refrigerators!
Thus, Christians’ mission in society
is that of giving “flavour” to life
with the faith and the love that
Christ has given us, and at the same
time, keeping away the contaminating seeds of selfishness, envy,
slander, and so on. These seeds degrade the fabric of our communities,
which should instead shine as places
of welcome, solidarity and reconciliation. To fulfil this mission, it is essential that we first free ourselves
from the corruptive degeneration of
worldly influences contrary to Christ
and to the Gospel; and this purification never ends, it must be done
An economy of communion
that woman or from another who
had received it in her turn. It is reciprocity. Communion is not only
the sharing but also the multiplying
of goods, the creation of new
bread, of new goods, of new Good
with a capital ‘G’. The living principle of the Gospel remains active
only if we give it, because it is
love, and love is active when we
love, not when we write novels or
when we watch telenovelas. If instead we possessively keep it all
and only for ourselves, it goes
mouldy and dies. The Gospel can
grow mouldy. The economy of
communion will have a future if
you give it to everyone and it does
not remain only inside your
‘house’. Give it to everyone, firstly
to the poor and the young, who
are those who need it most and
know how to make the gift received bear fruit! To have life in
abundance one must learn to give:
not only the profits of businesses,
but of yourselves. The first gift of
the entrepreneur is of his or her
own person: your money, although
important, is too little. Money
does not save if it is not accompanied by the gift of the person.
Today’s economy, the poor, the
young, need first of all your spirit,
your respectful and humble fra-
ternity, your will to live and, only
then, your money.
Capitalism knows philanthropy,
not communion. It is simple to
give a part of the profits, without
embracing and touching the
people who receive those ‘crumbs’.
Instead, even just five loaves and
two fishes can feed the multitude if
they are the sharing of all our life.
In the logic of the Gospel, if one
does not give all of himself, he
never gives enough of himself.
You already do these things. But
you can share more profits in order
to combat idolatry, change the
structures in order to prevent the
creation of victims and discarded
people, give more of your leaven
so as to leaven the bread of many.
May the ‘no’ to an economy that
kills become a ‘yes’ to an economy
that lets live, because it shares, includes the poor, uses profits to create communion.
I hope you continue on your
path, with courage, humility and
joy. “God loves a cheerful giver” (2
Cor 9:7). God loves your joyfully
given profits and talents. You
already do this; you can do so even
more. I hope you continue to be
the seed, salt and leaven of another
economy: the economy of the Kingdom, where the rich know how to
share their wealth, and the poor
are called ‘blessed’. Thank you.
continuously; it must be done every
day!
Each one of us is called to be light
and salt, in the environment of our
daily life, persevering in the task of
regenerating the human reality in
the spirit of the Gospel and in the
perspective of the Kingdom of God.
May there always be the helpful
protection of Mary Most Holy, first
disciple of Jesus and model for believers who live their vocation and
mission each day in history. May our
Mother help us to let ourselves always be purified and enlightened by
the Lord, so as to become, in our
turn, “salt of the earth” and “light of
the world”.
After the Angelus the Holy Father
continued:
Dear brothers and sisters, today in
Italy we celebrate the Day for Life
on the theme “Women and men for
life in the footsteps of Saint Teresa
of Calcutta”. I join the Italian Bishops in their hope for bold educational action in favour of human
life. Every life is sacred! Let us go
forward with the culture of life to
counter the logic of waste and the
declining birth rate; let us be close
and together let us pray for the babies who are threatened by the termination of pregnancy, as well as for
the people who are at the end of life
— every life is sacred! — so that no
one may be left alone and that love
may defend the meaning of life. Let
us recall the words of Mother
Teresa: “Life is beautiful, admire it;
life is life, defend it!”, be it a baby
who is about to be born, or a person who is close to death: every life
is sacred!
I greet all those who work for life,
professors at the universities of
Rome and those who work for the
formation of the next generations, so
that they may be able to build a
welcoming and noble society for
each person.
I greet all the pilgrims, families,
parish groups and associations from
different parts of the world.
I wish everyone a happy Sunday.
Please do not forget to pray for me.
Enjoy your lunch. Arrivederci!
Pope’s video message for the Super Bowl
A culture of encounter
On the occasion of the Super
Bowl, the championship of the
U.S. National Football League,
Pope Francis sent a video message saying that sport offers an
opportunity to enhance a “culture of encounter” and “world
peace”. The message was
played on Sunday, 5 February,
on the jumbo screens at NRG
Stadium in Houston, Texas,
ahead of the game which saw
the New England Patriots facing off against the Atlanta Falcons. Spoken in his native
Spanish, the Pope’s reflection
was accompanied by the subtitles: “Great sporting events
like today’s Super Bowl are
highly symbolic, showing that
it is possible to build a culture
of encounter and a world of
peace. By participating in
sport, we are able to go beyond
our own self interest — and in a
healthy way — we learn to sacrifice, to grow in fidelity and respect the rules. May this year’s
Super Bowl be a sign of peace,
friendship and solidarity to the
world. Thank you!”.
Pope Francis has previously
sent messages to other sporting
events such as the FIFA World
Cup Brazil and the Rio
Olympic Games.
page 10
Holy See and Republic of Congo
sign Framework Agreement
On Friday, 3 February 2017, at the
Palace of the People of the Republic
of Congo in Brazzaville, in the presence of Mr Denis Sassou-N’Guesso,
President of the Republic, a Framework Agreement on the relations
between the Catholic Church and
the State was signed by the Holy
See and the Republic of Congo.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary
of State, signed on behalf of the
Holy See, and Mr Clément Mouamba, Prime Minister, on behalf of
the Republic of Congo.
The solemn act was attended by:
On behalf of the Holy See: Archbishop Francisco Escalante Molina,
Apostolic Nuncio in Congo; Archbishop Anatole Milandou of Brazzaville; Bishop Daniel Mizonzo of
Nkayi, President of the Episcopal
Conference; Bishop Louis PortellaMbuyu of Kinkala; Bishop Miguel
Angel Olaverri, SDB, of Pointe-
After the attack in Quebec
Mosques
surrounded by
rings of peace
“Rings of peace” were formed
around
mosques
in
cities
throughout Canada on Friday, 3
February, to protect Muslims in
prayer. In Toronto, Edmonton,
and other cities, including St
John’s in Newfoundland and
Labrador, hundreds upon hundreds of citizens of every religious creed created the human
chains as a sign of symbolic protection and solidarity with the
Muslim community which, on
Sunday, 29 January, had fallen
victim to a deadly attack which
struck the mosque of Quebec
City, claiming six lives.
Yael Splansky, the rabbi behind
the “rings of peace” around
mosques in Toronto, emphasized
to Canadian Press that “no Canadian should be afraid to go to
their house of worship to pray”.
He explained that “it’s a terrifying scene. Imagine people of
faith going to pray in peace, to
pray for peace, and to be at risk.
Houses of worship are sacred and
must be protected”. Speaking to
the crowd in St John’s, Syed
Pirzada of the Muslim Association of Newfoundland and Labrador said the Muslim community had been overwhelmed by
the outpouring of support they
had received in recent days.
Noire; Bishop Yves
Marie
Monot
of
Ouesso; Bishop Jean
Gardin of Impfondo;
Bishop Victor Abagna
Mossa of Owando;
Bishop Urbain Ngassongo of Gamboma;
Bishop
Bienvenu
Manamika of Dolisie;
Msgr Gianfranco Gallone, Official of the
Section for Relations
with States of the Secretariat of State; Fr
Patrick Han Saw Zay,
Secretary
of
the
Apostolic Nunciature in Congo;
On behalf of the Democratic Republic of Congo: Mr Firmin Ayessa,
Minister of State and Director of the
Cabinet of the President of the Republic; Mr Raymond Zéphirin
Mboulou, Minister of the Interior,
Decentralisation and Local Development; Mr Jean Claude Gakosso,
Minister for Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and Congolese abroad;
Mr Jean Baptiste Ondaye, Secretary
General of the Presidency of the Republic; Mr Benjamin Boumakani,
Secretary General of the Government; Mr Martin Adouki, advisor to
the President of the Republic and
Head of the Diplomatic Department; Mr Cyprien Sylvestre Mamina, Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Ms Gisèle
Ngondo, Director of the Cabinet of
the Minister of Foreign Affairs; Mr
Jean Jacques Luc Nianga, adjunct
The poor are
knocking
Secretary General of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs; Mr Albert Nkoua,
adjunct Secretary General and Head
of Department for Africa, Europe,
America, Asia and Oceania; and Mr
Sidney Audrey Adoua Mbongo,
Director of legal affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Framework Agreement, consisting of a preamble and 18 articles,
guarantees to the Church the possibility of carrying out her mission
in Congo. In particular, the legal
personality of the Church and her
Institutions is recognized. The two
Parties, while safeguarding the independence and autonomy proper to
them, undertake to work together
for the moral, spiritual and material
wellbeing of the human person and
for the promotion of the common
good. The Framework Agreement
enters into force upon the exchange
of the Instruments of Ratification.
Archbishops share sadness and humiliation
Royal Commission begins
final review of Australian Church’s
response to child abuse
Personally “shaken and humiliated”: those were the words of Archbishop
Anthony Fisher, OP, of Sydney as, on Monday, 6 February, the Royal Commission into Institutional Response to Child Sexual Abuse began its final
review of the performance of the Catholic Church in Australia regarding its
policies on child protection and child safety. Of the data compiled in cooperation with national Catholic Church leaders, Archbishop Fisher said in
a Pastoral Message, “to my shame and sadness”, hundreds of priests, male
and female religious and lay church workers in Australia “have had claims of
child sexual abuse made against them since 1950” and that “some seven percent” of the claims have involved priests from greater Sydney’s dioceses. Acknowledging the “many distressing and shameful cases of sexual abuse” told
to the Commission by “courageous survivors”, he said he was “sorry for past
failures that left so many so damaged”.
“Even though the statistics show that the overwhelming majority of incidents occurred in the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s, and the alleged abuse declined
very considerably thereafter, we are not complacent when it comes to child
safety and to ensuring a child safe environment in the Church and we recognize our responsibility” to ensure all measures are taken to prevent abuse
from happening again, he said.
The President of Australia’s Bishops Conference, Archbishop Denis Hart
of Melbourne, said the three-week public hearing will likely be “a difficult
and even distressing time” as it “reviews the evidence … and seeks to understand why and how this tragedy has occurred”. He once again apologized
on behalf of the Church “for the damage that has been done to the lives of
victims” and explained that many of Australia’s bishops and other Catholic
leaders will appear before the Royal Commission and will illustrate “what
the Church has been doing to change the old culture that allowed abuse to
continue and to put in place new policies, structures and protections to safeguard children”.
only god was himself.
The rich man recognizes Lazarus only amid the torments of
the afterlife. He wants the poor
man to alleviate his suffering with
a drop of water. What he asks of
Lazarus is similar to what he
could have done but never did.
Abraham tells him: “During your
life you had your fill of good
things, just as Lazarus had his fill
of bad. Now he is being comforted here while you are in agony”
(v. 25). In the afterlife, a kind of
fairness is restored and life’s evils
are balanced by good.
The parable goes on to offer a
message for all Christians. The
rich man asks Abraham to send
Lazarus to warn his brothers, who
are still alive. But Abraham answers: “They have Moses and the
prophets, let them listen to them”
(v. 29). Countering the rich man’s
objections, he adds: “If they will
not listen either to Moses or to
the prophets, they will not be
convinced even if someone
should rise from the dead” (v. 31).
The rich man’s real problem
thus comes to the fore. At the
root of all his ills was the failure to
heed God’s word. As a result, he
no longer loved God and grew to
despise his neighbour. The word
of God is alive and powerful,
capable of converting hearts and
leading them back to God. When
we close our heart to the gift of
God’s word, we end up closing
our heart to the gift of our brothers and sisters.
Dear friends, Lent is the favourable season for renewing our
encounter with Christ, living in
his word, in the sacraments and
in our neighbour. The Lord, who
overcame the deceptions of the
Tempter during the forty days in
the desert, shows us the path we
must take. May the Holy Spirit
lead us on a true journey of conversion, so that we can rediscover
the gift of God’s word, be purified of the sin that blinds us, and
serve Christ present in our brothers and sisters in need. I encourage all the faithful to express this
spiritual renewal also by sharing
in the Lenten Campaigns promoted by many Church organizations in different parts of the
world, and thus to favour the culture of encounter in our one human family. Let us pray for one
another so that, by sharing in the
victory of Christ, we may open
our doors to the weak and poor.
Then we will be able to experience and share to the full the joy
of Easter.
From the Vatican, 18 October 2016
Feast of Saint Luke the
Evangelist
page 11
Mass at the Domus Sanctae Marthae
Monday, 6 February
Two wonders
With the certainty that “God always
labours”, there is no need to fear living the gift of love and of liberty,
setting aside once and for all the
false assurances that come from rigidity. This was Pope Francis’ suggestion during Mass at Santa Marta
on Monday morning, 6 February.
Francis’ meditation was inspired
by Psalm 104[103], in which, he
noted, “we praised the Lord”, saying: “You are very great, O Lord,
my God! You are great indeed!”.
This Psalm, he said, is “a song of
praise: we praise the Lord for the
things we heard in both readings,
for creation, so great; and in the
second reading, for the re-creation,
the even more wondrous creation
that Jesus makes”. The Pope was, of
course, referring to the texts proposed by the Liturgy of the Word,
taken from the Book of Genesis (1:119) and from the Gospel of Mark
(6:53-56). The Pontiff explained that
“the Father labours” and thus, “Jesus says: ‘My Father labours and I
too labour’”. It is a way of saying
‘labour’, ad instar laborantis, as one
who labours, as Saint Ignatius
defines in the Exercises (cf. Spiritual
Exercises, n. 236).
In this way, “the Father labours to
make this wonder of creation”, Francis continued, “and with the Son to
make this wonder of re-creation; to
make that passing from chaos to
cosmos, from disorder to order, from
sin to grace”. And, he explained,
“this is the Father’s labour and for
this reason we praised the Father,
the Father who labours”.
But, Francis asked, “why did God
want to create the world?”. This is
one of the “difficult questions”, the
Pope recognized. He also shared
that “once, a boy put me in difficulty because he asked me this question: ‘tell me, Father, what did God
do before he created the world, was
he bored?”. Surely, “children know
how to ask questions”, the Pope added, “and they ask the right questions that put you in difficulty”.
To answer that child, Francis
shared, “the Lord helped me and I
told the truth: God loved; in his
fullness, he loved; among the three
Persons, he loved and needed nothing more”. The answer, the Pontiff
continued, gave rise to another question: if God “needed nothing more,
why did he create the world?”. This
is a question, Francis said, not posed
in a childlike manner but as “the
first theologians did, the great theologians, the first”. Thus, why did
God “create the world?”. The response to give is this: “Simply to
share his fullness, to have someone
whom to give and with whom to
share his fullness”. In a word, “to
give”.
We can ask “the same question”,
the Pope said again, in regard to recreation: “why did he send his Son
for this work of re-creation?”. He
did so “in order to share, to reorganize”. And “in the first creation,
as in the second, he makes out of
chaos a cosmos, out of ugliness
something beautiful, out of a mistake a truth, out of bad something
good”. This is precisely “the labour
of creation that is God, and one he
does by hand”. And, the Pope continued, “in Jesus we clearly see: with
his body he gives life completely”.
Thus, “when Jesus says: ‘The Father
labours always, and I too labour always’”, the doctors of the law were
scandalized and wanted to kill him
because they did not know how to
receive the things of God as a gift”,
but “only as justice”; and so they
even came to think: the commandments “are few: let’s make more!”.
Thus, Francis explained, “instead
of opening their heart to the gift,
they hid; they sought refuge in the
rigidity of the commandments,
which they had increased up to 500
or more: they did not know how to
receive the gift”. The gift, the
Pontiff continued, “is only received
with freedom”, but “these rigid men
were afraid of God-given freedom;
they were afraid of love”. For this
reason, they wanted to kill Jesus,
“because he said the Father had
done this wonder as a gift: receive
the gift of the Father!”.
“You are great, Lord, I love you,
because you have given me this gift;
you have saved me, you created
me”: this, the Pope affirmed, “is the
prayer of praise, the prayer of joy,
the prayer that gives us the cheerfulness of Christian life”. It is not “that
closed, sad prayer of people who are
never able to receive a gift because
they are afraid of the freedom that a
gift always brings”. Thus, in the
end, “they know only duty, but a
closed duty: slaves to duty, but not
to love”. But, “when you become a
slave to love, you are free: it is a
beautiful slavery, but they did not
understand this”.
Therefore, Francis noted, these are
the “two wonders of the Lord: the
wonder of creation and the wonder
of redemption, of re-creation; that of
the beginning of the world and that,
after the fall of man, of restoring the
world and this is why he sent the
Son: it is beautiful”. Of course, “we
can ask ourselves how I receive these
wonders, how I receive this creation
God has given me as a gift”. And,
the Pope said, “if I receive it as a
gift, I love creation, I safeguard creation because it was a gift”.
In this light, Francis recommended that we ask ourselves: “how do I
receive redemption, the forgiveness
that God has given me, making me
a son or daughter with his Son, with
love, with tenderness, with freedom?”. We must never hide “in the
rigidity of closed commandments
that are always, always more ‘certain’
— in quotation marks — but which
give you no joy because they do not
make you free”. Each one of us, the
Pope suggested, “can ask ourselves
how we can live these two wonders:
the wonder of creation and the even
greater wonder of re-creation”. We
must do so with the hope “that the
Lord will help us understand this
great thing and help us understand
what he did before creating the
world: he loved. May he help us understand his love for us and may we
say — as we have said today — ‘You
are very great, O Lord. Thank you,
thank you!’”. And “let us go forth in
this way”.
Catholic, Protestant and Baptist groups oppose measures that jeopardize human dignity
Reactions to the White House decision to clamp travel restrictions on
individuals from seven Muslimmajority countries and to suspend or
block the entry of refugees into the
U.S. continue to pour in from across
the globe. In a 31 January statement,
the World Council of Churches, ACT
Alliance and The Lutheran World
Federation said they share the concerns expressed by many Christian
leaders around the world about “the
measures announced on 27 January,
suspending the entire U.S. refugee
admissions program for 120 days, indefinitely banning Syrian refugees,
and suspending entry to the U.S. by
all nationals from seven Muslimmajority countries”. The executive
orders have since met with a number
of legal challenges.
Admitting the measures were introduced “in the name of protecting
the nation from terrorists”, the statement says “we support the view that
in practice this order serves to further harm those who are the very
victims of terrorism, genocide, religious and gender-based persecution
and civil war”. And giving preference to Christian refugees over
Muslims as suggested for some nations in conflict, “may risk further
jeopardizing the inter-communal reconciliation on which their future in
their ancient homeland depends”.
Christians react to executive order restricting entry to U.S.
The Church leaders warned that
the measures could “severely affect
people in urgent need of refuge”
and “encourage other developed
countries” to limit refugee protection.
The statement said the gravity of
the current refugee crisis and the
suffering of so many displaced
people “demands nothing less than
a united Christian witness for human dignity and for justice”.
Meanwhile, the Catholic Theological Society of America has demanded the reversal of the “morally unjust and religiously dangerous” executive order, and called for the reopening of U.S. borders particularly
“to those whose lives and freedoms
are in grave danger”. In a 31 January
statement, Fr David Hollenbach, SJ,
of Georgetown University, and Mary
Hines of Emmanuel College, respectively President and Presidentelect of the Society, said “our faith
calls us to welcome the stranger in
our midst”. Every person has inherent dignity which “must be respected by all”, and it is our duty to welcome and assist “refugees and other
severely vulnerable migrants” especially “when persecution or war
severely threaten” their dignity.
Recalling the U.S. as the traditional champion of exiles, the authors said the measures threaten “to
make the United States feared and
despised rather than admired and respected. Such a change, if it continues, will have lasting negative impact on U.S. relations with peoples
in the rest of the world”.
The Society, many of whose 1,300
members work in institutions of
higher education, is also concerned
about its Muslim students and colleagues. “We seek to advance interreligious understanding in ways that
will enable the great faith traditions
to make stronger contributions to
peace and justice in our world”, the
statement reads. “The presidential
directive ... threatens to undermine
our efforts to enhance mutual understanding between Christians and
Muslims”, and to negatively impact
“the peace and justice the United
States and the world deeply need”.
Furthermore, “it threatens to deepen
fears that the United States is an adversary of Islam and to exacerbate
interreligious conflict”. Rather, the
statement concludes, “let us work together to replace walls of division
and exclusion with bridges of understanding and respect”.
In a statement issued 3 February,
the Baptist World Alliance (BWA)
added its voice to the mounting
concern for refugees and vulnerable
people “who are oftentimes victimized for their faith” and who are directly affected by the White House
orders. The Alliance also “decried”
the travel ban on the seven Muslimmajority countries, saying both of
“these actions are already having a
negative impact on the lives of families. It has adversely affected service
providers who work directly with
refugees and has created unexpected
difficulties for Baptist institutions in
the United States, such as universities and seminaries”.
While the BWA recognizes that a
government has a right to provide
security for its citizens, the statement
reads, “there is a temptation to give
in to fear and to hastily pursue misguided policies that will have deleterious long-term effects and that
undermine freedom of religion”.
The Alliance called on governments, “fellow Christians and all
people of goodwill” to work “to reverse conditions that lead to displacement” in countries around the
world and to work “for peace, harmony and justice”.
page 12
Holy Father asks consecrated men and women to be one with Jesus
With serenity
and songs of praise
Defeat the “temptation of survival” which
withers hearts and takes away the ability to
dream. Pope Francis asked consecrated men
and women to commit to this task, during
Mass in the Vatican Basilica on Thursday
afternoon, 2 February, the Feast of the
Presentation of the Lord. The following is the
English text of the Holy Father’s homily, which
was given in Italian.
When the parents of Jesus brought the
Child in fulfilment of the prescriptions of
the law, Simeon, “guided by the Spirit” (Lk
2:27), took the Child in his arms and broke
out in a hymn of blessing and praise. “My
eyes”, he said, “have seen your salvation,
which you have prepared in the presence of
all peoples, a light for revelation to the
Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel” (Lk 2:30-32). Simeon not only saw, but
was privileged to hold in his arms the longawaited hope, which filled him with exultation. His heart rejoiced because God had
come to dwell among his people; he felt his
presence in the flesh.
Today’s liturgy tells us that in that rite,
the Lord, forty days after his birth, “outwardly was fulfilling the Law, but in reality
he was coming to meet his believing
people” (Roman Missal, 2 February, Introduction to the Entrance Procession). This
encounter of God with his people brings
joy and renews hope.
Simeon’s canticle is the hymn of the believer, who at the end of his days can exclaim: “It is true, hope in God never disappoints” (cf. Rm 5:5). God never deceives us.
Simeon and Anna, in their old age, were
capable of a new fruitfulness, and they testify to this in song. Life is worth living in
hope, because the Lord keeps his promise.
Jesus himself will later explain this promise
in the synagogue of Nazareth: the sick, prisoners, those who are alone, the poor, the
elderly and sinners, all are invited to take
up this same hymn of hope. Jesus is with
them, Jesus is with us (cf. Lk 4:18-19).
We have inherited this hymn of hope
from our elders. They made us part of this
process. In their faces, in their lives, in their
daily sacrifice we were able to see how this
praise was embodied. We are heirs to the
dreams of our elders, heirs to the hope that
did not disappoint our founding mothers
and fathers, our older brothers and sisters.
We are heirs to those who have gone before
us and had the courage to dream. Like
them, we too want to sing, “God does not
deceive; hope in him does not disappoint”.
God comes to meet his people. And we
want to sing by taking up the prophecy of
Joel and making it our own: “I will pour
out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and
your daughters shall prophesy, your old
men shall dream dreams, and your young
men shall see visions” (2:28).
We do well to take up the dreams of our
elders, so that we can prophesy in our day
and once more encounter what originally set
our hearts afire. Dreams and prophecies together. The remembrance of how our elders,
our fathers and mothers, dreamed, and the
courage prophetically to carry on those
dreams.
This attitude will make our consecrated
life more fruitful. Most importantly, it will
protect us from a temptation that can make
our consecrated life barren: the temptation of
survival. An evil that can gradually take root
within us and within our communities. The
mentality of survival makes us reactionaries,
fearful, slowly and silently shutting
ourselves up in our houses and in our own
preconceived notions. It makes us look
back, to the glory days — days that are past
— and rather than rekindling the prophetic
creativity born of our founders’ dreams, it
looks for shortcuts in order to evade the
challenges knocking on our doors today. A
survival mentality robs our charisms of
power, because it leads us to “domesticate”
them, to make them “user-friendly”, robbing
them of their original creative force. It
makes us want to protect spaces, buildings
and structures, rather than to encourage
new initiatives. The temptation of survival
makes us forget grace; it turns us into professionals of the sacred but not fathers and
mothers, brothers and sisters of that hope to
which we are called to bear prophetic witness. An environment of survival withers the
hearts of our elderly, taking away their ability to dream. In this way, it cripples the
prophecy that our young are called to proclaim and work to achieve. In a word, the
temptation of survival turns what the Lord
presents as an opportunity for mission into
something dangerous, threatening, potentially disastrous. This attitude is not limited
to the consecrated life, but we in particular
are urged not to fall into it.
Let us go back to the Gospel passage and
once more contemplate that scene. Surely,
the song of Simeon and Anna was not the
fruit of self-absorption or an analysis and
review of their personal situation. It did not
ring out because they were caught up in
themselves and were worried that something
bad might happen to them. Their song was
born of hope, the hope that sustained them
in their old age. That hope was rewarded
when they encountered Jesus. When Mary
let Simeon take the Son of the Promise into
his arms, the old man began to sing — celebrating a true “liturgy” — he sings his
dreams. Whenever she puts Jesus in the
midst of his people, they encounter joy. For
this alone will bring back our joy and hope,
this alone will save us from living in a survival mentality. Only this will make our
lives fruitful and keep our hearts alive: putting Jesus where he belongs, in the midst of
his people.
All of us are aware of the multicultural
transformation we are experiencing; no one
doubts this. Hence, it is all the more import-
ant for consecrated men and women to be
one with Jesus, in their lives and in the
midst of these great changes. Our mission —
in accordance with each particular charism —
reminds us that we are called to be a leaven
in this dough. Perhaps there are better
brands of flour, but the Lord has called us
to be leaven here and now, with the challenges we face. Not on the defensive or motivated by fear, but with our hands on the
plough, helping the wheat to grow, even
though it has frequently been sown among
weeds. Putting Jesus in the midst of his
people means having a contemplative heart,
one capable of discerning how God is walking through the streets of our cities, our
towns and our neighbourhoods. Putting Jesus in the midst of his people means taking
up and carrying the crosses of our brothers
and sisters. It means wanting to touch the
wounds of Jesus in the wounds of a world in
pain, which longs and cries out for healing.
To put ourselves with Jesus in the midst
of his people! Not as religious “activists”,
but as men and women who are constantly
forgiven, men and women anointed in baptism and sent to share that anointing and
the consolation of God with everyone.
To put ourselves with Jesus in the midst
of his people. For this reason, “we sense the
challenge of finding and sharing a ‘mystique’ of living together, of mingling and
encounter, of embracing and supporting one
another, of stepping into this flood tide
which, while chaotic, can [with the Lord]
become a genuine experience of fraternity, a
caravan of solidarity, a sacred pilgrimage....
If we were able to take this route, it would
be so good, so soothing, so liberating and
hope-filled! To go out of ourselves and to
join others” (Evangelii Gaudium, 87) is not
only good for us; it also turns our lives and
hopes into a hymn of praise. But we will
only be able to do this if we take up the
dreams of our elders and turn them into
prophecy.
Let us accompany Jesus as he goes forth
to meet his people, to be in the midst of
his people. Let us go forth, not with the
complaining or anxiety of those who have
forgotten how to prophesy because they
failed to take up the dreams of their elders,
but with serenity and songs of praise. Not
with apprehension but with the patience of
those who trust in the Spirit, the Lord of
dreams and prophecy. In this way, let us
share what is truly our own: the hymn that
is born of hope.

L`O S S E RVATOR E ROMANO

Transcript

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