SUMMARY:
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FRANCIS: WOMEN ARE THE FIRST COMMUNICATORS OF THE RESURRECTION
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LITURGICAL CELEBRATIONS TO BE PRESIDED OVER BY POPE: APRIL–MAY
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FRANCIS PRAYS BEFORE TOMB OF BLESSED JOHN PAUL II
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POPE VISITS VATICAN NECROPOLIS
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CHRISTIAN SOLIDARITY FOR AUTISTIC PEOPLE AND THEIR FAMILIES
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REGINA COELI: THE POWER OF GRACE
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ANNUAL PLENARY SESSION OF THE PONTIFICAL BIBLICAL COMMISSION
-
CARDINAL OLORUNFEMI TAKES POSSESSION OF HIS TITULAR CHURCH
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FRANCIS:
WOMEN ARE THE FIRST COMMUNICATORS OF THE RESURRECTION
Vatican
City, 3 April 2013 (VIS) – The Resurrection, the heart of the
Christian message, and the two ways it is announced—profession of
faith and narration—were the themes with which Pope Francis
returned to the catechesis for the Year of Faith in this morning's
general audience.
As
is becoming his custom, the Holy Father travelled around St. Peter's
Square in the white, open-top Jeep to greet the dozens of thousands
of people who want to meet him, many of whom put their babies forward
so he can take them in his arms. After his warm greeting of the
faithful, the Pope prayed with those present and, after giving them a
“good morning!”, he began his catechesis with the quote of the
celebrated passage of St. Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians: “if
Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain”.
“Unfortunately,”
he said, “there have often been attempts to obscure the faith in
Jesus' Resurrection and doubts have crept in even among believers
themselves. Our faith is 'watered down', we might say; not strong
faith. Sometimes this has been because of superficiality, sometimes
because of indifference, because we are busy with thousands of other
things that seem more important than our faith, or even because we
have a limited view of life. But it is precisely the Resurrection
that offers us the greatest hope because it opens our lives and the
life of the world to God's eternal future, to complete happiness, to
the certainty that evil, sin, and death can be conquered. This leads
us to living our everyday lives more confidently, to facing them
courageously and committedly. Christ's Resurrection shines new light
on our everyday realities. Christ's Resurrection is our strength!”
Moving
on to explain the two ways that the truth of the Resurrection is
shared in the New Testament, Francis spoke first of professions of
faith, that is, of the concise formulas expressing the core of the
faith. Such examples can be found in the Letter to the Corinthians or
the Letter to the Romans in which St. Paul writes: “if you confess
with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God
raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom 10:9). From the
Church's first steps, her faith in the Mystery of Jesus' Death and
Resurrection has been steadfast and clear.”
However,
the Pope preferred to emphasize the witness that takes the form of a
story, recalling above all that, in these types of testimonials,
women are the first witnesses. They are the ones who, at dawn, go to
the tomb to anoint Jesus' body and find the first sign: the empty
tomb. They then encounter the divine messenger who tells them: Jesus
of Nazareth, the Crucified One, is not here. He is risen.
“The
women,” he attested, “are compelled by love and know how to
welcome this announcement with faith. They believe and immediately
they share [the announcement]. They don't keep it for themselves but
convey it. They can't contain the joy of knowing that Jesus is alive,
the hope that fills their hearts. This should also happen in our
lives. We should feel the joy of being Christians! We believe in the
Risen One who has conquered evil and death! We must have the courage
to 'go out' to bring this joy and this light to all the areas of our
lives. Christ's Resurrection is our greatest certainty. It is our
most precious treasure! How can we not share this treasure, this
certainty, with others? It is not just for us: it is to be
proclaimed; to be given to others; to be shared with others. This is
precisely our witness.”
Francis
noted another element of the profession of faith in the New
Testament: that only men are recorded as witnesses of the
Resurrection, the Apostles but no women. “This is because,” he
explained, “according to Jewish law of the time, women and children
couldn't give reliable, credible witness. In the Gospels, however,
women have a primary, fundamental role. We can see here an argument
in favour of the historical actuality of the Resurrection. If it had
been made up, in the context of the time, it would not have been
connected to the testimonials of women. The evangelists instead
simply narrate what had happened: the women were the first witnesses.
This says that God's choices are not made in accordance with human
criteria. The first witnesses of Jesus' birth are the shepherds,
simple and humble people. The first witnesses of the Resurrection are
women. This is beautiful. And this is a bit the mission of women, of
mothers and women: witnessing to their children and their
grandchildren that Jesus is alive. He is the Living One. He is the
Risen One. Mothers and women, go forward with this witness! For God,
what counts is our hearts.”
“This
also leads us to reflect on how women, in the Church and in the
journey of faith, have had and still today have a unique role in
opening doors to the Lord, in following him and conveying his face,
because seeing with faith always takes love's gaze, which is simple
and profound. It is more difficult for the Apostles and disciples to
believe: not for the women. Peter runs to the tomb, but stops before
the empty tomb. Thomas has to touch the wounds on Jesus' body with
his own hands. Even in our faith journeys it is important to know and
to feel that God loves us; not to be afraid to love him: faith is
professed with the mouth and with the heart, with words and with
love.”
The
Holy Father recalled that, after the apparitions to the women, there
were others in which Jesus made himself present in a new way. “He
is the Crucified One but his body is glorious. He did not return to
his earthly life, but rather in a new condition. At first they don't
recognize him and only through his words and his deeds are their eyes
opened. Encountering the Risen One transforms them, gives new
strength to their faith, an unshakeable foundation. For us too, there
are many signs by which the Risen One makes himself known: Sacred
Scripture, the Eucharist, the other Sacraments, charity, these
gestures of love bring a ray of the Risen One. Let us be enlightened
by Christ's Resurrection and transformed by its power so that,
through us too, the signs of death might give way to signs of life in
the world.”
At
the end, seeing that there were many young persons in the square, the
Pope addressed them: “Take this certainty to all, the lord is alive
and walks beside us in our lives. This is your mission. Take this
hope forward with you. Be anchored to this hope, this anchor that is
heaven. Hold tight to the lifeline. Be anchored and carry this hope
forward. You, witnesses of Jesus, carry forward the testimony that
Jesus is alive and that this will give us hope; it will bring hope to
this world that has grown a bit old because of wars, evil, and sin.
Young people, go forward!
LITURGICAL
CELEBRATIONS TO BE PRESIDED OVER BY POPE: APRIL–MAY
Vatican
City, 3 April 2013 (VIS) – Following is the calendar of
celebrations scheduled to be presided over by the Holy Father in the
months of April and May, 2013.
APRIL
7
April, Second Sunday of Easter, or Divine Mercy Sunday: 5:30pm, Mass
in the Basilica of St. John Lateran for the Bishop of Rome to take
possession of the Roman cathedra.
14
April, Sunday:5:30pm, Mass in the Basilica of St. Paul
Outside-the-Walls
21
April, Sunday:9:30am, Mass and priestly ordinations in St. Peter's
Basilica.
28
April, Sunday:10:00am, Mass and confirmations in St. Peter's Square.
MAY
4
May, Saturday:6:00pm, Recitation of the Rosary in the Basilica of St.
Mary Major.
5
May, Sunday:10:00am, Mass for Confraternities in St. Peter's Square.
12
May, Sunday:9:30am, Mass and canonizations of Blesseds Antonio
Primaldo and Companions; Laura di Santa Caterina da Siena Montoya y
Upegui; and Maria Guadalupe Garcia Zavala.
18
May, Saturday:6:00pm, Pentecost Vigil in St. Peter's Square with the
participation of ecclesial movements.
19
May, Pentecost Sunday: 10:00am, Mass in St. Peter's Square with the
participation of ecclesial movements.
FRANCIS
PRAYS BEFORE TOMB OF BLESSED JOHN PAUL II
Vatican
City, 3 April 2013 (VIS) – On the eighth anniversary of the death
of Blessed John Paul II yesterday, Pope Francis visited his tomb in
St. Peter's Basilica. The Holy Father—accompanied by Cardinal
Angelo Comastri, archpriest of the Vatican Basilica, and Monsignor
Alfred Xuereb, his personal secretary—prayed for a long while
before Blessed John Paul II's tomb in the St. Sebastian Chapel and
then also stopped at the tombs of Blessed John XXIII and St. Pius X.
“Like
his visit to the tomb of St. Peter and the Vatican Grottoes,” reads
a note from the Press Office of the Holy See, “this afternoon's
visit to the Basilica expresses the profound spiritual continuity of
the Petrine Ministry of the Popes that Francis lives and feels
intensely. This is also evident in the meeting and the frequent phone
calls with his predecessor, Benedict XVI.”
POPE
VISITS VATICAN NECROPOLIS
Vatican
City, 3 April 2013 (VIS) – This past Monday afternoon, 1 April, the
Pope visited the tomb of St. Peter, which is located in the
necropolis under the Vatican Basilica. He stayed to pray in the
Clementine Chapel (Chapel of St. Peter), the closest place to the
burial of the first Apostle, which is found directly under the
Basilica's central altar and the cupola.
The
Holy Father travelled the main street of the necropolis accompanied
by Cardinal Angelo Comastri, archpriest of the Vatican Basilica,
Bishop Vittorio Lanzani, secretary of the Fabric of St. Peter, and
Pietro Zanander and Mario Bosco, directors of the necropolis.
Afterwards, the Pope went to the Vatican Grottoes to pay homage at
the tombs of the Popes of the last century who are buried there:
Benedict XV, Pius XI, Pius XII, Paul VI, and John Paul I.
CHRISTIAN
SOLIDARITY FOR AUTISTIC PEOPLE AND THEIR FAMILIES
Vatican
City, 3 April 2013 (VIS) – On the occasion of the celebration
yesterday, 2 April, of the Sixth World Autism Awareness Day,
Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski, president of the Pontifical Council for
Health Care Workers, published the following message:
“Dearest
brothers and sisters, on the occasion of the Sixth World Autism
Awareness Day, which this year takes place during the liturgical
period of the Easter festivities, the Pontifical Council for Health
Care Workers intends to express the solicitude of the Church for
autistic people and their families, inviting Christian communities
and people of good will to express authentic solidarity towards
them.”
“I
would like to take as a point of departure for my reflections the
approach of Jesus who drew near to, and walked with, the disciples on
the way to Emmaus (cf. Lk 24:13-35). The look marked by loss, and
even more by amazement, that shaped the steps of Cleopas and Simon
could be a similar expression to—and equally similarly be found
within—that which marks the faces and the hearts of parents who
have a son or a daughter with autism.”
“Autism:
this is a word that still generates fear today even though in very
many cultures which traditionally excluded handicaps the ‘diversely
able’ have begun to be accepted socially, and many of the
prejudices that have surrounded people with disabilities and even
their parents have begun to be dismantled. To define someone as
autistic seems automatically to involve a negative judgement about
those who are afflicted by it, and, implicitly, a sentence involving
a definitive distancing from society. On the other hand, the person
concerned seems to be unable to communicate in a productive way with
other people, at times as though shut up in a ‘glass bell’, in
his or her impenetrable, but for us wonderful, interior universe.”
“This
is a ‘typical and stereotyped’ image of the autistic child which
requires profound revision. Ever since her birth, as a guiding theme,
the Church has always expressed her care for this aspect of medicine
through practical testimonies at a universal level. Above all else,
this is witness to Love beyond stigma, that social stigma that
isolates a sick person and makes him or her feel an extraneous body.
I am referring to that sense of loneliness that is often narrated
within modern society but which becomes even more present in modern
health care which is perfect in its ‘technical aspects’ but
increasingly deprived of, and not attentive to, that affective
dimension which should, instead, be the defining aspect of every
therapeutic act or pathway.”
“Faced
with the problems and the difficulties that these children and their
parents encounter, the Church with humility proposes the way of
service to the suffering brother, accompanying him with compassion
and tenderness on his tortuous human and psycho-relational journey,
and taking advantage of the help of parishes, of associations, of
Church movements and of men and women of good will.”
“Dear
brothers and sisters, setting oneself to listen must necessarily be
accompanied by an authentic fraternal solidarity. There should never
fail to be global care for the ‘frail’ person, as a person with
autism can be: this takes concrete form with that sense of nearness
that every worker, each according to his or her role, must know how
to transmit to the sick person and his or her family, not making that
person feel a number but making real the situation of a shared
journey that is made up of deeds, of attitudes and of words—perhaps
not dramatic ones but ones that suggest a daily life that is nearer
to normality. This means listening to the imperious exhortation that
we should not lose sight of the person in his or her totality: no
procedure, however perfect it may be, can be ‘effective’ if it is
deprived of the ‘salt’ of Love, of that Love that each one of
these sick people, if looked at in their eyes, asks of you. Their
smile, the serenity of a family that sees its loved one at the centre
of the complex organisation that each one of us, by our specific
tasks, is called to manage for his or her life, and perceived and
achieved sharing: this is the best ‘outcome’ that will enrich
us.”
“In
practice, this is a matter of welcoming autistic children in the
various sectors of social, educational, catechistic and liturgical
activity in a way that corresponds and is proportionate to their
capacity for relationships. Such solidarity, for those who have
received the gift of Faith, becomes a loving presence and
compassionate nearness for those who suffer, following the example
and in imitation of Jesus Christ, the Good Samaritan who by his
passion, death and resurrection redeemed humanity.”
“The
Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers, during the Year of Faith,
wishes to share with people who suffer because of autism the hope and
certainty that adherence to Love enables us to recognise the Risen
Christ every time that he makes himself our neighbour on the journey
of life. Let what John Paul II, in whose intercession we trust and
the eighth anniversary of whose return to the house of the Father we
remember specifically today, be a reference point for us: ‘The
quality of life in a community is measured largely by its commitment
to assist the weaker and needier members with respect for their
dignity as men and women. The world of rights cannot only be the
prerogative of the healthy. People with disabilities must also be
enabled to participate in social life as far as they can, and helped
to fulfil all their physical, psychological and spiritual potential.
Only by recognizing the rights of its weakest members can a society
claim to be founded on law and justice’ (John Paul II, Message on
the Occasion of the International Symposium on the Dignity and Rights
of the Mentally Disabled Person, 7-9 January 2004, n. 3).”
“May
what the Holy Father Francis observed during the first days of his
papacy—expressing his nearness to the sick and the suffering—be
constant light: ‘we must keep the thirst for the absolute alive in
the world, not allowing a one-dimensional vision of the human person
to prevail, according to which man is reduced to what he produces and
to what he consumes: this is one of the most dangerous snares of our
time’!”
“While
I hope for the cooperation of everyone in a choral and compassionate
answer to the numerous needs that come to us from our brothers and
sisters with autism and their families, I entrust the sufferings, the
joys and the hopes of these people to the mediation of Mary, Mother
of Christ and ‘Health of the Sick’ who, at the foot of the Cross,
taught us to pause beside all the crosses of contemporary Man (cf.
“Salvifici Doloris”, n. 31).”
“To
people with autism, to their families and to all those who are
involved in their service, while confirming my nearness and prayer, I
send my personal and affectionate best wishes for a serene and joyous
Easter with the Risen Lord.”
REGINA
COELI: THE POWER OF GRACE
Vatican
City, 1 April 2013 (VIS) – At noon today, Pope Francis appeared at
the window of his study to pray the Regina Coeli with the numerous
faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square.
“Good
morning and Happy Easter to you all,” he said. “Thank you for
coming today, in such large numbers, to share the joy of Easter, the
central mystery of our faith. May the power of Christ's resurrection
reach every person—especially those who are suffering—and every
place that is in need of trust and hope.”
“Christ
has fully and finally conquered evil, but it is up to us, to people
in every age, to embrace this victory in our lives and in the
concrete realities of history and society. … The Baptism that makes
us children of God and the Eucharist that unites us to Christ must
become our lives. That means they must be reflected in our attitudes,
behaviours, actions, and choices. The grace contained in the Easter
Sacraments is an enormous source of strength for renewal in personal
and family life, as well as for social relations. But everything
passes through the human heart: if I allow myself to be reached by
the grace of the risen Christ, if I let grace change for the better
whatever is not good in me, whatever might do harm to me and to
others, then I allow Christ's victory to affirm itself in in my life,
to broaden its beneficial action. This is the power of grace! Without
grace we can do nothing! Without grace we can do nothing! And with
the grace of Baptism and Holy Communion we can become an instrument
of God's mercy—that beautiful mercy of God.”
“Expressing
in our lives the sacrament we have received: that … is our daily
work—and, I would also say, our daily joy! The joy of being
instruments of Christ's grace, as branches of the vine that is Christ
himself, inspired by the sustaining presence of His Spirit! Let us
pray together, in the name of the dead and risen Lord and through the
intercession of Mary Most Holy, that the Paschal mystery might work
deeply in us and in our time so that hatred may give way to love,
lies to truth, revenge to forgiveness, and sadness to joy.”
After
the Reginal Coeli the Pope, in Italian, greeted the pilgrims from the
various continents, wishing them a tranquil Monday of the Angel (as
Easter Monday is traditionally referred to), “on which the joyful
announcement of Easter strongly resounds: Christ is risen! And I
close with these words: 'Happy Easter to all and have a good lunch!'”
ANNUAL
PLENARY SESSION OF THE PONTIFICAL BIBLICAL COMMISSION
Vatican
City, 3 April 2013 (VIS) – The Pontifical Biblical Commission will
celebrate its annual plenary session from 8 to 12 April at the Domus
Sanctae Marthae in Vatican City under the presidency of Archbishop
Gerhard Ludwig Muller. Fr. Klemens Stock, S.J., secretary general of
the commission, will directing the assembly's work sessions.
During
the course of the meetings, the study on the theme “Inspiration and
Truth in the Bible” will be concluded. “For some years,“ reads
a communique from that office, “the Commission has decided to
concentrate its effort on verifying how the themes of inspiration and
truth are manifested in the various books of Sacred Scripture. The
aim of the reflection is to offer a positive contribution so that, in
a deepened understanding of the concepts of inspiration and truth,
the Word of God may be welcomed by all faithful in a way that is ever
more suited to this unique gift in which God communicates himself and
invites humanity to communion with him.”
CARDINAL
OLORUNFEMI TAKES POSSESSION OF HIS TITULAR CHURCH
Vatican
City, 3 April 2013 (VIS) – The Office of Liturgical Celebrations of
the Supreme Pontiff today announced that next Sunday, 7 April, at
12:00pm, Cardinal John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan, archbishop of Abuja,
Nigeria, will take possession of the title of St. Saturninus on Via
Avigliana 3.
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