SUMMARY:
-
POPE FRANCIS: THE STRENGTH OF THE CHURCH IS CONCEALED IN THE DEEP
WATERS OF GOD
-
OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS
______________________________________
POPE
FRANCIS: THE STRENGTH OF THE CHURCH IS CONCEALED IN THE DEEP WATERS
OF GOD
Vatican
City, 3 January 2014 (VIS) - This morning, Pope Francis celebrated
the Mass of the Feast of the Most Holy Name of Jesus in the Church of
Jesus, to give thanks for the new Jesuit saint Pierre Favre.
Concelebrating with the Holy Father were Cardinal Angelo Amato,
prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints; Cardinal
Agostino Vallini, vicar general of His Holiness for the diocese of
Rome; Bishop Luis Francisco Ladaria Ferrer, S.J., secretary of the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; Bishop Yves Boivineau of
Annecy, France, in whose diocese Favre was born, and the vicar
general Alain Fournier-Bidoz; the superior general Fr. Adolfo
Nicolas, S.J., and seven young Jesuit priests.
Canonised
by Pope Francis on 17 December, Pierre Favre, was the first companion
of St. Ignatius of Loyola - for this reason he is known as "the
second Jesuit" - and one of the founders of the Society of
Jesus, of which he was also the first priest. The tombs of St.
Ignatius and St. Pierre Favre are located in the Church of the Most
Holy Name of Jesus in Rome.
Pope
Francis dedicated his homily to the new saint, and said that he was a
"restless" man of "lofty desires": "it
is necessary to search for God to find Him, and to find him in order
to seek him again, and for ever. Only this restlessness brings peace
to the heart of a Jesuit, a restlessness that is also apostolic, so
that we never tire of proclaiming the kerygma, of evangelising with
courage. And it is restlessness that prepares us to receive the gift
of apostolic fruitfulness. Without restlessness, we are sterile".
"And
this was the restlessness of Pierre Favre", continued the
Pope, "a man of lofty desires, another Daniel. Favre was a
'modest, sensitive man with a profound inner life. He was endowed
with the gift of making friends with people from every walk of life'.
However, his was a restless, indecisive spirit, never satisfied.
Under the guidance of St. Ignatius he learned to unite his restless
but gentle - indeed exquisite - sensibility with a capacity to make
decisions. He was a man of lofty desires; he took charge of his
desires, he recognised them. Rather, for Favre, it was precisely when
faced with difficult tasks that he demonstrated the true spirit that
sets into action".
"An
authentic faith always implies a deep desire to change the world. And
this is the question we should pose ourselves: do we too have great
visions and zeal? Are we bold too? Do our dreams fly high? Are we
consumed by zeal? Or are we mediocre and satisfied with our
theoretical apostolic plans? Let us always remember that the strength
of the Church does not reside in herself or in her organisational
capacity, but is instead concealed in the deep waters of God. And
these waters agitate our desires, and our desires expand our hearts.
It is as St. Augustine said: pray to desire and desire to expand your
heart. It was precisely in his desires that Favre was able to discern
the voice of God. Without desires, one cannot go forth, and this is
why we must offer our desires to the Lord. In the Constitutions it is
said that we help our neighbours with the wishes presented to the
Lord God".
Favre,
affirmed Pope Francis, "had the true and deep desire to open up
in God: he was completely centred in God, and for this reason he
was able to go everywhere in Europe, in a spirit of obedience and
often on foot, to enter into dialogue with everyone, with gentleness,
and to proclaim the Gospel. I think of the temptation that perhaps we
experience, to which many people succumb, to link the proclamation of
the Gospel with inquisitionary bludgeoning and condemnation. No, the
Gospel must be proclaimed with gentleness, in a fraternal spirit,
with love. His familiarity with God led him to understand that inner
experience and apostolic life always go together. He writes in his
Memorial that the first movement of the heart must be that of
desiring that which is essential and originary, or rather that
priority must be reserved for seeking God, our Lord. Favre
experienced the desire to let the centre of his heart be occupied by
Christ. Only when centred in God is it possible to go out towards the
peripheries of the world! And Favre journeyed without respite even to
geographical frontiers; indeed, it was said of him that he appeared
to have been born never to stay still in any one place. Favre was
consumed by the intense desire to communicate the Lord. If we do not
have the same desire, then we need to pause a while in prayer and,
with silent fervour, ask the Lord, through the intercession of our
brother Pierre, that we might again experience the fascination of the
Lord who led Pierre in his 'apostolic follies'", concluded Pope
Francis.
OTHER
PONTIFICAL ACTS
Vatican
City, 3 January 2014 (VIS) - Today, the Holy Father appointed Rev.
Felicien Mwanama Galumbulula as bishop of Luiza (area 33,524,
population 3,000,000, Catholics 1,570,000, priests 157, religious
430), Democratic Republic of Congo. The bishop-elect was born in
Tshibala, Democratic Republic of Congo in 1960 and was ordained a
priest in 1987. He holds a doctorate in missiology from the
Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, and a doctorate in canon law
from the Pontifical Lateran University, Rome. He has served in the
following pastoral and academic roles: spiritual director and teacher
at the St. Leon minor seminary in Luiza and in the Jean Paul II major
seminary in Tschilomba; visiting professor at the Catholic University
of the Congo; professor and subsequently rector of the major seminary
of Malole-Kananga; professor at the African Institute of Missionary
Science, Kinshasa; and secretary of the Episcopal Commission for
legal affairs of the Episcopal Conference of the Democratic Republic
of the Congo. Since 2008 he has served as secretary general of the
Episcopal Conference. He succeeds Bishop Leonard Kasanda Lumembo,
C.I.C.M., whose resignation from the pastoral governance of the same
diocese upon reaching the age limit was accepted by the Holy Father.
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