SUMMARY:
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Pope's Message for Lent 2015: “Make your hearts firm”
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Indifference, key theme of the Pope's Message for Lent 2015
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Holy Father's calendar for February to April 2015
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Pope's
Message for Lent 2015: “Make your hearts firm”
Vatican
City, 27 January 2015 (VIS) – The following is the full text of the
Holy Father Francis' message for Lent 2015, entitled “Make your
hearts firm”. The document was signed in the Vatican on 4 October
2014, the festivity of St. Francis of Assisi.
“Lent
is a time of renewal for the whole Church, for each communities and
every believer. Above all it is a 'time of grace'. God does not ask
of us anything that he himself has not first given us. “We love
because he first has loved us'. He is not aloof from us. Each one of
us has a place in his heart. He knows us by name, he cares for us and
he seeks us out whenever we turn away from him. He is interested in
each of us; his love does not allow him to be indifferent to what
happens to us. Usually, when we are healthy and comfortable, we
forget about others (something God the Father never does): we are
unconcerned with their problems, their sufferings and the injustices
they endure. Our heart grows cold. As long as I am relatively healthy
and comfortable, I do not think about those less well off. Today,
this selfish attitude of indifference has taken on global
proportions, to the extent that we can speak of a globalisation of
indifference. It is a problem which we, as Christians, need to
confront.
When
the people of God are converted to his love, they find answers to the
questions that history continually raises. One of the most urgent
challenges which I would like to address in this Message is precisely
the globalisation of indifference.
Indifference
to our neighbour and to God also represents a real temptation for us
Christians. Each year during Lent we need to hear once more the voice
of the prophets who cry out and trouble our conscience.
God
is not indifferent to our world; he so loves it that he gave his Son
for our salvation. In the Incarnation, in the earthly life, death,
and resurrection of the Son of God, the gate between God and man,
between heaven and earth, opens once for all. The Church is like the
hand holding open this gate, thanks to her proclamation of God’s
word, her celebration of the sacraments and her witness of the faith
which works through love. But the world tends to withdraw into itself
and shut that door through which God comes into the world and the
world comes to him. Hence the hand, which is the Church, must never
be surprised if it is rejected, crushed and wounded.
God’s
people, then, need this interior renewal, lest we become indifferent
and withdraw into ourselves. To further this renewal, I would like to
propose for our reflection three biblical texts.
1.
'If one member suffers, all suffer together' – The Church
The
love of God breaks through that fatal withdrawal into ourselves which
is indifference. The Church offers us this love of God by her
teaching and especially by her witness. But we can only bear witness
to what we ourselves have experienced. Christians are those who let
God clothe them with goodness and mercy, with Christ, so as to
become, like Christ, servants of God and others. This is clearly seen
in the liturgy of Holy Thursday, with its rite of the washing of
feet. Peter did not want Jesus to wash his feet, but he came to
realise that Jesus does not wish to be just an example of how we
should wash one another’s feet. Only those who have first allowed
Jesus to wash their own feet can then offer this service to others.
Only they have 'a part' with him and thus can serve others.
Lent
is a favourable time for letting Christ serve us so that we in turn
may become more like him. This happens whenever we hear the word of
God and receive the sacraments, especially the Eucharist. There we
become what we receive: the Body of Christ. In this body there is no
room for the indifference which so often seems to possess our hearts.
For whoever is of Christ, belongs to one body, and in him we cannot
be indifferent to one another. If one part suffers, all the parts
suffer with it; if one part is honoured, all the parts share its
joy'.
The
Church is the communio sanctorum not only because of her saints, but
also because she is a communion in holy things: the love of God
revealed to us in Christ and all his gifts. Among these gifts there
is also the response of those who let themselves be touched by this
love. In this communion of saints, in this sharing in holy things, no
one possesses anything alone, but shares everything with others. And
since we are united in God, we can do something for those who are far
distant, those whom we could never reach on our own, because with
them and for them, we ask God that all of us may be open to his plan
of salvation.
2.
'Where is your brother?' – Parishes and Communities
All
that we have been saying about the universal Church must now be
applied to the life of our parishes and communities. Do these
ecclesial structures enable us to experience being part of one body?
A body which receives and shares what God wishes to give? A body
which acknowledges and cares for its weakest, poorest and most
insignificant members? Or do we take refuge in a universal love that
would embrace the whole world, while failing to see the Lazarus
sitting before our closed doors?
In
order to receive what God gives us and to make it bear abundant
fruit, we need to press beyond the boundaries of the visible Church
in two ways.
In
the first place, by uniting ourselves in prayer with the Church in
heaven. The prayers of the Church on earth establish a communion of
mutual service and goodness which reaches up into the sight of God.
Together with the saints who have found their fulfilment in God, we
form part of that communion in which indifference is conquered by
love. The Church in heaven is not triumphant because she has turned
her back on the sufferings of the world and rejoices in splendid
isolation. Rather, the saints already joyfully contemplate the fact
that, through Jesus’ death and resurrection, they have triumphed
once and for all over indifference, hardness of heart and hatred.
Until this victory of love penetrates the whole world, the saints
continue to accompany us on our pilgrim way. Saint Therese of
Lisieux, a Doctor of the Church, expressed her conviction that the
joy in heaven for the victory of crucified love remains incomplete as
long as there is still a single man or woman on earth who suffers and
cries out in pain: 'I trust fully that I shall not remain idle in
heaven; my desire is to continue to work for the Church and for
souls'.
We
share in the merits and joy of the saints, even as they share in our
struggles and our longing for peace and reconciliation. Their joy in
the victory of the Risen Christ gives us strength as we strive to
overcome our indifference and hardness of heart.
In
the second place, every Christian community is called to go out of
itself and to be engaged in the life of the greater society of which
it is a part, especially with the poor and those who are far away.
The Church is missionary by her very nature; she is not self-enclosed
but sent out to every nation and people.
Her
mission is to bear patient witness to the One who desires to draw all
creation and every man and woman to the Father. Her mission is to
bring to all a love which cannot remain silent. The Church follows
Jesus Christ along the paths that lead to every man and woman, to the
very ends of the earth. In each of our neighbours, then, we must see
a brother or sister for whom Christ died and rose again. What we
ourselves have received, we have received for them as well.
Similarly, all that our brothers and sisters possess is a gift for
the Church and for all humanity.
Dear
brothers and sisters, how greatly I desire that all those places
where the Church is present, especially our parishes and our
communities, may become islands of mercy in the midst of the sea of
indifference!
3.
'Make your hearts firm!' – Individual Christians
As
individuals too, we have are tempted by indifference. Flooded with
news reports and troubling images of human suffering, we often feel
our complete inability to help. What can we do to avoid being caught
up in this spiral of distress and powerlessness?
First,
we can pray in communion with the Church on earth and in heaven. Let
us not underestimate the power of so many voices united in prayer!
The '24 Hours for the Lord' initiative, which I hope will be observed
on 13-14 March throughout the Church, also at the diocesan level, is
meant to be a sign of this need for prayer.
Second,
we can help by acts of charity, reaching out to both those near and
far through the Church’s many charitable organisations. Lent is a
favourable time for showing this concern for others by small yet
concrete signs of our belonging to the one human family.
Third,
the suffering of others is a call to conversion, since their need
reminds me of the uncertainty of my own life and my dependence on God
and my brothers and sisters. If we humbly implore God’s grace and
accept our own limitations, we will trust in the infinite
possibilities which God’s love holds out to us. We will also be
able to resist the diabolical temptation of thinking that by our own
efforts we can save the world and ourselves.
As
a way of overcoming indifference and our pretensions to
self-sufficiency, I would invite everyone to live this Lent as an
opportunity for engaging in what Benedict XVI called a formation of
the heart. A merciful heart does not mean a weak heart. Anyone who
wishes to be merciful must have a strong and steadfast heart, closed
to the tempter but open to God. A heart which lets itself be pierced
by the Spirit so as to bring love along the roads that lead to our
brothers and sisters. And, ultimately, a poor heart, one which
realises its own poverty and gives itself freely for others.
During
this Lent, then, brothers and sisters, let us all ask the Lord: 'Fac
cor nostrum secundum cor tuum': Make our hearts like yours (Litany of
the Sacred Heart of Jesus). In this way we will receive a heart which
is firm and merciful, attentive and generous, a heart which is not
closed, indifferent or prey to the globalisation of indifference.
It
is my prayerful hope that this Lent will prove spiritually fruitful
for each believer and every ecclesial community. I ask all of you to
pray for me. May the Lord bless you and Our Lady keep you”.
Indifference,
key theme of the Pope's Message for Lent 2015
Vatican
City, 27 January 2015 (VIS) – A press conference was held in the
Holy See Press Office his morning, during which Msgr. Giampietro Dal
Toso, secretary of the Pontifical Council “Cor Unum”, presented
the Pope's Message for Lent 2015, explaining that its central theme
is indifference, an issue that the Holy Father has touched upon on a
number of occasions. In addition, in his speech to the UN last
September Cardinal Secretary of State Parolin emphasised “widespread
indifference”, which he equated with an “apathy” that is at
times even “synonymous with irresponsibility”.
Indifference
is, therefore, “an important concept to explain the different
phenomena of the modern world. In this way, we can understand this
same concept, including it in what is surely a partial interpretation
of a certain culture. Indifference comes from a lack of difference,
from a lack of attention to the difference. This can be applied at
least on three levels”.
“At
the interpersonal level, the play on words between difference and
indifference is perhaps more easily understood. On the one hand, the
difference is stressed in order to provoke a separation. On the other
hand, a lack of attention to the difference between the other and
myself conforms the other to one's own parameters and thus
annihilates him”.
“At
the cultural level, that is, in the everyday environment that helps
shape our thoughts and judgement, I seem to notice an indifference to
values. This is not only related to a lack of awareness of values or
an incomplete observance of values; it is above all a lack of
judgement on values. In this way, every choice becomes
interchangeable, every option becomes viable, any assessment on good
and evil, truth and falsity becomes useless. If there is no
difference, everything is the same and is therefore not permissible
for anyone to propose something that is more or less appropriate to a
person’s nature. In my opinion, global uniformity, the lowering of
the standards of values that comes from the lack of difference is
linked to the experience of many of our contemporaries of a lack of
meaning. If everything is the same, if nothing is different and
everything is therefore more or less valid, in what can one invest
one’s life? If everything is the same, it means that nothing really
has value and therefore it means nothing fully deserves our gift”.
“We
then come to a third level, that more specifically regards
metaphysical principles. Here lies the greatest indifference, the
largest and most consequential form of the lack of attention to
difference, that is: indifference towards God and as a result, a lack
of attention to the difference between the Creator and creature,
which causes so much harm to modern man as it leads him to believe
that he is God, while he must continually push against his own
limitations”.
Msgr.
Dal Toso went on to consider the globalisation of indifference not
merely as a geographical phenomenon, but also a cultural one. As it
spreads, a Western concept of the world, or Weltanschauung, prevails,
linked not only to relationships but also as an existential attitude.
The Church does not denounce certain situations simply in order to
censure them but instead to offer paths towards healing. For this
reason, the Lenten season is always a time of conversion, change and
renewal. It is a time for overcoming this globalisation of
indifference and entering into a new phase in which we recognise the
difference between the self and the other, between one lifestyle and
another, between oneself and God. This year’s Lenten Message
presents three areas in which indifference must be overcome: the
Church, the community and the individual”.
He
continued, “Pope Francis speaks about the necessary conversion and
the new heart that can beat within us. The key step in all social
reconstruction and cultural renewal is change in the individual. The
Gospel provides the keys for achieving this change in the person,
which then affects the whole social fabric”. However, he warns,
“conversion does not have its purpose in a better society, but in
the knowledge of Christ and in becoming like Him. Therefore, as we
can see in Pope Francis’ Magisterium, he calls us to go beyond a
faith that serves only to care for oneself and one's own well being.
Indifference stems from an attitude to life in which otherness does
not make a difference and so each person withdraws into himself.
Faith also can become instrumental in this search for self”. Our
path, he explained, is must therefore take us further, “beyond
ourselves”, so that we “live our faith by looking at Christ and
in Him we find the Father and brothers and sisters who await us”.
Indifference
must also be overcome in Christian communities, which are required to
be “islands of mercy in a world dominated by the globalisation of
indifference. There is a distinction between the Church and the
world, between the heavenly city and the earthly city, a distinction
which become increasingly evident. Our Christian places – parishes,
communities and groups – must be transformed into places that
manifest God’s mercy. Faced with this globalisation of
indifference, some might be discouraged as it seems as if nothing can
be changed, since we are part of a great social and economic process
that is is beyond us. Instead, this is not the case. The Christian
community can already overcome this indifference, it can show the
world that one can live differently and that it can become the city
on the mount mentioned in the Gospel. Beginning with this Lent
season, Christian community life, where one lives for the other, can
be not merely a chimera but instead a living reality; rather than a
distant dream, a living sign of the presence of God’s mercy in
Christ”.
Finally,
the third level is the Church in her global reality. “Unfortunately”,
remarked Msgr. Del Toso, “we tend to see the Church only as an
institution and a structure. Instead, she is the living body of those
who believe in Christ. It is the Church in her entirety that needs to
be renewed. As a body, she shows that she is really alive because she
changes, grows and develops. In this body, the members take care of
each other”.
Finally,
the prelate recalled that “Cor Unum” has always acted as an
“instrument of the Pope's proximity to the least of our brothers
and sisters”, offering three examples. First, he mentioned the
recent joint meeting with the Pontifical Commission for Latin America
and the various other entities involved in the reconstruction of
Haiti, during which the balance of the financial aid raised by the
Catholic Church's for the island during the five years since the
earthquake, estimated at 21.5 million dollars, was presented. He also
referred to the humanitarian crisis in the Middle East, especially in
Syria and Iraq, “where the great victims of these wars are the
people, especially the most vulnerable minorities such as Christians
who again have become the 'cards' with which those in power play”.
Finally, he remarked on the Pope's recent trip to the Philippines,
where it could be seen what it means to “'make hearts firm' where
there is nothing left to hope for”. In Tacloban, the area visited
by the Pope, “Cor Unum” has built large community centre named
after Pope Francis, to care for the young and the elderly. He
concluded, “Our Dicastery wishes to be a great global expression of
what it means for the Church to be a body in which each member can
experience the love of the other”.
Holy
Father's calendar for February to April 2015
Vatican
City, 27 January 2015 (VIS) – The Office of Liturgical Celebrations
of the Supreme Pontiff has published the following calendar of
liturgical celebrations at which the Holy Father will preside from
February to April:
FEBRUARY
Monday
2: Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, 19th World Day of
Consecrated Life. At 5.30 p.m. in the Vatican Basilica, Mass with the
members of the Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Societies of
Apostolic Life.
Sunday
8: Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time. At 4 p.m., pastoral visit to the
Roman parish of “St. Michael the Archangel in Pietralata”.
Saturday
14: At 11 a.m. in the Vatican Basilica, Ordinary Public Consistory
for the creation of new cardinals and for several causes of
canonisation.
Sunday
15: Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time. At 10 a.m. in the Vatican
Basilica, Mass with newly-created cardinals.
Wednesday
18: Ash Wednesday. At 4.30 p.m., Basilica of St. Anselm, “Statio”
and penitential procession. At 5 p.m. at the Basilica of St. Sabina,
blessing and imposition of the ashes.
Sunday
22, First Sunday of Lent. Ariccia, beginning of spiritual exercises
for the Roman Curia.
Friday
27: Conclusion of spiritual exercises for the Roman Curia.
MARCH
Sunday
8: Third Sunday of Lent. At 4 p.m., pastoral visit to the Roman
parish of “Holy Mary Mother of the Redeemer”.
Friday
13: At 5 p.m. in the Vatican Basilica, penitential liturgy.
Saturday
21: pastoral visit to Naples-Pompeii.
Sunday
29: Palm Sunday and the Passion of the Lord. At 9.30 a.m. in St.
Peter's Square, blessing of the palms, procession and Mass.
APRIL
Thursday
2: Holy Thursday. At 9.30 a.m. in the Vatican Basilica, Chrism Mass.
Friday
3: Good Friday. At 5 p.m. in the Vatican Basilica, celebration of the
Passion of the Lord.
Friday
3: Good Friday. At 9.15 p.m., at the Colosseum, Via Crucis.
Saturday
4: Holy Saturday. At 8.30 p.m. in the Vatican Basilica, Easter Vigil.
Sunday
5: Easter Sunday. At 12 p.m., central balcony of the Vatican
Basilica, “Urbi et Orbi” blessing.
Sunday
12: Second Sunday of Easter, Divine Mercy Sunday. At 10 a.m. at the
Vatican Basilica, Mass for the faithful of Armenian rite.
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