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To view the bulletin, or to print your own copy, please click here.
http://wp1333.wp3-o1.pgservers.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Bulletin_March_30_2014.pdf
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[As a parish priest, and from my reading of today’s general audience with Pope Francis, I pray that I–along with all my brother deacons, priests and bishops–are more and more conformed to Jesus Christ, the High Priest as “a loving servant of His people”. Please keep each of us in your daily prayers. Finally, thanks to so many of my parishioners who encourage me, challenge me, and offer loving prayers for me: I have been greatly blessed here at the Church of St. Mary!]
Vatican City ( AsiaNews) – Bishops and priests are placed “at the head”, or in other words “at the service” of the community entrusted to them , that is their “family” and not their “property”. A bishop who is not in the service of the community does not do good, a priest who is not in the service of his community does no good, they are wrong”. “So let us help them continue to pray” and “pray for those who are in difficulty”.
The sacrament of Holy Orders was the focus of Pope Francis audience with 60 thousand people present in St Peter’s Square , where he was greeted by a fanfare from the trumpets of Italy’s famed military Bersaglieri troopers.
On a drizzly day – “I see that you are brave with this rain that wants to drive you away” – the Pope said that “there are sacraments which correspond to two specific vocations: Holy Orders and Matrimony. They constitute two major pathways through which the Christian can make his or her life a gift of love, following the example and in the name of Christ, and thus cooperate in the building of the Church”.
“Holy Orders, in its three grades of bishop, priest and deacon, is the sacrament of pastoral ministry. Jesus entrusted his Apostles with the care of his flock and in every age the ordained make present in the Christian community the one Shepherd who is Christ. Care for the flock of Jesus not with the power of human strength, one’s own power, but that of the Spirit, and according to his heart – the heart of Jesus – that is a heart of love. The bishop, priest and deacon must feed the Lord’s flock with love. If they do not do this with love, they are no use. It is in this sense, that the ministers, who are chosen and consecrated to this service, prolong the presence of Jesus in time. They do so with the power of the Holy Spirit in the name of God and with love”.
“Those who are ordained are placed at the head of the community. Yes, they are “at the head” but for Jesus this means authority in service, as he himself has shown and taught his disciples”. “A bishop who is not in the service of the community does not good. A priest, who is not at the service of his community, does no good. They are wrong”.
“Another characteristic of this sacramental union with Christ is passionate love for the Church. Think of that passage from the Letter to the Ephesians, where St Paul says that Christ “loved the Church and gave himself up for Her to make Her holy, purifying Her by washing of water through the Word and to present the church to himself in splendor, without blemish or wrinkle or any such thing. Pursuant to Holy Orders, the minister devotes himself entirely to his community and loves it with all his heart, it is his family. The bishop, the priest, love the church in their community and their love for it is strong. How? Just as Christ loves the Church. St. Paul himself says of marriage: the groom loves his wife as Christ loves the Church. It is a great mystery of love, this ministry and that of marriage, the two sacraments through which people usually go, as a sacrament, to the Lord”.
“The apostle Paul advises his disciple Timothy not to neglect, indeed, to rekindle the gift that is in him: the gift that was given to him by the laying on of hands. When one fails to nourish the ministry, the ministry of bishop, the priestly ministry with prayer, listening to the Word of God, and with the daily celebration of the Eucharist and also with an attendance of the Sacrament of Penance, one will inevitably lose sight of the true meaning of its service and the joy that comes from a deep communion with Jesus. A bishop who does not pray, the bishop who does not feel and hear the Word of God, who does not celebrate Mass every day, who does not go to confession regularly, and the same priest who does not do these things, in the long run lose their union with Jesus and become a mediocrity that is not good for the Church. This is why we need to help the bishops, the priests to pray, to listen to the Word of God which is their daily bread, to celebrate the Eucharist every day and to go to confession regularly. And this is so important because it goes towards the sanctification of bishops and priests”.
And finally, the Pope asked, “How does one become a priest? Where are the entrance tickets sold? It is an initiative that the Lord takes. The Lord calls: calling everyone who wants to become a priest, and perhaps there are some young people here who have felt that call in their hearts. The desire to become priests, the desire to serve others in the things that come from God. The desire to spend one’s entire life in service to catechize, baptize, forgive, celebrate the Eucharist to the sick … but, all of one’s life! If any of you have heard this in your heart, it is Jesus who put him there! Care for this invitation and pray that this will grow and bear fruit for the entire Church”.
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[This article was published by AsiaNews last May following a general audience presentation by Pope Francis. As I re-read it today, my mind grapples, too, with the issues raised before the Supreme Court of the United States of America and the Affordable Care Act and its requirements. How we reconcile our faith in the public square will be an ongoing challenge.]
Vatican City (AsiaNews) – You cannot be a “part-time” Christian, “at certain moments, circumstances, choices” ” faith must guide our lives, because the “truth that the Holy Spirit gives us always and totally involves our daily lives”. In an era marked by relativism, that “the truth lies in consensus,” Pope Francis reminds Christians that “Jesus is the Truth,” and the Holy Spirit He who “guides us on the path of knowledge of the truth”, to the “things of God. ”
80 thousand people were present for the Pope’s audience, among which, as has become customary, he made a lengthy tour of greeting, with people cheering, children to kiss and some gifts. O singular interest today, a cage with two white doves, which Francis released to the applause and jubilation of the crowd.
Francis dedicated his reflection “to the action that the Holy Spirit accomplishes in guiding the Church and each one of us to the Truth.” But “we live in an age rather skeptical of truth. Benedict XVI has spoken many times of relativism, that is, the tendency to believe that nothing is definitive, and think that the truth is given by consent or by what we want. The question arises: does “the” truth really exist? What is “the” truth? Can we know it? Can we find it? Here I am reminded of the question of the Roman procurator Pontius Pilate when Jesus reveals the profound meaning of his mission: “What is truth?” (Jn 18,37.38). Pilate does not understand that “the” Truth is in front of him, he cannot see in Jesus the face of the truth, which is the face of God yet, Jesus is just that: the Truth”.
“You cannot grab the truth as if it were an object, you encounter it. It is not a possession, is an encounter with a Person. But who helps us recognize that Jesus is “the” Word of truth, the only begotten Son of God the Father? St. Paul teaches that “no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor 12:3). It is the Holy Spirit, the gift of the Risen Christ, which helps us recognize the Truth. Jesus calls him the “Paraclete”, meaning “the one who comes to our aid,” who is by our side to support us in this journey of knowledge, and at the Last Supper, Jesus assures his disciples that the Holy Spirit will teach them all things , reminding them of his words (cf. Jn 14:26)”.
“What is then the action of the Holy Spirit in our lives and in the life of the Church to guide us to the truth? First of all, remind and imprint on the hearts of believers the words that Jesus said, and precisely through these words, God’s law – as the prophets of the Old Testament had announced – is inscribed in our hearts and becomes within us a principle of evaluation in our choices and of guidance in our daily actions, it becomes a principle of life”.
“The Holy Spirit, then, as Jesus promises, guides us “into all truth” (Jn 16:13) he leads us not only to an encounter with Jesus, the fullness of Truth, but guides us “into” the Truth, that is, he helps us enter into a deeper communion with Jesus himself, gifting us knowledge of the things of God. We cannot achieve this on our own strengths. If God does not enlighten us interiorly, our being Christians will be superficial”.
“Let’s ask ourselves: are we open to the Holy Spirit, do I pray to him to enlighten me, to make me more sensitive to the things of God? And this is a prayer we need to pray every day, every day: Holy Spirit may my heart be open to the Word of God, may my heart be open to good, may my heart be open to the beauty of God, every day. But I would like to ask a question to all of you: How many of you pray every day to the Holy Spirit? Eh, a few of you I bet, eh! Well, a few, few, a few, but we realize this wish of Jesus, pray every day for the Holy Spirit to open our hearts to Jesus!”.
“Do not be a ‘part-time” Christian, at certain moments, in certain circumstances, in certain choices, be Christian at all times! The truth of Christ, which the Holy Spirit teaches us and gives us, always and forever, involves our daily lives. Let us invoke him more often, to guide us on the path of Christ’s disciples Let us invoke the Holy Spirit everyday! Thus the Spirit will bring us closer to Jesus Christ. Thank you”.
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This weekend’s insert: Financial Issues – March 2014
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Imagine what your life would be like if you awoke tomorrow morning and found that there was no water coming into your home. What would you do? Probably you'd get a few gallons of bottled water, and feel a bit grungy and inconvenienced until the water came back on. Other than that, things would really be OK. But what if the water never came back on? And what if the stores ran out of bottled water? What if the nearest drainage ditch became the only place we could get any water at all? … Help The Thirsty