ZENIT from Roswell, Georgia, United States "Pope: ‘Young People, You Have Restlessness?’ ‘Jesus Is Answer’..." for Monday, 18 July 2016Like
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"Pope: ‘Young People, You Have Restlessness?’ ‘Jesus Is Answer’" by ZENIT Staff
Young people have a restlessness in their hearts and Jesus is the answer.
According to Vatican Radio, Pope Francis stressed this in greetings he sent to the ‘Together 16’ Evangelical Christian gathering which took place on Saturday in Washington, DC. For the event, thousands of people filled the National Mall.
Restlessness
In a video-message released before the event, the Holy Father addressed what will alleviate young people’s “restlessness.”
“Young men and women,” Francis said in the message, “I know there is something in your heart that moves you. And that makes you restless, because a young person who is not restless is an old person.”
“And you have youthfulness, and youthfulness breeds restlessness. What is your restlessness? Do you know what it is or do you not know? Do you want to know what your restlessness is?” the Pontiff continued, adding, “I invite you to … to find the One who can give you an answer to your restlessness.”
Answer … He waits
“And I assure you, you will not be frustrated. God does not leave anyone disillusioned. Jesus is waiting for you.”
Pope Francis concluded, reminding them, “He is the One who planted the seeds of restlessness in your heart. Give it a try! You don’t have anything to lose! Try it. Then you can tell me. Thank you!”
"FORUM: The Patron Saints of World Youth Day 2016 in Krakow" by Thomas Rosica
https://youtu.be/FFZXD10m_vU
At the canonization mass for Popes John XXIII and John Paul II, Pope Francis spoke of the latter with these words: “In his own service to the People of God, John Paul II was the pope of the family. We are now in the process of journeying with families towards the Synod on the family. It is a journey which, from his place in heaven, John Paul II guides and sustains.” Karol Wojtyla, marked at an early age by suffering and loss in his own family, would grow up to be a priest, Bishop of Krakow, the Bishop of Rome, a hero and saint for the ages. Throughout his pastoral ministry, he taught the world about the dignity, beauty and sacredness of marriage and family life.
Thank you John Paul II
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tN8SflZ0uR4
Thank You John Paul II is a Salt + Light Television production that pays tribute to a man who touched the hearts of millions of people. John Paul II will forever be remembered for his courageous bridge-building efforts between nations and religions around the world, and will always hold a special place in the hearts of young people. Additional programming may be found at www.saltandlighttv.org
St. Faustina Kowalska,
Patron Saint of World Youth Day 2016 in Krakow
Pope John Paul II’s interest in Divine Mercy goes back to the days of his youth in Krakow when Karol Wojtyla was an eyewitness to so much evil and suffering during World War II in occupied Poland. He witnessed the round ups of many people who were sent to concentration camps and slave labor. In his hometown of Wadowice, he had many Jewish friends who would later die in the Holocaust. During that time of terror and fear, Karol Wojtyla decided to enter Cardinal Sapieha’s clandestine seminary in Krakow. He experienced the need for God’s mercy and humanity’s need to be merciful to one another. While in the seminary, he met another seminarian, Andrew Deskur (who would later become Cardinal), who introduced Karol to the message of the Divine Mercy, as revealed to the Polish mystic nun, St. Maria Faustina Kowalska, who died at the age of 33 in 1938.
The Pope of Divine Mercy
At the beginning of his pontificate in 1981, Pope John Paul II wrote an entire encyclical dedicated to Divine Mercy – “Dives in Misericordia” (Rich in Mercy) illustrating that the heart of the mission of Jesus Christ was to reveal the merciful love of the Father. In 1993 when Pope John Paul II beatified Sr. Faustina Kowalska, he stated in the homily for her beatification mass: “Her mission continues and is yielding astonishing fruit. It is truly marvelous how her devotion to the merciful Jesus is spreading in our contemporary world, and gaining so many human hearts!”
Four years later in 1997, the Holy Father visited Blessed Faustina’s tomb in Lagiewniki, Poland, and preached powerful words: “There is nothing that man needs more than Divine Mercy…. From here went out the message of Mercy that Christ Himself chose to pass on to our generation through Blessed Faustina.”
In the Jubilee year 2000, Pope John Paul II canonized Sr. Faustina – making her the first canonized saint of the new millennium – and established “Divine Mercy Sunday” as a special title for the SecondSunday of Easter for the universal Church. Pope John Paul II spoke these words in the homily: “Jesus shows His hands and His side [to the Apostles]. He points, that is, to the wounds of the Passion, especially the wound in His Heart, the source from which flows the great wave of mercy poured out on humanity.”
One year later, in his homily for Divine Mercy Sunday in 2001, the Pope called the message of mercy entrusted to St. Faustina: “The appropriate and incisive answer that God wanted to offer to the questions and expectations of human beings in our time, marked by terrible tragedies…. Divine Mercy! This is the Easter gift that the Church receives from the risen Christ and offers to humanity at the dawn of the third millennium.”
Again in Lagiewniki, Poland in 2002, at the dedication of the new Shrine of Divine Mercy, the Holy Father consecrated the whole world to Divine Mercy, saying: “I do so with the burning desire that the message of God’s merciful love, proclaimed here through St. Faustina, may be made known to all the peoples of the earth, and fill their hearts with hope.”
In his Regina Caeli address of April 23, 2006, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI said: “The mystery of God’s merciful love was at the centre of the pontificate of my venerated predecessor.” Now that same Providence has desired that this year, on Divine Mercy Sunday, three years after he was beatified on this same feast, Pope John Paul II, the great apostle and ambassador of Divine Mercy, will be proclaimed a saint.
Mercy is our hallmark
We must ask ourselves: what is new about this message of Divine Mercy? Why did Pope John Paul II insist so much on this aspect of God’s love in our time? Is this not the same devotion as that of the Sacred Heart of Jesus? Mercy is an important Christian virtue, much different from justice and retribution. While recognizing the real pain of injury and the rationale for the justification of punishment, mercy takes a different approach in redressing the injury. Mercy strives to radically change the condition and the soul of the perpetrator to resist doing evil, often by revealing love and one’s true beauty. If any punishment is enforced, it must be for salvation, not for vengeance or retribution. This is very messy business in our day and a very complex message… but it is the only way if we wish to go forward and be leaven for the world today; if we truly wish to be salt and light in a culture that has lost the flavor of the Gospel and the light of Christ.
Where hatred and the thirst for revenge dominate, where war brings suffering and death to the innocent, abuse has destroyed countless innocent lives, the grace of mercy is needed in order to settle human minds and hearts and to bring about healing and peace. Wherever respect for human life and dignity are lacking, there is need of God’s merciful love, in whose light we see the inexpressible value of every human being. Mercy is needed to insure that every injustice in the world will come to an end. The message of mercy is that God loves us – all of us – no matter how great our sins. God’s mercy is greater than our sins, so that we will call upon Him with trust, receive His mercy, and let it flow through us to others. Essentially, mercy means the understanding of weakness, the capacity to forgive.
Apostle of Divine Mercy
Throughout his priestly and Episcopal ministry, and especially during his entire Pontificate, Pope John Paul II preached God’s mercy, wrote about it, and most of all lived it. He offered forgiveness to the man who was destined to kill him in St. Peter’s Square. The Pope who witnessed the scandal of divisions among Christians and the atrocities against the Jewish people as he grew up did everything in his power to heal the wounds caused by the historic conflicts between Catholics and other Christian churches, and especially with the Jewish people.
I shall never forget the stirring words of St. John Paul II spoke at the concluding mass of World Youth Day at Downsview Park in Toronto on July 28, 2002. These words keep us focused on the importance and necessity of mercy in the Church today.
“…At difficult moments in the Church’s life, the pursuit of holiness becomes even more urgent. And holiness is not a question of age; it is a matter of living in the Holy Spirit…”
“…Do not let that hope die! Stake your lives on it! We are not the sum of our weaknesses and failures; we are the sum of the Father’s love for us and our real capacity to become the image of his Son.”
Let us pray with joy and gratitude:
O God, who are rich in mercy and who willed that Saint John Paul II
should preside as Pope over your universal Church,
grant, we pray, that instructed by his teaching,
we may open our hearts to the saving grace of Christ,
the sole Redeemer of mankind.
Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
One God forever and ever. Amen.
"Pope Decries Nice Attack During Angelus" by ZENIT Staff
“I am close to each family and the entire French nation which is in mourning.”
Pope Francis said this to the faithful in St. Peter’s Square Sunday during his Angelus address, as he reflected on the horrific terrorist attack.
During a Bastille Day celebration Thursday evening, in the French city of Nice, a terrorist of Franco-Tunisian descent drove a truck into the crowds that had been watching. The attack claimed 84 lives, and wounded dozens, leaving at least 15 -18 in critical condition. After traveling two kilometers, eventually the driver was killed in a shootout with the police
After saying the midday prayer, the Pope said, “The pain of the massacre Thursday evening in Nice, in which many innocent lives were ‘mowed down,’ including many children, is alive in our hearts.”
“May God, the good Father, welcome all the victims into His peace, sustain the injured and comfort their families; May He dissolve every project of terror and death, so that man no longer dares to spill his brother’s blood.”
The Pope offered a “fatherly and brotherly embrace” to all the inhabitants of Nice and the whole French nation, and called on those present to pray in silence and then join him in saying a Hail Mary.
***
On ZENIT’s Web page:
Full Text: https://zenit.org/articles/popes-appeals-greetings-after-angelus-prayer/
Pope Sends Telegram After Nice Attack: https://zenit.org/articles/pope-francis-sends-telegram-for-tragedy-in-nice/
"Pope’s Appeals, Greetings After Angelus" by ZENIT Staff
Below is a ZENIT translation of Pope Francis’ remarks after the Angelus prayer Sunday at noon to the faithful in St. Peter’s Square:
****
After the Angelus:
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The pain of the massacre Thursday evening in Nice, in which many innocent lives were ‘mowed down,’ including many children, is alive in our hearts. I am close to each family and the entire French nation in mourning. May God, the good Father, welcome all the victims into His peace, sustain the injured and comfort their families; May He dissolve every project of terror and death, so that man no longer dares to spill his brother’s blood. A fatherly and brotherly embrace to all the inhabitants of Nice and the whole French nation. And now, all together, please, thinking about this massacre, its victims, their families, let us pray in silence ….
Ave Maria …
I greet with affection all of you, the faithful of Rome and of various countries. In particular, I greet those from Ireland, especially those pilgrims from the Dioceses of Armagh and Derry, and the candidates for the Permanent Diaconate in the Diocese of Elphin, with their wives.
I greet the rector and students of their second year of the ‘San Pio X’ Pontifical Theological Seminary Calabro; the young people of Spinadesco (Diocese of Cremona); the youth of the Pastoral Community of the Holy Apostles in Milan; the altar servers of Postioma and Porcellengo (Diocese of Treviso). And I see there are many brave Chinese brothers: a big hello to you, Chinese people!
I wish you all a good Sunday. Please do not forget to pray for me. Good lunch and goodbye.[Original text: Italian] [Translation by Deborah Castellano Lubov]
"Bishop of Baton Rouge’s Statement on Sunday’s Shooting" by ZENIT Staff
The American Diocese of Baton Rouge will be having a diocesan-wide week of prayer and fasting, as they reflect on the shootings in the city yesterday and pray for peace.
Bishop Robert Muench of Baton Rouge noted this in a statement he issued following yesterday’s shootings in the city, reminded the grieving how when our faith is shaken, our answer is Jesus, reported Vatican Radio.
“Prayer is a powerful path to follow when tragedy happens, but even the most devout of us sometime question: “What good could come of this?” he said, noting, “Only the Word of God has the answer to the questions that shake our faith: The answer is our Lord Jesus Christ. In Jesus, hope ultimately triumphs over despair; love ultimately triumphs over hate; and resurrection ultimately triumphs over death.”
Marking the second attack on law enforcement in the country in less than a two week window, yesterday’s shootings claimed three police officers lives and wounded three others.
In Dallas, Texas 0n July 7, a gunman shot and killed five policemen and wounded nine others, along with two civilians. Some speculate there could be a link between yesterday’s bloodshed and unrest over the police killings of two black men under questionable circumstances earlier this month – on July 5, Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, and on July 6, Philando Castile, near St. Paul, Minnesota.
Below is the full text of Bishop Muench’s statement, provided by Vatican Radio:
***
Words cannot express the emotions we feel for those who have lost loved ones in the tragic events of this day. Their entire lives have been unexpectedly and terribly turned upside down. In visiting this afternoon with two of the families affected by these shootings, Fr. Tom Ranzino and I shared prayer and support in the midst of their shock, horror and grief. Prayer is a powerful path to follow when tragedy happens, but even the most devout of us sometime question: “What good could come of this?” Only the Word of God has the answer to the questions that shake our faith: The answer is our Lord Jesus Christ. In Jesus, hope ultimately triumphs over despair; love ultimately triumphs over hate; and resurrection ultimately triumphs over death. Standing firmly on the pillars of these eternal truths, we look to his words of promise in the Sermon on the Mount, and we recall two beatitudes that speak to the hope we should hold, especially today: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God,” and “Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Mt. 5: 9, 4). We renew our call for a diocesan-wide week of prayer and fasting as we reflect on the events of the last several days, and as we work toward a lasting peace in our communities.[Courtesy of Vatican Radio]
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