Memories and Images: On Her Feast Day, a Look at Moments With Mother Teresa of Calcutta... from ZENIT in Roswell, Georgia, United States for Monday, 5 September 2016

Memories and Images: On Her Feast Day, a Look at Moments With Mother Teresa of Calcutta... from ZENIT in Roswell, Georgia, United States for Monday, 5 September 2016
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Memories and Images: On Her Feast Day, a Look at Moments With Mother Teresa of Calcutta by Kathleen Naab
Portrait photographer Michael Collopy has worked with many famous people, but when he recalls his work photographing Mother Teresa, he says, “I have never met anyone who could compare to the spiritual depth of character and selfless love that Mother displayed over the course of my 15 years of knowing her.”
A painting of one of Michael Collopy’s photographs in his book Works of Love Are Works of Peace has been chosen to be the official sainthood image of Mother Teresa. The image will be revealed at the canonization on Sunday, and then it will be in the homes of the Missionaries of Charity worldwide.
Another one of Collopy’s photographs from Works of Love Are Works of Peace is being used for both the official Vatican Saint Teresa stamp, as well as for the recent cover of Time magazine.
Works of Love Are Works of Peace is now available in paperback. It was more than four years in the making and published with the cooperation of Mother Teresa.
The book has more than 180 fine art quality tri-tone photographs, along with spiritual counsel from Mother Teresa. Also included with Mother Teresa’s special permission, is the contents of the Missionaries of Charity daily prayer book as well as a personal letter on the interior life written by Mother Teresa to her entire order. Though meant originally as an instruction to those in her order, this “I Thirst” letter has become a source of spiritual light and encouragement, drawing innumerable hearts and souls closer to God.
Zenit asked Collopy to share some of his photos with us, as well as his reflections on his time with Mother Teresa.

“Mother had a very different and special light and a magnetic, personable charisma. She was truly a Mother to all of us, filled with unconditional, selfless love.”

“She was joyful and wise and also had a very quick wit and sense of humor. She was also quite normal in that she liked chocolate, ice cream and sweets. Having said that, Mother was asked quite a lot about what it was like to be a saint and she always responded by saying that Being a Saint wasn’t the luxury of a few but a simple duty for each one of us. That is what we were all created for: to love and to be loved and to share the joy of loving with each person we come into contact with.”

“One day I was taken back by witnessing the myriad of emotions of people coming up to Mother. Some would want a blessing or something from her or to pour out their inner most confessions to her. When we got back into the car, I asked Mother: Mother you don’t seem to judge anyone? Mother very quickly told me: ‘I never judge anyone because it doesn’t allow me the time to love them.’
Mother never seemed to get tired or overwhelmed with the amount of poverty in the world. She often said: ‘Had I not picked up the first person in Calcutta, I would never had picked up 42,000.’ She said: ‘I can only love one person at a time and I can only serve one person at a time.’ So, that is how she went about doing her work, one by one.”

“Some of my most favorite moments with Mother were without the camera. These were times when Mother motioned over to me to kneel right next to her in the chapel at mass and share her prayer book and missal with me. I remember listening intently to her deep speaking voice and her very high sweet singing voice. Also, witnessing her feed our oldest son the bottle when he was a baby. Driving her around in my car to her appointments and asking her deep questions while having her in the front seat next to me. Some of the more personal moments, such as Mother giving me spiritual guidance or teaching me simple prayers to help me better navigate some of the obstacles of life. Perhaps the greatest lesson I learned from Mother was just how much God loves each one of us, intimately and tenderly. Each one carved in the palm of God’s hands, each one of us is precious to him.”

“There was one night that Mother walked me to the door after an exhausting day, in her novitiate house in San Francisco. The chapel is right to the left of the front door. As we walked towards the door. She paused and genuflected and looked up at the large cross of Jesus crucified above and behind the altar with the large words: ‘I Thirst’ printed next to it. As she looked up at the cross Mother said to me:’Look at him, he is so innocent and pure.’ At this point I looked at Mother’s face. She then said: ‘But his head is bent to kiss you, and his arms are outstretched to hold you, and his heart is open to enclose your heart with his.’ ‘That is the great love that God has for each of us.'”[This photo essay was originally printed in Zenit in the lead-up to Mother Teresa’s canonization]
US Bishops to Govt: Don’t Fund Human-Animal Chimera Research by ZENIT Staff

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) submitted comments September 2 to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Science Policy on the proposed authorization of federally-funded human/animal chimera research. Comments objecting to that proposal were submitted by Anthony Picarello, USCCB associate general secretary and general counsel, and Michael Moses, associate general counsel.
Anyone can join the bishops in submitting comments to the NIH; the deadline is Sept. 6. Make comments here: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/rfi/rfi.cfm?ID=57 or here (with template): https://www.humanlifeactioncenter.org/take-action?vvsrc=%2fcampaigns
The bishops’ comments outlined the USCCB’s objections to the newly-proposed research guidelines: “the bottom line is that the Federal government will begin expending taxpayer dollars on the creation and manipulation of new beings whose very existence blurs the line between humanity and animals such as mice and rats. In doing so, the government is ignoring the fact that federally funded research of this kind is prohibited by Federal statute and is also grossly unethical.”
Human/animal chimera research results in “beings who do not fully belong to either the human race or the host animal species.”
“Herein lies the key moral problem involved in this proposal, beyond the already grave problem of exploiting human embryos as cell factories for research,” they wrote. “For if one cannot tell to what extent, if any, the resulting organism may have human status or characteristics, it will be impossible to determine what one’s moral obligations may be regarding that organism.”
The comments noted that Catholic morality allows for “the respectful use of animals in research that can benefit humanity. But because of the unique dignity of the human person, there are limits to what can morally be done….”
They listed the ways in which chimera research violates ethical principles: “It relies on the destruction of human embryos; it contemplates producing entities with partly or wholly human brains (without any additional level of scrutiny in the case of rodents); and it allows for producing living entities who have human gametes (though researchers will be told to take precautions so these entities do not engage in ‘breeding’).”
“[T]he dignity and inviolability of human life at every stage of development is a foundational principle of any truly civilized society,” they wrote. “The core ethical norms protecting human research subjects, affirmed in the Nuremberg Code and many subsequent documents, reflect this principle. The right not to be subjected to harmful experimentation without one’s express and informed consent is an innate human right….”
The full text of the comment letter is available at: www.usccb.org/about/general-counsel/rulemaking/upload/Comments-on-Human-Animal-Chimera-Research-Sept-16.pdf.
Video for Pope’s September Prayer Intentions Shows Opportunity for More Human Society by Kathleen Naab

In this Jubilee Year of Mercy, Pope Francis has been releasing video messages to illustrate his monthly prayer intentions, announced by the Apostleship of Prayer.
Today, the September video was released and is available here.
The video focuses on changes in society, which are also an opportunity to create a “more human” world.
The Holy Father’s universal prayer intention for September is: “That each may contribute to the common good and to the building of a society that places the human person at the centre.”
His intention for evangelisation is: “That by participating in the Sacraments and meditating on Scripture, Christians may become more aware of their mission to evangelize.”
The text of the video message reads:
“Humanity is experiencing a crisis that is not only economic and financial, but is also ecological, educational, moral, and human.[1] When we talk about crisis, we talk about dangers, but also opportunities. What is the opportunity? Being solidarity.
“Come, help me.
“That each may contribute to the common good and to the building of a society that places the human person at the center.[2]”
[1] Address of Holy Father Francis, Lecture Hall of the Pontifical Theological Faculty of Sardinia, Cagliari, Sunday, 22 September 2013. Paragraph 4.
[2] Universal Prayer Intention of the Holy Father entrusted to the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network (Apostleship of Prayer), September 2016.
http://apostleshipofprayer.org/the-pope-video
St. Teresa Was a ‘Pencil in God’s Hand’ – But How Much He Was Able to Write With This ‘Little Pencil!’ by ZENIT Staff

On this first feast day of St. Teresa of Calcutta, the Pope’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, celebrated Mass in St. Peter’s Square this morning to give thanks for her canonization on Sunday. The canonization was celebrated by Pope Francis and was attended by thousands of pilgrims from all over the world including many men and women religious of the order she founded, the Missionaries of Charity.
“Mother Teresa liked to define herself as ‘a pencil in the hand of the Lord’. But how many poems of charity, compassion, comfort and joy this little pencil was able to write! Poems of love and tenderness for the poorest of the poor, to whom she consecrated her existence”, said the Cardinal in his homily.
The recently proclaimed saint “opened eyes to suffering, and embraced it with a gaze of compassion. All her being was challenged and moved by this encounter, which in a certain sense pierced her heart, following Jesus’ example, which was moved by the suffering of the human creature, incapable of getting up again alone”. The saint of the slums of Calcutta discovered in the face of Christ Who made Himself poor for us, to enrich us with His poverty, and responded to His boundless love with an immense love for the poor.
But Mother Teresa also knew that one of the most terrible forms of poverty consists in the awareness of being unloved, unwanted and despised. “A form of poverty present even in those countries and families that are less poor, even in people belonging to categories that have access to means and opportunities, but which experience the interior emptiness of having lost meaning and direction in life, or who are violently struck by the desolation of broken bonds, of the harshness of loneliness, of the feeling of being forgotten by all or of not being of use to anyone”.
This led her to identify unborn children whose very existence is threatened as “the poorest of the poor”. “Indeed”, continued Cardinal Parolin, “each one of them depends, more than any other human being, on the love and care of the mother and the protection of society. The unborn child has nothing of his own: all his hopes and needs are in the hands of others. She therefore bravely defended the life of the unborn, with the frankness of word and linearity of action that are the luminous sign of the presence of the Prophets and the Saints, who kneel before none other than the Almighty, who have inner freedom as they have inner strength, and do not bow before the fashions or idols of the moment, but are reflected in consciousness enlightened by the sun of the Gospel”.
“In her, we discover that happy and inseparable combination of the heroic exercise of charity and clarity in the proclamation of truth; we see constant industriousness, nurtured by the profundity of contemplation, the mystery of good performed in humility and tirelessly, the fruit of a love that ‘hurts’”.
“In this respect”, the Secretary of State remarked, “she affirmed in her famous address upon receiving the Nobel Prize in Oslo on 11 December 1979, that ‘it is very important for us to realise that love, to be true, has to hurt. It hurt Jesus to love us, it hurt him’. And, giving thanks to present and future benefactors, she said, ‘I don’t want you to give to me from your abundance, I want that you give to me until it hurts’”.
“I believe that these words are like a threshold and, once we cross it, we enter into the abyss that surrounds the life of the Saint, in those heights and those depths that are difficult to explore as they closely follow the sufferings of Christ, His unconditional gift of love and the deep wounds that He had to endure”, observed Cardinal Parolin.
“Another of the seven words pronounced by Jesus during His agony on the cross, she wanted to be written in English in every house of her Congregation, beside the Crucifix: ‘I thirst’. Thirst for fresh, clean water; thirst of souls to console and redeem from their ugliness, to become beautiful and pleasing to the eyes of God; thirst for God, for His living and luminous presence. ‘I thirst’: this is the thirst that burned in Mother Teresa, her cross and her exaltation, her torment and her glory”.
“When Mother Teresa left this earth for Heaven, on 5 September 1997, for several long minutes Calcutta was without light”, he said. “On this earth, she was a transparent sign that pointed to Heaven. On the day of her death Heaven wished to offer a seal to her life and to communicate to us that a new light had been lit above us. Now, following the ‘official’ recognition of her sainthood, it shines even more brightly. May this light, that is the everlasting light of the Gospel, continue to illuminate our earthly pilgrimage and the paths of this difficult world”.
This Labor Day, Replace Fear With a Fuller Vision by ZENIT Staff

The US bishops released their annual Labor Day statement last month. Labor Day is celebrated in the United States today.
Here is the statement:
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This Labor Day, we draw our attention to our sisters and brothers who face twin crises—deep trials in both the world of work and the state of the family. These challenging times can pull us toward despair and all the many dangers that come with it. Into this reality, the Church shares a word of hope, directing hearts and minds to the dignity of each human person and the sanctity of work itself, which is given by God. She seeks to replace desperation and isolation with human concern and true solidarity, reaffirming the trust in a good and gracious God who knows what we need before we ask him (Mt. 6:8).
A World of Work in Disarray
We behold signs that have become too familiar in the years following the Great Recession: stagnant wages, industry leaving towns and cities behind, and the sharp decline in the rate of private-sector organized labor, which fell by more than two-thirds between 1973 and 2009 down to 7%. Millions of families still find themselves living in poverty, unable to work their way out. Poverty rates among children are alarmingly high, with almost 40 percent of American children spending at least one year in poverty before they turn eighteen. Although this reality is felt nation-wide, this year new research has emerged showing the acute pain of middle and rural America in the wake of the departure of industry. Once the center of labor and the promise of family-sustaining wages, research shows these communities collapsing today, substance abuse on the rise, and an increase in the number of broken families.
Family in Crisis
The family is bent under the weight of these economic pressures and related cultural problems. Pope Francis, at the conclusion of his address to Congress last September, spoke of the consequences for families:
How essential the family has been to the building of this country! And how worthy it remains of our support and encouragement! . . . In particular, I would like to call attention to those family members who are the most vulnerable, the young. For many of them, a future filled with countless possibilities beckons, yet so many others seem disoriented and aimless, trapped in a hopeless maze of violence, abuse and despair. Their problems are our problems. We cannot avoid them. We need to face them together, to talk about them and to seek effective solutions rather than getting bogged down in discussions. At the risk of oversimplifying, we might say that we live in a culture which pressures young people not to start a family, because they lack possibilities for the future. Yet this same culture presents others with so many options that they too are dissuaded from starting a family.1
Economic and political forces have led to increasingly lowered economic prospects for Americans without access to higher education, which is having a direct impact on family health and stability. For example, over half of parents between the ages of 26 and 31 now have children outside of a marriage, and research shows a major factor is the lack of middle-skill jobs – careers by which someone can sustain a family above the poverty line without a college degree – in regions with high income inequality. Divorce rates and the rate of single-parent households break down along similar educational and economic lines. Financial concerns and breakdowns in family life can lead to a sense of hopelessness and despair. The Rust Belt region now appears to have the highest concentration in the nation of drug-related deaths, including from overdoses of heroin and prescription drugs.
The Church weeps with all of these families, with these children, whose homes and worlds are broken. As Pope Francis has said: “There are many unjust situations, but we know that God is suffering with us, experiencing them at our side. He does not abandon us. Jesus not only wanted to show solidarity with every person. He not only wanted everyone to experience his companionship, his help, his love. He identified with all those who suffer, who weep, who suffer any kind of injustice. He says this clearly: ‘I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink; I was a stranger and you welcomed me.’ (Mt. 25:35).”2
“So That They May All Be One” – John 17:21
When we begin to look for answers to these realities, we gain less confidence from many of our political leaders these days. Instead of dialogue and constructive solutions that bring people together, we see increasing efforts to divide as a means to gain support. But more divisions are never the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:19-21). When our leaders ought to be calling us toward a vision of the common good that lifts the human spirit and seeks to soothe our tendencies toward fear, we find our insecurities exploited as a means to further partisan agendas. Our leaders must never use anxiety as a means to manipulate persons in desperate situations, or to pit one group of persons against another for political gain. For our dynamics to change, we must replace fear with a fuller vision that can be powerfully supported by our faith.
The Good News is Still Good

Jesus said: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light” (Mt. 11:28-30). Let us begin by going to the Lord, laying our burdens at the foot of His cross and giving over our hearts that we might find rest.
Pope Francis paints a picture of a lasting answer to the growing isolation and desperation that we see all around us. To counter hopelessness, he tells us that the Christian community gets involved “by word and deed in people’s daily lives; it bridges distances . . . and it embraces human life, touching the suffering flesh of Christ in others.”3 In the face of endless, hectic activity and self-concern, the Church “is familiar with patient expectation and apostolic endurance,” as well as “patience and disregard for constraints of time.”4 The kind of encounter that we offer can be transformative, fill others with a sense of their God-given dignity, and help them to know they are not alone in their struggles. The Church’s history is filled with communities that took seriously the call to be their “brother’s keeper” (Gen. 4:9), faced challenges together, and lifted up the “cry of the poor” (Psalm 34:7). For those who feel left behind today, know that the Church wants to walk with you, in the company of the God who formed your “inmost being” and who knows that you are “wonderfully made.” (Psalm 139:13-14).
Dignified work is at the heart of our efforts because we draw insight into who we are as human beings from it. Saint John Paul II reminded us that human labor is an essential key to understanding our social relationships, vital to family formation and the building up of community according to our God-given dignity. He wrote “. . . man’s life is built up every day from work, from work it derives its specific dignity.”5 We know work has dignity because Jesus “devoted most of the years of his life on earth to manual work at the carpenter’s bench. This circumstance constitutes in itself the most eloquent ‘Gospel of work,’ showing that the basis for determining the value of human work is not primarily the kind of work being done but the fact that the one who is doing it is a person.”6 Poverty therefore appears “as a result of the violation of the dignity of human work: either because the opportunities for human work are limited as a result of the scourge of unemployment, or because a low value is put on work and the rights that flow from it, especially the right to a just wage and to the personal security of the worker and his or her family.”7
In our call to rebuild community on a firmer foundation, we must rely upon the sister principles of solidarity and subsidiarity. Solidarity recognizes that each of us is connected, and that we all have the responsibility to care for one another, particularly those who are poor and vulnerable. The principle of subsidiarity recognizes that issues facing human beings should be addressed at the appropriate level of society with the capacity to do so, and often in concert with others.
The first response, then, is local, to look to our neighbors in need, our brothers and sisters who may be without sufficient work for their families, and offer them help. That help may take the form of food, money, counsel, friendship, spiritual support or other forms of love and kindness. We ought to expect this kind of engagement from Christians in the midst of our difficulties, and we should pray to find ways to provide it as members of the Church. If you are an employer, you are called to respect the dignity of your workers through a just wage and working conditions that allow for a secure family life.
As we engage with our neighbors and our communities, we quickly find ways to deepen solidarity in a broader way, and to act on the structures and policies that impact meaningful work and family stability. The mystical body of Christ is alive across our nation and world, and our response in Christ looks to our larger society as well. “Love for society and commitment to the common good are outstanding expressions of a charity which affects not only relationships between individuals but also ‘macro-relationships, social, economic and political ones.'”8 Simply put, we must advocate for jobs and wages that truly provide a dignified life for individuals and their families, and for working conditions that are safe and allow for a full flourishing of life outside of the workplace. Unions and worker associations, while imperfect, remain an essential part of the effort, and people of faith and goodwill can be powerful leaven to ensure that these groups, so important in society, continue to keep human dignity at the heart of their efforts.
As the fruits of solidarity and our care for one another increase, as we begin to make real impacts toward policies that help individuals begin stable families and live in accord with their dignity, the tired paradigm that fuels our national politics will be challenged. As Pope Francis has written “[e]very economic and political theory or action must set about providing each inhabitant of the planet with the minimum wherewithal to live in dignity and freedom, with the possibility of supporting a family, educating children, praising God and developing one’s own human potential.”9 With time, we will begin to restore a sense of hope and lasting change that places our economic and political systems at the service of the human person once more.
Let us always remember in these difficult times the Lord’s offer of “rest” for “all you who labor and are burdened.” As Pope Francis writes, the Sabbath Day “proclaims ‘man’s eternal rest in God.'”10 As we advocate for all who are struggling to find sufficient work that honors their dignity, we should also affirm in society the need of all people to rest, and finally to “rest in God.” In times of restlessness and discouragement, let us recall the beautiful prayer of St. Augustine, who wrote: “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”
There is much to be done! Let us go forth with the hopeful expectation of the Psalmist:
Fill us at daybreak with your kindness,
that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days.
And may the gracious care of the LORD our God be ours;
prosper the work of our hands for us!
Prosper the work of our hands! (Psalm 90:14-17)
1 Pope Francis, Address to U.S. Congress, September 24, 2015.
2 Pope Francis, Address to St. Patrick in the City, Washington, DC, September 24, 2015.
3 Evangelii Gaudium, no. 24.
4 Ibid.
5 Laborem Exercens, no. 1.
6 Laborem Exercens, no. 6.
7 Laborem Exercens, no. 8.
8 Laudato Si, no. 231, quoting Caritas in Veritate, no. 2.
9 Pope Francis, Letter to H.E. Mr David Cameron, British Prime Minister, on the Occasion of the G8 Meeting (17-18 June 2013)
10 Laudato Si, no. 237, quoting Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2175.
Pope Recalls Nun Killed by Robbers in Haiti by ZENIT Staff

After the Mass of the canonization of Mother Teresa on Sunday, Pope Francis prayed the midday Angelus, remembering in his address following the prayer a Spanish missionary sister who was murdered last week in Haiti.
“I would like to remember how much you serve others in difficult and risky environments,” the Pope said to religious and volunteers in Rome for the canonization. “I am thinking especially of so many religious who give their lives unsparingly. We pray especially for the Spanish missionary nun, Sister Isabel [Sister Isabel Sola Macas], who was killed two days ago in the capital of Haiti, a country so tormented, for which I pray for an end to such acts of violence and for greater security for all. We also remember other sisters that recently have experienced violence in other countries.”
Sister Isabel, 51, was a missionary from Barcelona, Spain who devoted her life to helping the poor of Haiti, and creating opportunities to give them a better future.
Armed robbers shot the nun twice at point blank range in the chest. A Haitian woman who was her passanger was also shot twice in the chest and taken to hospital, Vatican Radio reported.
The gunmen were after her purse.
Sister Isabel had worked as a nurse, helped build houses, created a workship for prosthetic limbs for amputees of Haiti`s 2010 earthquake. She was also instrumental in helping to build a Vocational School to teach trades, so the poor so could have the dignity of jobs and the realized hope of a real future.
Related: 2 Nuns Were Killed Last Month by Robbers in Mississippi
Pope Tells Volunteers to ‘Knock at the Tabernacle Door’ by ZENIT Staff

“You are among the most precious things the Church has, you who every day, often silently and unassumingly, give shape and visibility to mercy. You express one of the most noble desires of the human heart, making a suffering person feel loved,” Pope Francis said Saturday to the tens of thousands of participants in the Jubilee of Volunteers gathered in St. Peter’s Square.
The Holy Father’s address to the volunteers and charity workers was preceded by a Bible readings, hymns, music of various types, and the testimonies of volunteers, including a Syrian refugee, who reached Italy via the humanitarian corridors organised by the Sant’Egidio Community and the Federation of Evangelical Churches in Italy; a Palestinian woman who works with the Misericordie di Betlemme, in a troubled land where service to one’s neighbour is especially meaningful; a volunteer of St. Vincent de Paul, who as a result of a judicial error spent 12 months in an Italian prison and lost his job, after which he devoted himself to assistance for prisoners; and finally a Missionary of Charity, a member of the order created by Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who after serving in Bombay was sent to the Middle East, where she worked with the most marginalised in 30 countries.
In 2012, along with another four sisters, she was posted to Aden, in Yemen, in the most adverse circumstances, where amid bombing and shooting, even the most basic provisions were lacking: water, food, and medicines for the people in their care. However, they continued to “knock at the Tabernacle door” and asked God to help those in need who depended upon their community, and following an extraordinary series of coincidences, and reciprocal giving and receiving, they succeeded.
After the reading of St. Paul’s Letter to the Corinthians, a hymn to love “that constitutes one of the most beautiful and demanding texts for our witness of faith”, the Pope commented that the apostle often referred to love and faith in his writings, but this text offers something “exceedingly grand and original”. He states, the Holy Father said, that “unlike faith and hope, love ‘never ends’. It is for ever. This teaching must be for us an unshakable certainty; the love of God will never diminish in our lives or in human history. It is a love which remains forever youthful, active, dynamic and which has an attraction beyond all telling. It is a faithful love that does not betray, despite our fickleness. It is a fruitful love which generates and surpasses our laziness. We are witnesses to this love. The love of God, truly, comes towards us; it is like a swelling river that engulfs us without overwhelming us. Quite the contrary is true: ‘If I have not love, I am nothing’, says St. Paul. The more we allow ourselves to be taken up by this love, the more our life will be renewed. We should say with all our being: I am loved, therefore I exist!”
Artisans of mercy
Francis went on to emphasise that, before this essential truth of our faith, “the Church can never allow herself to act as that priest and Levite who ignored the man half dead at the side of the road. She cannot look away and turn her back on the many forms of poverty that cry out for mercy.”
There is no mercy without concrete action, reiterated the Holy Father, insisting that mercy is not doing good “in passing”, but rather getting involved where there is evil, where there is illness, where there is hunger, where there are many forms of human exploitation. “Even human mercy is not authentic until it has attained tangible expression in the actions of our daily life. The warning of the Apostle John has perennial value: ‘Little children, let us not love in word and speech but in deed and truth’. The truth of mercy is expressed in our daily gestures that make God’s action visible in our midst”.
“Brothers and sisters, you represent the large and varied world of voluntary workers. You are among the most precious things the Church has, you who every day, often silently and unassumingly, give shape and visibility to mercy. You are artisans of mercy: with your hands, your eyes, through listening, closeness and caresses, you express one of the most noble desires of the human heart, making a suffering person feel loved. In the different contexts of need of so many people, your presence is the hand of Christ held out to all, and reaching all. You are the outstretched hand of Christ: have you thought this? The credibility of the Church is also conveyed in a convincing way through your service to abandoned children, to the sick, the poor who lack food or work, to the elderly, the homeless, prisoners, refugees and immigrants, to all struck by natural disasters … Indeed, wherever there is a cry for help, there your active and selfless witness is found. In bearing one another’s burdens, you make Christ’s law visible. Be always ready to offer solidarity, to be steadfast in your closeness to others, determined in awakening joy and genuine in giving comfort. The world stands in need of concrete signs of solidarity, especially as it is faced with the temptation to indifference. It requires persons who, by their lives, defy such individualism, which is the tendency to think only of oneself and to ignore the brother or sister in need. Be always happy and full of joy in the service you give, but never presume to think that you are superior to others. Instead, let your work of mercy be a humble and eloquent continuation of the presence of Jesus, Who continues to bend down to our level to take care of the ones who suffer. For love ‘builds up’ day after day, helping our communities to be signs of fraternal communion”.
He urged those present to speak with the Lord about these things, like the Missionary of Charity who spoke of how they “knocked at the door” of the Tabernacle, asking the Lord to listen and to look at the poverty, indifference, those who look away, always asking Him why. “Why am I so weak, and yet You have called me to this service? Help me and give me strength, and give me humility”. The kernel of mercy is this dialogue with the merciful heart of Jesus.
Before imparting his final blessing, the Pope invited those present to pray for the many people who suffer, for those who are rejected by society, and also for the volunteers like them, who reach out to the flesh of Christ to touch it, heal it, and be close to it. He also asked for prayers for the many people who, faced with such misery, turn away, and in their heart hear a voice that says, “It has nothing to do with me, it doesn’t matter to me”.
Pope’s Address at Jubilee of Volunteers by ZENIT Staff

On Saturday, Pope Francis met in Saint Peter’s Square with participants in the Jubilee of Volunteers and Agents of Mercy, held Sept. 2-4 in Rome. The jubilee events culminated with the ceremony of the canonization of Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
Here is a ZENIT translation of the text of Pope Francis’ address to the participants:
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We heard the hymn of love that the Apostle Paul wrote for the community of Corinth, and which is one of the most beautiful and demanding pages for witnessing our faith (cf. 1 Corinthians 13:1-13). How often Saint Paul has spoken of love and of faith in his writings; yet, in this text we are given something extraordinarily great and original. He affirms that, as opposed to faith and hope, love “will never end” (v. 8): it is forever. This teaching should be for us an indestructible certainty; the love of God will never fail in our life and in the history of the world. It is a love that is always young, active, dynamic and that attracts to itself in an incomparable way. It is a faithful love that does not betray, notwithstanding our contradictions. It is a fruitful love that generates and goes beyond all our sluggishness. We are all witnesses of this love. In fact, God’s love comes to meet us; it is like a full river that overwhelms us without, however, doing away with us; instead, on the contrary, it is a condition of life: “If I have no love I am nothing,” says Saint Paul (v. 2). The more we allow ourselves to be enveloped by this love, the more our life is regenerated. We should truly say with all our strength: I am loved, therefore I exist!
The love of which the Apostle speaks is not something abstract and vague; on the contrary, it is a love that is seen, is touched and is experienced personally. The greatest and most expressive form of this love is Jesus. His whole person and His life is nothing other than the concrete manifestation of the Father’s love, up to reaching the culminating moment: “God shows His love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Love is this! It is not words; it is love. From Calvary, where the suffering of the Son of God reached its culmination, flows the source of love that cancels every sin and that recreates all in a new life. Let us always have indelibly this certainty of the faith: Christ loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). This is the great certainty: Christ loved me and gave Himself for me, for you, for you, for all, for every one of us! Nothing and no one shall separate us from the love of God (cf. Romans 8:35-39). Therefore, love is the highest expression of our whole life and enables us to exist!
In face of this very essential content of the faith, the Church can never allow herself to act as the priest and Levite did in dealing with the man left half dead on the ground (cf. Luke 10:25-36). One cannot turn one’s gaze and look the other way so as not to see the many forms of poverty that call for mercy. And this turning to go the other way so as not to see hunger, sicknesses, exploited individuals …, this is a grave sin! It is also a modern sin; it is a sin of today! We Christians cannot permit ourselves this. It would not be worthy of the Church or of a Christian to “go beyond” and suppose we have a right conscience only because we have prayed and gone to Mass on Sunday. No. Calvary is always current; in fact it has not disappeared or remained a beautiful painting in our churches. That summit of com-passion, from which the love of God flows in dealing with human misery, still speaks to our days and spurs us to give ever new signs of mercy. I will never tire of saying that God’s mercy is not a beautiful idea, but a concrete action. There is no mercy without concreteness. Mercy is not doing good “in passing,” it is to involve oneself there where there is pain, where there is sickness, where there is hunger, where there is so much human exploitation. And human mercy also does not become such – namely human and mercy – until it has reached concreteness in daily action. The Apostle John’s admonition is always valid: “Little children, let us not love in words or speech but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18). The truth of mercy is verified, in fact in our daily gestures, which render visible God’s action in our midst.
Brothers and sisters, you who represent the great and varied world of volunteers. Among the most precious realities of the Church is in fact you, who every day, often in silence and hiddenness, give form and visibility to mercy. You are artisans of mercy: with your hands, with your eyes, with your listening, with your closeness, with your caresses … artisans! You express one of the most beautiful desires in man’s heart, that of having a suffering person feel loved. In the different conditions of need and necessities of so many persons, your presence is Christ’s extended hand that reaches all. You are Christ’s extended hand: have you thought of this? The Church’s credibility passes in a convincing way also through your service to abandoned children, the sick, the poor without food and work, the elderly, the homeless, prisoners, refugees and immigrants, and all those struck by natural calamities … In sum, wherever there is a request for help, your active and selfless witness reaches there. You render Christ’s law visible, that of bearing one another’s burdens (cf. Galatians 6:2; John 13-34).
Dear brothers and sisters, you touch Christ’s flesh with your hands: do not forget this. You touch Christ’s flesh with your hands. Always be ready in solidarity, strong in closeness, active in arousing joy and convincing in consolation. The world is in need of concrete signs of solidarity, especially in face of the temptation to indifference, and it requires individuals capable of opposing with their life individualism, thinking only of oneself, and being indifferent to brothers in need. Always be happy and full of joy for your service, but do not make it a motive for presumption, which leads to thinking oneself better than others. Instead, may your work of mercy be humble and an eloquent prolongation of Jesus Christ who continues to bend over and take care of one who suffers. Love, in fact, “builds” (1 Corinthians 8:1) and day after day it enables our communities to be a sign of fraternal communion.
And talk to the Lord about these things. Call Him. Do as Sister Preyma did, as Sister told us: she knocked on the door of the Tabernacle. She was that courageous! The Lord listens to us: call Him! Lord, look at this … Look at all this poverty, indifference, so much looking the other way; “This doesn’t touch me, I don’t care.” Talk about it with the Lord: “Lord, why? Lord, why? Why am I so weak and You have called me to do this service? Help me, and give me strength, give me humility.” The kernel of mercy is this dialogue with Jesus’ merciful heart.
Tomorrow we will have the joy of seeing Mother Teresa proclaimed a Saint. She merits it! This testimony of mercy of our times is added to the innumerable arrays of men and women that, with their holiness, render Christ’s love visible. Let us also imitate their example, and pray to be humble instruments in God’s hands to alleviate the suffering of the world and to give the joy and the hope of the resurrection. Thank you.
And before giving you a blessing, I invite you all to pray in silence for the many, many people who suffer; for so much suffering, for so many that live rejected by society. Pray also for the many volunteers like you, who go to encounter Christ’s flesh to touch it, cure it and feel it close. And pray also for the many, the many that in face of so much misery look the other way and feel in their heart a voice that says to them: “It doesn’t touch me, I don’t care.” Let us pray in silence.
[Silence] And we do so also with Our Lady: Hail Mary …
[Blessing]
[Original text: Italian] [Translation by ZENIT]
Pope Blesses Our Lady of Aparecida Statue for Vatican Gardens by ZENIT Staff

On Saturday, Pope Francis blessed a bronze image of the Virgin of Aparecida, patroness of Brazil, which was placed in the Vatican Gardens. The initiative was organised by the Brazilian embassy to the Holy See and the Archdiocese of Aparecida, whose archbishop, Cardinal Raymundo Damasceno Assis, announced it in 2014, at the time of the works of the Synod on the Family.
The event coincides with the approach, in 2017, of the third centenary of the discovery of the original statue in the Paraíba do Sul river.
The Holy Father, just a few weeks after his election, visited several cities in Brazil, in particular Rio de Janeiro, to preside at the 28th World Youth Day. In the context of this pilgrimage, he celebrated Mass on 24 July at the famous and beloved shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida, to whom he consecrated the country, and indicated a possible return to Brazil in 2017 to mark the tenth anniversary of the fifth general conference of the episcopates of Latin America and the Caribbean, as was reported at the time in the Brazilian media.
That gathering of bishops of the Americas, at which the future Pope Francis played a key role, resulted in what has come to be called the “Aparecida Document.” The document called for a “continental mission” and has been a guiding document in the work of the Church in Latin America since 2007. Pope Francis, who was instrumental in crafting the document, has made reference to it on several occasions since his election to the See of Peter.
Related: The 2007 news of Pope Benedict XVI’s approval of the ‘Aparecida Document’
The statue in the Vatican Gardens depicts the moment of the discovery of the image, when in 1717 three fishermen responsible for providing fish for the banquet of the Count of Assumar, who intended to stop in the village of Giaratinguetá during a journey. The three fishermen went to the river Paraíba, and after various unsuccessful attempts they cast their nets in the area of Porto Itaguacu, and one of them found entangled in them a statue of the Virgin, without the head. They cast the nets again and this time brought up the head. Shortly after the nets were filled with fish.
For 15 years the image was conserved in the house of one of the fishermen, Felipe Pedroso, and the neighbours went there to pray the Rosary. Devotion to the image began to spread and several people who had prayed before the image affirmed that they had been granted the grace they asked for. Worship of Our Lady of Aparecida subsequently spread throughout Brazil.
As he unveiled the image this morning, the Pope expressed his joy at the presence of the statue in the Vatican Gardens, and with regard to his wish to return to Brazil in 2017, he affirmed that although he does not yet know if it will be possible, he will at least keep the statue of Our Lady of Aparecida close to him.
“I invite you to pray that she continue to protect all Brazil, all the Brazilian people, in this sad moment; that she protect the poorest, the discarded, the abandoned elderly, children on the street; that she protect the marginalised and those who have fallen into the hands of exploiters of every kind; that she save her people with the social justice and the love of Jesus Christ, Her Son. Let us ask with love, for all the Brazilian people, that she, Mother, give her blessing. She was found by poor workers; may she be found today by all, especially those who are in need of work and education, those who are deprived of their dignity”.
He then prayed a Hail Mary with those present and they sang the hymn of Aparecida together. Francis then imparted his blessing.
The Necessity of Music by Bishop James Conley

This is the latest column from Bishop James Conley of Lincoln, Nebraska, reprinted from the Southern Nebraska Register.
It was an extraordinary experience to kneel before the Blessed Sacrament at Copacabana Beach in Brazil, at World Youth Day in 2013. Catholic musician Matt Maher led us in worship—more than 3 million people, and Pope Francis, sang “Lord, I need you, Oh, I need you,” as Matt Maher softly played the guitar.
At the Mercy Center in Krakow this summer, nearly 20,000 young people knelt before the Eucharist, praising the Lord as Maher and musician Audrey Assad led songs of praise and thanksgiving. I watched as tears streamed down faces, and young people touched by the moment lined up for the sacrament of confession.
Music can be a powerful part of our relationships with Almighty God. And every culture and generation sings songs and hymns of praise and thanksgiving that speak the love of their hearts.
As a child in the Protestant church, I learned the canon of hymns most treasured in America— “How Great Thou Art,” “Amazing Grace,” “Nearer my God to Thee.” As a young man, I learned the inspiring folk songs of Ireland, England, and France. Those songs helped me to grow in devotion to God. They helped me to keep the Lord in the forefront of my mind. They gave language to my praise and gratitude to the Lord. They became a part of my devotional life. And, because I shared them with others, they became a part—an important part—of the Catholic culture I continue to share with my family and friends.
We need singing, and music, and songs in our family life, the life of our community, and the life of our prayer. Scripture calls us to “make a joyful song unto the Lord,” and St. Augustine tells us that “he who sings, prays twice.”
It is almost impossible to imagine a robust Christian civilization, or a robust spiritual life, without music. The Second Vatican Council taught that music is “a treasure of inestimable value,” that “adds delight to prayer” and “fosters unity of minds.” The Church has long known that we especially need music during our most important, and most sacred moments of worship: during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. In fact, the Second Vatican Council said that music “forms a necessary or integral part of the solemn liturgy” of the Mass.
But music at Mass has a different purpose than the devotional music of our families, communities, and personal prayer lives. The Church says that sacred music, sung during our liturgies, is for the glory of God, and for our sanctification. At Mass, we offer our lives to God through worship, unified with the Eucharistic sacrifice. And we receive the graces that make us saints, and draw us into relationship with God. The Church says that certain kinds of music, developed over centuries, help us to actively participate in the Mass, and to more fruitfully receive the graces of the Eucharist. The Second Vatican Council taught these kinds of music should be preferred during Mass.
In the first place, when it is possible, the prayers and responses of the Mass itself should be sung, including short introductory reflections, and short musical meditations, called antiphons. And the Second Vatican Council taught that the ancient custom of Gregorian chant should “be given pride of place” when it is possible. Other kinds of music, like beautiful sacred polyphony, also should have a special place in Mass.
Sacred music in Mass is different from the devotional and folk music that impacts so many of our lives. Sacred music amplifies the sacred words of the Mass, pointing us more deeply into the mystery of the Eucharist, and uses tones and rhythms that aid us in contemplation. Through careful reflection over thousands of years, the Church has developed a sense of the music that best fits the mystery of the Mass, and when sung with reverence and humility, gives glory and honor to Christ’s sacrifice.
The Church does not teach that we should only use old music during Mass. In fact, Pope John Paul II encouraged composers and musicians to write new music, that speaks to modern man, but that is rooted in continuity with the genius and richness of the Church’s tradition. Today, many composers write beautiful sacred music, building upon the richness of all that has come before, and faithful to the wisdom and teachings of the Church.
This week, more than 200 musicians from across the Diocese of Lincoln gathered at our first annual “Sacred Music Clinic,” to learn and practice the principles and traditions of the Church’s liturgical music. Many of them will introduce the beautiful customs they learned in their parishes, in small ways. Many of our priests have begun learning to chant the prayers of the Mass, and many lay Catholics are learning to do the same. All of these efforts help us to glorify God in the Mass, and to contemplate the mystery of the Eucharist.
Father Daniel Rayer, chair of the Diocesan Liturgical Commission, the planning committee chaired by Father Rayer, Amy Flamminio and Jessica Ligon, and all the members of the liturgical commission worked very hard and so well to plan and organize our sacred music clinic this year. I’m grateful for their work.
It is clear to me that in the Diocese of Lincoln, the Holy Spirit is at work. The Lord is helping us to grow in deeper understanding of the meaning of music in the sacred Mass. In that way, we can grow closer to the Lord. And at Mass, or in our families, or in our cars on the way to work, or on a beach with three million people, when we praise the Lord with song, we lift our hearts to him, and he touches our hearts in love.
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