Pope’s Greetings to Charity Workers in Capital of Georgia... from ZENIT of Roswell, Georgia, United States for Saturday, 1 October 2016

Pope’s Greetings to Charity Workers in Capital of Georgia... from ZENIT of Roswell, Georgia, United States for Saturday, 1 October 2016
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Pope’s Greetings to Charity Workers in Capital of Georgia by ZENIT Staff
Pope Francis this afternoon met Catholic charity workers in the Georgian capital and encouraged them in their work, saying “the poor and the weak are the ‘flesh of Christ’ who call upon Christians of every confession, urging them to act without personal interests, following only the prompting of the Holy Spirit.”
The “Redemptor Hominis” clinic was built with the assistance of Caritas Italy and other international Catholic bodies.
Here is a Vatican translation of the Pope’s greeting:
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Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I greet you warmly and am pleased to meet all of you who are charity workers here in Georgia. Through your care, you express in an eloquent way love of neighbour which is the hallmark of Christ’s disciples. I thank Father Zurab for his words offered on your behalf. You represent a variety of charitable centres in the country: male and female religious institutes, Caritas, Church associations and other organizations, and groups of volunteers. To each one I offer my appreciation for your generous commitment to those most in need.
Your work is a journey of fraternal cooperation among the Christians of this country and the faithful of various rites. Our meeting in the name of evangelical charity is a witness to communion and a means of fostering the way of unity. I encourage you to pursue this demanding yet fruitful path: the poor and weak are the “flesh of Christ” who call upon Christians of every confession, urging them to act without personal interests, following only the prompting of the Holy Spirit.
I offer a special greeting to the elderly, the sick, the suffering and those assisting them from various charitable organizations. I am happy to be with you for a little while to offer you my encouragement: God never turns away; he is always close to you, ready to listen, to give you his strength in times of difficulty. You are the beloved of Jesus, who wished to identify himself with all who suffer, he himself having suffered in his passion. Charitable initiatives are the ripe fruit of a Church that serves, offers hope and shows forth God’s mercy. Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, your mission is a great one! Continue to live out charity in the Church and to manifest this charity in all areas of society with the zealous love that comes from God.
May the Blessed Virgin Mary, icon of gratuitous love, guide you and protect you. May the blessing of the Lord sustain you, which I now willingly invoke upon all of you.
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Ilia II’s Address at Pope Francis’ Visit to Patriarchal Cathedral by ZENIT Staff

Here is the text of the address given by Patriarch IliaII at the visit of Pope Francis this evening to the Svietyskhoveli Patriarchal Cathedral in Mskheta.
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Address of His Holiness and Beatitude Catholicos–Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II on the Occasion of the Visit of His Holiness Pope of Rome Francis
to Mtskheta, Svetitskhoveli
1.10.16
Your Holiness, Pope Francis,
Your Excellency, Mr. Prime Minister,
Distinguished Authorities and Representatives of the Diplomatic Corps, Dear guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We once again wholeheartedly greet you in the most ancient and important cathedral of the Church of Georgia Svetitskhoveli. This cathedral bears a special significance since it is a place of outstanding sanctities: the mantle of Saint Elijah the Prophet is here and the greatest of sanctities of the world – the Tunic of our Lord Jesus Christ – is in the cathedral, it was committed to the earth with one of the earliest saints, Sidonia.
Saint Sidonia belonged to a remarkable family of Georgian Jews: her brother Eliezer brought the Tunic to Georgia. Here, in the town of Mtskheta, their mother, devastated by the Saviour’s sufferings, on the day of His Crucifixion on Great Friday, died, and after her death, the Church of Georgia consecrated her also as a saint.
We are in the cathedral where down from the ancient times chrism has been sanctified, where kings of Georgia were crowned, and where catholicos patriarchs were enthroned and in this day they’ve been enthroned in this cathedral. This is also the place of the entombment of kings and foremost hierarchs.
The very first church in this place was built in the 4th century, and it was reconstructed into magnificent temple in the 11th century. The Svetitskhoveli Cathedral is dedicated to the commemoration of the Twelve Apostles.
Mtskheta was the ancient capital of Georgia and to this day is maintained the status of the spiritual center of the country. The town and its vicinity were constructed in such a shape that it leaves an impression of another Jerusalem: Golgotha, Bethany, Gethsemane, Tabor, Eleon and other sacred places are all around this place.
Torrents of blood and tears have been shed here as Georgia was constantly the arena of invasion; however, this small oasis of Christianity has survived having maintained its identity, but at the cost of the heaviest sacrifice.
As our illustrious writer and statesman, now canonized as Saint Ilia the Righteous, writes, Christ accepted the Crucifixion for our sake and so also Georgia accepted her Crucifixion for the sake of Christ. Here, I will recall the event of the 13th century to illustrate this: 100.000 of the residents of Tbilisi were beheaded for having refused to renounce the Faith and tread on the icons of the Saviour and of the Mother of God, placed on the bridge in the vicinity of the Sioni Cathedral.
Yes, our strength was and still is in fervent prayer and devoted ministry to the True God! But what is the reason for our weakness? The lack of both of these.
I remember the admonition of the Holy Fathers of old times. The prayer of the righteous can change the very order of nature and is a shield which steadfastly defends from corporeal and incorporeal enemies; besides this, such prayer stops the right hand of the Almighty God, lifted up for the punishment of the sinful.
The true faith, humility, contrition and charity make up the shortest way towards salvation. I think, today Humankind, including us, is deficient in all of this. But God’s mercy is boundless. He waits for every step, made towards Him by us. The most important thing is to show to the Lord the heart which in righteousness judges others, the contrite heart, the heart of a prayer; when this is achieved, the reality will be different. Therefore, I, always and now also, implore the Creator that He may grant all of us His grace to cognize our own selves, to be cleansed and walk in the path of the Truth. May God’s will unify Christians on the foundation of the true faith, Amen!
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Pope’s Greeting at Visit to Patriarchal Cathedral in Georgia by ZENIT Staff

Pope Francis concluded his program for his trip to Georgia with a visit this evening to the Svietyskhoveli Patriarchal Cathedral in Mskheta. Here is a Vatican translation of his address:
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Your Holiness,
Mr Prime Minister,
Distinguished Authorities and Members of the Diplomatic Corps,
Dear Brother Bishops and Priests,
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
At the end of my pilgrimage to Georgia, I thank God for the opportunity to spend prayerful time in this holy temple. I wish to express my heartfelt gratitude for the welcome I have received, for your moving witness of faith, for the goodness of the Georgian people. Your Holiness, the words of the psalmist come to mind: “Behold how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! It is like the precious oil upon the head” (Ps 133:1-2). Dear Brother, the Lord has granted us the joy of meeting one another and of exchanging a holy kiss; may he pour out upon us the fragrant balm of concord and bestow his abundant blessings upon our path, and on the path of this beloved people.
The Georgian language is rich in meaningful expressions which describe fraternity, friendship and closeness among people. There is one expression, both noble and genuine, which evokes a readiness to exchange places with another, the will to bear their burden, the desire to say wholeheartedly, “I wish to be in your place” (shen genatsvale). Sharing the joys and sorrows in the communion of prayer and in the union of souls, and carrying each other’s burdens (cf. Gal 6:2): may this fraternal attitude mark the way ahead for our journey together.
This magnificent Cathedral, which houses so many treasures of faith and history, invites us to remember the past. This is more necessary than ever, as “a people’s fall begins where its memory of the past ends” (Ilia Chavchavadze, “People and History”, in Iveria, 1888). The history of Georgia is like an ancient book that, with each page, relates holy testimonies and Christian values which have forged the soul and culture of the country. This esteemed book, no less so, speaks to us of deeds of great openness, welcome and integration. These are most precious and enduring values, both for this land and the entire region. Such values express the Christian identity, which is maintained when deeply rooted in faith, and also when it is open and ready, never rigid or closed.
The Christian message – as this holy place recalls – has for centuries been the pillar of Georgian identity: it has given stability through so many upheavals, even when, sadly not infrequently, the fate of the nation was bitterly left to fend for itself. But the Lord never abandoned the beloved land of Georgia, because he is “faithful in all his words and loving in all his deeds; he upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down” (Ps 145:13-14).
The Lord’s tender and compassionate closeness is especially represented here in the sign of the sacred tunic. The mystery of the tunic, “without seam, woven from top to bottom” (Jn 19:23), has attracted the attention of Christians from the beginning. One of the early Church Fathers, Saint Cyprian of Carthage, declared that in the undivided tunic of Jesus there appears that “bond of concord inseparably cohering”, that “unity which comes from above, that is, from heaven and from the Father, which could not be definitively rent” (De Catholicae Ecclesiae Unitate, 7: SCh 1 [2006], 193). The holy tunic, a mystery of unity, exhorts us to feel deep pain over the historical divisions which have arisen among Christians: these are the true and real lacerations that wound the Lord’s flesh. At the same time, however, “that unity which comes from above”, the love of Christ which has brought us together, giving us not only his garment but his very body, urge us to not give up but rather to offer ourselves as he did (cf. Rom 12:1): they urge us to sincere charity and to mutual understanding, to bind up wounds, with a spirit of pure Christian fraternity. Naturally, all this requires patience nurtured through trusting others and through humility, without fear and discouragement, but rather rejoicing in the certainty which Christian hope allows us to enjoy. This gives us the incentive to believe that differences can be healed and obstacles removed; it invites us never to miss opportunities for encounter and dialogue, and to protect and together improve what already exists. I am thinking, for example, of the current dialogue of the International Joint Commission and other propitious occasions for exchange.
Saint Cyprian stated also that Christ’s tunic – “one, undivided, all in one piece, indicates the inseparable concord of our people, of us who have been clothed in Christ” (De Cath., 195). Those baptized in Christ, as Saint Paul teaches, have been clothed in Christ (cf. Gal 3:27). Thus, notwithstanding our limitations and quite apart from all successive cultural and historical distinctions, we are called to be “one in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:28) and to avoid putting first disharmony and divisions between the baptized, because what unites us is much more than what divides us.
In this Patriarchal Cathedral, many of our brothers and sisters receive Baptism, which in the Georgian language, beautifully expresses the new life received in Christ, evoking the light which gives meaning to everything, as it leads out of the darkness. In Georgian, the word “education” comes from the same root, and thus relates strictly to Baptism. The elegance of the language helps us think of the beauty of Christian life that, from its radiant beginnings, is maintained when it remains in the light of goodness, and when it rejects the darkness of evil. Such beauty of the Christian life is preserved when, by guarding faithfulness to its own roots, it does not give in to closed ways of thinking which darken life, but rather remains well-disposed to welcome and to learn, to be enlightened by all that is beautiful and true. May the resplendent riches of this people be known and esteemed! May we always increasingly share the treasures that God gives to each person, for our mutual enrichment, and to help one another grow in what is good!
I sincerely assure you of my prayers, so that the Lord, who makes all things new (cf. Rev 21:5), through the intercession of the Holy Brothers and Apostles Peter and Andrew, of the Martyrs and of all the Saints, may deepen the love between all believers in Christ and the enlightened pursuit of everything which brings us together, reconciles us and unites us. May fraternity and cooperation increase at every level! And may prayer and love make us ever more receptive to the Lord’s ardent desire, so that everyone who believes in Him, through the preaching of the Apostles, will “be one” (cf. Jn 17:20-21).© Copyright – Libreria Editrice Vaticana
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Pope Sends Jewish Community Warm Wishes for New Year by ZENIT Staff

Pope Francis has sent a message to Riccardo De Segni, Chief Rabbi of the Jewish community in Rome, the most ancient in the world, on the occasion of the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah 5777), Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) and Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles), celebrated this month.
Rosh Hashanah begins Sunday evening and concludes Tuesday.
Yom Kippur begins the evening of Oct. 11, and Sukkot the evening ofOct. 16.
“I am particularly glad to convey my warmest wishes to you and the Jewish community of Rome. My sentiment extends also to Jewish communities throughout the world, in the hope that the upcoming festivities may be harbingers of abundant blessings to all. May the Almighty grant peace and the tireless wish to promote it. In His eternal mercy, may He grant hope and serenity in our times and strengthen the cordial bonds of friendship between us”.
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‘Need Consolation? Become Like Little Children,’ Pope Urges at Mass in Georgia by Deborah Castellano Lubov

Need God’s consolation? Become again like a little child.
Pope Francis stressed this during his Mass in Tbilisi at the Mikheil Meskhi Stadium, on the second day of his three-day Apostolic Visit to Georgia and Azerbaijan, Sept. 30- Oct.2.
Celebrating Mass on day two of his pastoral visit to Georgia, and on the feast of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, the Pontiff spoke on the consolation the Church wishes to give us, and how we can welcome it into our lives.
The key to accomplishing this, the Pontiff told those present, is embracing “our child side.”
Become Like Little Children
The underlying condition to receiving God’s consolation, Francis recalled, is to become little, like children (cf. Mt 18:3-4). In order to receive God’s love, the Pope stressed, we need “littleness of heart,” for, as Jesus said, “only little ones can be held in their mothers arms.”
Jesus told us, the Pope recalled, that whoever becomes like a little child, “is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 18:4).
“The true greatness of man consists in making himself small before God,” Francis reflected, noting that, “For God is not known through grand ideas and extensive study, but rather through the littleness of a humble and trusting heart.”
“To be great before the Lord,” the Jesuit Pope pointed out, “does not require the accumulation of honor and prestige or earthly goods and success, but rather a complete self-emptying. A child has nothing to give and everything to receive. A child is vulnerable, and depends on his or her father and mother. The one who becomes like a little child is poor in self but rich in God.”
“Children, who have no problem in understanding God, have much to teach us: they tell us that he accomplishes great things in those who put up no resistance to him, who are simple and sincere, without duplicity.”
A Thanks to Women
In his homily, the Holy Father also highlighted that among the treasures of the country of Georgia, one that really stands out is the importance of women.
Recalling Saint Therese of the Child Jesus’ words that women “love God in much larger numbers than men do (Autobiography, Manuscript A, VI),” he noted that in Georgia, there are many grandmothers and mothers who unceasingly defend and pass on the faith.
“The consolation we need, amid the turmoil we experience in life, is precisely the presence of God in our hearts,” Francis said, noting, “God’s presence in us is the source of true consolation, which dwells in us, liberates us from evil, brings peace and increases our joy.”
“If we want to experience his consolation,” the Holy Father underscored, “we must give way to the Lord in our lives.”
Don’t Keep Him Out
The Pontiff instructed the faithful that for the the Lord to abide continually in us, “we must open the doors of our hearts to him and not keep him outside.”
“When the door of our heart is closed, however, his light cannot enter in and everything remains dark. We then get accustomed to pessimism, to things which aren’t right, to realities that never change,” he said. “We end up absorbed in our own sadness, in the depths of anguish, isolated. If, on the other hand, we open wide the doors of consolation, the light of the Lord enters in!”
Church as House of Consolation
In the Church we find consolation, Francis stressed, saying it could be considered “the house of consolation,” where God wishes to console us.
The Pope asked those present to ask themselves some questions: “I who am in the Church, do I bring the consolation of God? Do I know how to welcome others as guests and console those whom I see tired and disillusioned?”
“Even when enduring affliction and rejection,” the Pope continued, “a Christian is always called to bring hope to the hearts of those who have given up, to encourage the downhearted, to bring the light of Jesus, the warmth of his presence and his forgiveness which restores us.”
Lamenting that countless people suffer trials, injustice, and anxiety, he said, “Our hearts need anointing with God’s consolation, which does not take away our problems, but gives us the power to love, to peacefully bear pain.”
Receiving and bringing God’s consolation: this mission of the Church is urgent
The Holy Father then encouraged everyone to take up the call: “to not bury ourselves in what is going wrong around us or be saddened by the lack of harmony between us. It is not good for us to become accustomed to a closed ecclesial ‘micro-environment.’”
He encouraged them to welcome their vulnerable, trusting, childlike side in order to open their horizons to hope, have courage, and go beyond themselves.
“The Gospel,” the Holy Father recalled, “shows us how great wonders are accomplished with small things: with a few loaves and two fishes (cf. Mt 14:15-20), with a tiny mustard seed (cf. Mk 4:30-32), with a grain of wheat that dies in the earth (cf. Jn 12:24), with the gift of just a single glass of water (cf. Mt 10:42), with the two coins of a poor widow (cf. Lk 21:1-4), with the humility of Mary, the servant of the Lord (cf. Lk 1:46-55).”
Trust in Our God of Surprises
“This is the surprising greatness of God, of a God who is full of surprises and who loves surprises: let us always keep alive the desire for and trust in God’s surprises!”
Allowing this, he stressed, “will help us to remember that we are constantly and primarily his children: not masters of our lives, but children of the Father; not autonomous and self-sufficient adults, but children who always need to be lifted up and embraced, who need love and forgiveness.”
“Blessed are those Christian communities who live this authentic gospel simplicity! Poor in means, they are rich in God. Blessed are the Shepherds who do not ride the logic of worldly success, but follow the law of love: welcoming, listening, serving. Blessed is the Church who does not entrust herself to the criteria of functionalism and organizational efficiency, nor worries about her image.”
The Pontiff went on to summarize these thoughts with some words from Saint Therese of the Child Jesus, to whom he personally has a great devotion.
St. Therese, he pointed out, “shows her ‘little way’ to God, “the trust of a little child who falls asleep without fear in his Father’s arms”, because “Jesus does not demand great actions from us, but simply surrender and gratitude”
The young saint and Doctor of the Church, he also said, teaches us that “perfect charity consists in bearing with the faults of others, in not being surprised at their weakness, in being edified by the smallest acts of virtue we see them practice.”
Pope Francis concluded, praying that all faithful today pray for “the grace of a simple heart, of a heart that believes and lives in the gentle strength of love; let us ask to live in peaceful and complete trust in God’s mercy.”
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On ZENIT:
Full Text: https://zenit.org/articles/popes-homily-at-mass-in-georgia/
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Pope’s Homily at Mass in Georgia by ZENIT Staff

Pope Francis this morning celebrated Mass in Tbilisi at the Mikheil Meskhi Stadium. Here is a Vatican translation of his homily:
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Among the many treasures of this magnificent country, one that stands out is the importance of women. As Saint Therese of the Child Jesus, whom we commemorate today, wrote: “they love God in much larger numbers than men do” (Autobiography, Manuscript A, VI). Here in Georgia there are a great number of grandmothers and mothers who unceasingly defend and pass on the faith that was sown in this land of Saint Nino; and they bring the fresh water of God’s consolation to countless situations of barrenness and conflict.
This enables us to appreciate the beauty of God’s message in the first reading: “As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you” (Is 66:13). As a mother takes upon herself the burdens and weariness of her children, so too does God take upon himself our sins and troubles. He who knows us and loves us infinitely, is mindful of our prayers and wipes away our tears. As he looks at us, he is always moved and becomes tender-hearted, with a love from the depths of his being, for beyond any evil we are capable of, we always remain his children; he wants to take us in his arms, protect us, and free us from harm and evil. Let us allow these words of the Lord to resound in our hearts: “As a mother comforts, so will I comfort you”.
The consolation we need, amid the turmoil we experience in life, is precisely the presence of God in our hearts. God’s presence in us is the source of true consolation, which dwells in us, liberates us from evil, brings peace and increases our joy. For this reason, if we want to experience his consolation, we must give way to the Lord in our lives. And in order for the Lord to abide continually in us, we must open the doors of our hearts to him and not keep him outside. There are doors of consolation which must always be open, because Jesus especially loves to enter through them: the Gospel we read every day and carry around with us, our silent prayer in adoration, confession, the Eucharist. It is through these doors that the Lord enters and gives new flavour to reality. When the door of our heart is closed, however, his light cannot enter in and everything remains dark. We then get accustomed to pessimism, to things which aren’t right, to realities that never change. We end up absorbed in our own sadness, in the depths of anguish, isolated. If, on the other hand, we open wide the doors of consolation, the light of the Lord enters in!
Yet God does not console us only in our hearts; through the prophet Isaiah he adds: “You shall be comforted in Jerusalem” (66:13). In Jerusalem, that is, in the city of God, in the community: it is when we are united, in communion, that God’s consolation works in us. In the Church we find consolation, it is the house of consolation: here God wishes to console us. We may ask ourselves: I who am in the Church, do I bring the consolation of God? Do I know how to welcome others as guests and console those whom I see tired and disillusioned? Even when enduring affliction and rejection, a Christian is always called to bring hope to the hearts of those who have given up, to encourage the downhearted, to bring the light of Jesus, the warmth of his presence and his forgiveness which restores us. Countless people suffer trials and injustice, and live in anxiety. Our hearts need anointing with God’s consolation, which does not take away our problems, but gives us the power to love, to peacefully bear pain. Receiving and bringing God’s consolation: this mission of the Church is urgent. Dear brothers and sisters, let us take up this call: to not bury ourselves in what is going wrong around us or be saddened by the lack of harmony between us. It is not good for us to become accustomed to a closed ecclesial “micro-environment”; it is good for us to share wide horizons, horizons open to hope, having the courage to humbly open our doors and go beyond ourselves.
There is, however, an underlying condition to receiving God’s consolation, and his word today reminds us of this: to become little like children (cf. Mt 18:3-4), to be “like a child quieted at its mother’s breast” (Ps 130:2). To receive God’s love we need this littleness of heart: only little ones can be held in their mothers arms.
Whoever becomes like a little child, Jesus tells us, “is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 18:4). The true greatness of man consists in making himself small before God. For God is not known through grand ideas and extensive study, but rather through the littleness of a humble and trusting heart. To be great before the Most High does not require the accumulation of honour and prestige or earthly goods and success, but rather a complete self-emptying. A child has nothing to give and everything to receive. A child is vulnerable, and depends on his or her father and mother. The one who becomes like a little child is poor in self but rich in God.
Children, who have no problem in understanding God, have much to teach us: they tell us that he accomplishes great things in those who put up no resistance to him, who are simple and sincere, without duplicity. The Gospel shows us how great wonders are accomplished with small things: with a few loaves and two fishes (cf. Mt 14:15-20), with a tiny mustard seed (cf. Mk 4:30-32), with a grain of wheat that dies in the earth (cf. Jn 12:24), with the gift of just a single glass of water (cf. Mt 10:42), with the two coins of a poor widow (cf. Lk 21:1-4), with the humility of Mary, the servant of the Lord (cf. Lk 1:46-55).
This is the surprising greatness of God, of a God who is full of surprises and who loves surprises: let us always keep alive the desire for and trust in God’s surprises! It will help us to remember that we are constantly and primarily his children: not masters of our lives, but children of the Father; not autonomous and self-sufficient adults, but children who always need to be lifted up and embraced, who need love and forgiveness. Blessed are those Christian communities who live this authentic gospel simplicity! Poor in means, they are rich in God. Blessed are the Shepherds who do not ride the logic of worldly success, but follow the law of love: welcoming, listening, serving. Blessed is the Church who does not entrust herself to the criteria of functionalism and organizational efficiency, nor worries about her image. Little and beloved flock of Georgia, who are so committed to works of charity and education, receive the encouragement of the Good Shepherd, you who are entrusted to him who takes you on his shoulders and consoles you.
I would like to summarize these thoughts with some words from Saint Therese of the Child Jesus, whom we commemorate today. She shows her “little way” to God, “the trust of a little child who falls asleep without fear in his Father’s arms”, because “Jesus does not demand great actions from us, but simply surrender and gratitude” (Autobiography, Manuscript B). Unfortunately, however, as she wrote then, and which still holds true today, God finds “few hearts who surrender to him without reservations, who understand the real tenderness of his infinite Love” (ibid). The young saint and Doctor of the Church, rather, was an expert in the “science of love” (ibid), and teaches us that “perfect charity consists in bearing with the faults of others, in not being surprised at their weakness, in being edified by the smallest acts of virtue we see them practice”; she reminds also that “charity cannot remain hidden in the depths our hearts” (Autobiography, Manuscript C). Together let us all implore today the grace of a simple heart, of a heart that believes and lives in the gentle strength of love; let us ask to live in peaceful and complete trust in God’s mercy.
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