Pope Francis asks Catholic priests to pardon women who have undergone abortion

    

Photo: Pope Francis has repeatedly urged the church to show greater compassion. (AFP: Tiziana Fabi)

Related Story: Pope says church should not obsess over homosexuality, abortion

Pope Francis has announced all priests will have the discretion to forgive women who have had an abortion during the forthcoming Jubilee year, which is traditionally associated with forgiveness.

"I have decided, notwithstanding anything to the contrary, to concede to all priests for the Jubilee year the discretion to absolve of the sin of abortion those who have procured it and who, with contrite heart, seek forgiveness," he said.

In a message outlining special measures for the Jubilee year starting in December, Pope Francis said he knew that while "abortion is experienced by some with a superficial awareness" many others "believe that they have no other option".

He said he had met many women seeking forgiveness who bore "the scar of this agonising and painful decision".

Pope Francis, who has repeatedly urged the Church to show greater compassion, said priests should use "words of genuine welcome", as well as making sure those involved were aware of "the gravity of the sin committed".

Catholics for Choice, a US-based pro-choice organisation, said this was another positive example of Francis trying to bridge the gulf "between what the hierarchy says and what ordinary Catholics really do".

"However, despite what Pope Francis has said, I do not believe that Catholic women will be queuing up to ask for forgiveness," the organisation's president Jon O'Brien said in a statement.

And limiting the period of forgiveness to one year "suggests that he still has a blind spot when it comes to women and what they want".

Abortion is considered a particularly serious sin that is punishable under Canon law by excommunication, by which those guilty are expelled from the Church and considered to be condemned to hell in the afterlife.

In 2009 the Vatican drew heavy criticism after it supported a bishop who had excommunicated the mother and doctors of a nine-year-old girl who was given an abortion after her stepfather raped her.

Bishops are already able to authorise priests in their dioceses to forgive those who undergo or carry out abortions.

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Taken from: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-01/pope-francis-asks-priests-to-pardon-women-who-have-abortions/6742154

St. Maximilian Kolbe and the Immaculata’s Universal Mediation



Published on February 11, 2012 by Fr. H. M. Manteau-Bonamy in General Mariology

           

If the Virgin Mary was created by God and “fashioned as a new creature” by the Holy Spirit, it was… so that she might become the mother of God. Henceforth she lives with the very life of the Holy Spirit, and together with him is sent on a mission: to complete within us the efficacious Redemption brought about by our sole Mediator, Jesus. In a certain sense the definitive glory that Mary enjoys, “carried up to Heaven in body and soul,” manifests how perfect was the Redemption Jesus effected in her. When Christ presents Mary to the Father he hands over to him for eternity the masterpiece of creation, of human redemption. In Mary who is glorified the Church is made perfect. When Christ returns at the end of ages there will not be a more perfect Church. But, joined to their Immaculate Mother in the deepest recesses of her maternal bosom, the countless members of Christ who have been formed in her by the Holy Spirit will share with her, each individually and all together, her Son’s eternal glory.

Thus to share Mary’s glory in heaven, every member of the Church must on earth share her special grace; without this universal mediation of Mary the Immaculata it is impossible for anyone to attain divine life in close intimacy with God, the One in Three.

Immaculate Conception and Mediation

This mediation of Mary’s was, for Father Kolbe, the other pole of his contemplation, the first being her Immaculate Conception. But these two poles are reciprocally related. Here is what he says:

Everyone knows how closely the various truths of Christian doctrine are intertwined with each other. The dogmas of Catholicism grow out of each other and constantly enrich each other. Here is an example: Basing themselves solely on Catholic doctrine concerning the hypostatic union of the divine and the human in the person of the Word, the Fathers of the Council of Ephesus proclaimed the dogma of Mary’s divine maternity.

Once it had been realized what relationships united Jesus with Mary his mother, the Catholic faith was led to conclude that there could be no original sin in the mother of the Savior. No Catholic could have dared to suppose that at any moment of her existence she might have been a slave of Satan.

In the same way, when they considered the important mission confided to the Most Blessed Virgin, and her unspeakably close union with the Holy Spirit (the Immaculate Conception), the faithful were led to place themselves with full confidence under the gentle protection of Mary.

Up to the present our relationship, within the whole scheme of redemption, to Mary, the Co-redemptrix and Dispensatrix of all graces, has not been fully and completely understood. But in our time faith in her mediation grows day by day. We should like to show here how the truth of Mary’s mediation is a consequence of the dogma of her Immaculate Conception.

The work of human redemption depends immediately on the second Person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, who through his blood reconciled us with the Father, who made up for Adam’s sin, and merited for us the gift of sanctifying grace and the various actual graces we need, along with the right to heaven.

However, the third Person of the Blessed Trinity also shares in this work. By the power of the redemption wrought by Christ the Holy Spirit transforms the souls of men into temples of God; he makes of us the adoptive children of God and the heirs of the heavenly kingdom, as St. Paul declares: “But you are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit of our God” (I Cor. 6:11).

Penetrating the depths of our souls, the Holy Spirit, God-who-is-Love, unites us to the two other divine Persons. So St. Paul writes to the Romans: “We know not what we should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit himself asks for us with unspeakable groanings” (Rom. 8:26).

Similarly, in the first Epistle to the Corinthians we read that the distribution of grace depends on the will of the Holy Spirit: “The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man unto profit; to one indeed, by the Spirit is given the word of wisdom; and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit. To another faith in the same Spirit; to another the grace of healing in one Spirit. To another, the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discerning of spirits, to another diverse kinds of tongues, to another interpretation of speeches. But all of these things one and the same Spirit worketh, dividing to everyone according as he wills” (I Cor. 12:7-11).

Just as the Son, to show us how great his love is, became a man, so too the third Person, God-who-is-Love, willed to show his mediation as regards the Father and the Son by means of a concrete sign. This sign is the heart of the Immaculate Virgin, according to what the saints tell us, especially those who love to consider Mary as the spouse of the Holy Spirit. This was the conclusion drawn by St. Louis de Montfort, in accordance with the teaching of the Fathers… Since the death of Christ, the Holy Spirit acts within us too, by means of Mary. The Creator’s word spoken to the serpent about the Immaculata: “She shall crush thy head” (Gen. 3:15), must be understood, as the theologians maintain, as applying to all times.

Till the end of the world it will be the task of the Holy Spirit to form the new members predestined to glory in the mystical body of Christ. And as St. de Montfort shows, this task is carried to completion with Mary, in Mary and through Mary.

We are led to this conclusion, namely that the Holy Spirit acts through Mary, by considering various texts of Holy Scripture and the sayings of saints, who are the best interpreters of Holy Writ. “I shall ask the Father, and he will send you another Paraclete, who will abide with you forever, the Spirit of truth…” (Jn. 14:16-17). “But the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send you in my name, he will teach you all truth, and will recall to you all that I have told you” (Ibid., 26). “When he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will lead you to all truth … he will glorify me” (Jn. 16:13, 14).

Just as the second divine Person appears in his Incarnation as the “seed of the woman,” so the Holy Spirit manifests his share in the work of the Redemption through the Immaculate Virgin who, although she is a person entirely distinct from him, is so intimately associated with him that our minds cannot understand it. So, while their union is not of the same order as the hypostatic union linking the human and the divine natures in Christ, it remains true to say that Mary’s action is the very action of the Holy Spirit. For Mary as the spouse of the Holy Spirit is raised to such a height of perfection above all other creatures that she accomplishes in everything the will of the Holy Spirit who dwelt in her from the first instant of her conception.

If we consider all these truths together we can conclude that Mary, as Mother of Jesus our Savior, was made the Co-redemptrix of the human race; as the spouse of the Holy Spirit she shares in the distribution of all graces. This is why theologians are justified in saying (following the great tradition of the Fathers): “Even as the first Eve brought ruin upon us by acts which were truly free, a ruin which therefore is attributed to her, so Mary took part in the reparation by her own fully free actions… so that one can with certainty speak of a true mediation, in the strict sense of the term.”

In these last days especially we contemplate the Immaculata, the spouse of the Holy Spirit, in her role as Mediatrix in our regard.

In 1830 the Most Blessed Virgin appeared to Sister Catherine Labouré. From the account given by this novice we learn the purpose of Mary’s appearing: she wished to affirm her Immaculate Conception and her extraordinary power with God. “The Most Blessed Virgin cast her eyes on me and at the same time I heard her voice say: ‘The globe of the world represents each and every human being.’ Further, she said: ‘This is the symbol of the graces which I give to all those who call upon me.’ Next I saw an image, oval in shape, which surrounded the figure of the most Blessed Virgin; on it, in golden letters, the following invocation was written: ‘O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.’ At the same time I heard a voice say: ‘Have a medal struck according to this model; all those who wear it will receive many graces.'”

At Lourdes the Immaculate Virgin called on all to do penance; then, to show us so to speak the source whence we would obtain protection, she recited the beads. From that time on, at Lourdes, the Immaculata began to carry out her role as Mediatrix: she invited the sick to come to her; she gathered together the lame and infirm to heal them and to show us how much we depend on her even in our natural life. Tenderly, she drew to herself the spiritually infirm, unbelievers, sinners whose hearts were hardened; she diffused in their souls the grace of supernatural life, to convince them of the power she has to give supernatural life. What is remarkable is that these miracles are performed by Christ in the spot chosen by his Mother.

Everything that has happened at Lourdes through the Most Blessed Virgin illustrates the truth of these words of St. Peter Damian: “by a woman the curse was brought upon the earth, and by a woman a blessing descended upon earth”; and these other words of St. Augustine: “the ruin of mankind came about through the poison injected by a woman; the regeneration of mankind is the salvation brought about through a woman.”

What St. Bernard said has been translated into deeds by the Immaculate Virgin: “Such is the will of God, who decreed that we should obtain everything we need through Mary.” (1)

If we insist on these truths: that Mary is the sign of the mediation of the Holy Spirit, and the instrument in the hands of this second Paraclete sent to us by Christ, we shall be able to grasp all the better the thought of Father Kolbe in the light of the teaching of Vatican II.

The Immaculata, Sign of the Holy Spirit’s Mediation

One proves that movement is possible by moving. Instead of harping on theological arguments to prove the possibility of a dogma of Mary’s mediation—given the absolute and unique mediation of Jesus—Father Kolbe prefers to stress the fact that such Marian mediation actually takes place.

He begins with a principle which is very simple, and which is based on fact: “Catholic dogmas grow out of each other and constantly enrich one another.”

A few examples will suffice to show how true this principle is.

As regards the mediation of Mary, let us look at the way certain facts follow from each other. Consider how after centuries of theological discussion the dogma of the Immaculate Conception was finally defined, and how it was obviously confirmed at Lourdes by Mary herself, four years later. This opens up a new approach for looking at the question of Mary’s mediation, an approach which gives added strength, clarity and precision to the traditional arguments on this topic.

What we mean is this: By saying “I am the Immaculate Conception,” Mary clearly showed that she is intimately united with the third Person of the Trinity whose privileged sanctuary, whose image she is; we can truly say that her life is the very life of the Holy Spirit in her.

Now, the Holy Spirit did not come to the Church only at Pentecost, after the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ. True, on Pentecost he manifested himself to the Apostles and disciples, thus inaugurating the Church in its members.

But by fashioning the most Blessed Virgin as a new creature, the Holy Spirit from that very instant made her the obvious sign of his personal presence in the world; Mary’s Immaculate Conception is also the immaculate conception of the Church. From that very instant, then, the Holy Spirit was sent and given to the world through Mary the Immaculata. By preparing our Lady for her divine maternity he prepared the way for the coming of the Son. Hence, we may say that the Immaculata’s life, naturally and supernaturally, is the sign of the living presence of the Holy Spirit in the world.

Once the Son of God had become incarnate in Mary, the Holy Spirit manifested through her in a sensible manner all the wealth of maternal love which he is in God, and which made Mary such a perfect mother, always drawing her closer and closer to her Son. At Cana, the Holy Spirit through Mary provoked the response of Jesus when she said: “They have no more wine”; for Jesus knows full well that everything his mother says and does is inspired by the Spirit of truth and love. So, when Mary told the servants, “Do whatever he tells you,” Jesus obeyed the Spirit which thus launched him definitely on the mission which would lead him to Calvary. From that time on he considered his mother as the new Eve associated with himself, the new Adam: “Woman, what is that to me and to thee?” The Most Blessed Virgin did not lose her title as his Mother, but her maternity began reaching ever farther out, becoming the universal motherhood which had been promised in vain to the first Eve.

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When the one Savior purifies and justifies all men who are sinners in Adam, the Holy Spirit also purifies and justifies them by giving to the new Eve the whole weight of love that will fill the heart of the new Adam, thus repairing the deadly seduction practiced by the first Eve, who instilled the poison of disobedience into the heart of the first Adam. Christ suffered and died, not in his divinity, but in his humanity. So too the third Person, the Holy Spirit, the Gift of God, does not experience compassion in his divine nature. But what compassion does he not experience in the heart of Mary Immaculate, the Mother of sorrows! Since the union between the Holy Spirit and Mary is so much more than a merely moral union, their compassion reached a depth such that it approximated the infinite degree of divine Love itself. Father Kolbe does not hesitate to write: “The Immaculata personifies the mercy of God.” (2)

Intimately associated as she is with Christ suffering and dying, the Virgin is, by the same Spirit, a true mediatrix in the sense in which the Holy Spirit himself is a mediator with regard to the unique Mediator, Jesus Christ. All of us are redeemed by the divine Love which, through the united hearts of the new Adam and of the new Eve, offers reparation to the Father for the sin committed by our first parents, Adam and Eve.

For just as the Son is the eternal Mediator between the Father and the Holy Spirit (in the divinity itself—the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son), (3) so too Jesus the incarnate Son of God becomes the direct Mediator between the Father and the Holy Spirit who, so to speak, is “quasi-incarnate” in the Immaculata, the representative and spiritual Mother of all humanity. (4)

Here Father Kolbe shows clearly that the most Blessed Virgin is not considered either as a mediatrix or a redeemer by herself. She was fashioned by the Holy Spirit because the redemptive act of God’s Son had redeemed her in advance, in a most sublime manner, by exempting her from Original Sin; and since as St. Paul teaches, we are purified by Jesus and his Spirit, the Virgin too is created immaculate, totally spotless, in anticipation of the Cross.

But on Calvary this redeemed creature becomes, thanks to her ineffable union with the Holy Spirit, truly a Co-redemptrix.

As the Mother of Jesus our Savior, Mary was the Co-redemptrix of the human race; as the spouse of the Holy Spirit, she shares in the distribution of all graces.

In the Trinity the Spirit urges the Son to give himself in love to the Father; he does the same thing for us, God’s adoptive children. So too on the cross the Holy Spirit urges Christ as a true man to yield himself up in love to his Father. The Immaculata participated in this urging on the part of the Spirit of love, since she lived by his divine life. She repeated the “yes” she had uttered at the Annunciation. The love which burst from the Heart of Jesus dying on the Cross, when he “yielded up his spirit,” was gathered in by the Immaculate Heart of Mary to be handed on to all men. John was the first one to benefit by this maternal gift, John who represented the whole of humanity redeemed by Jesus and by Mary the Immaculata united to the Spirit of her Son. “Woman, behold thy son—son, behold thy mother!” And “from that time forth the disciple took her unto his own” (Jn. 19:26-27).

Speaking of Mary’s spiritual motherhood, Father Kolbe said:

She loved us even to the point of sacrificing her divine Son for us; at the Annunciation she had already deliberately accepted us as her children. (5)

Along with the Holy Spirit who cooperated in the task of the Redemption, the Immaculata obtains for us the privilege of being adoptive sons of God and heirs of the heavenly Kingdom.

She is the “Mother of the Living,” the new Eve, called to be some day the “New Jerusalem.”

The Immaculata, Instrument of the Holy Spirit

Father Kolbe had been deeply impressed by the apparitions of our Lady at the Rue du Bac and at Lourdes. In them he saw the fact of the Immaculata’s mediation, because she was totally united to the Holy Spirit at every moment of her life. The same Spirit which overshadowed her when the Word was made flesh, continued to associate her with himself in his task of sanctifying each member of the Mystical Body, a task confided to the second Paraclete by Jesus himself.

The Word became flesh as a result of the love of God and of the Immaculata. Thus did he become the first-born, the God-Man. In the same way do souls come to a new birth in Christ: thanks to the love of God for the Immaculata, and in her. No word ever becomes “flesh,” no virtue assumes concrete shape in a human person, except through divine Love and the Immaculata. Since Christ, the source of grace, has become her “property,” she has the right to distribute grace…. Every grace comes from the Father in consideration of the Son whom he begets from all eternity. And the Holy Spirit who proceeds from the Father and from the Son uses these graces to shape souls to resemblance with the First-born, the God-Man; he does this in the Immaculata and by her. (6)

Father Kolbe therefore declares, with complete assurance:

The Immaculata has left this earth; but her life has only grown deeper and richer; it grows and flourishes more and more in the lives of Christians. If all the souls that have lived on this earth, and all those that still struggle here could make known the all-powerful influence the Immaculata has exercised over them, and her maternal solicitude for these souls redeemed by the precious Blood of her divine Son, what an incalculable number of volumes would be required! All these persons would relate only what they had been able to discover as special graces received through Mary. But in fact every grace that comes to a soul comes from her hands, for she is the Mediatrix of all grace; and at every moment new graces penetrate into the souls of men. There are graces which enlighten the intellect, which strengthen the will, which draw us toward what is good. There are ordinary and extraordinary graces; some graces directly concern our natural life, and others have to do with the sanctification of our souls. Only at the last judgment, only in Heaven will we discover with what loving attention our Heavenly Mother watched over each one of us without ceasing, over every soul individually, because all are her children. She strives to shape them after the model, Jesus, her first-born, the archetype of all sanctity, the Man-God. (7)

It would take too long to cite all Father Kolbe’s statements concerning Mary as mediatrix and distributrix of all graces. Here is a resume of his thinking on the subject, found in a letter to one of his Brothers, who had inquired after the possibility of such mediation.

The union between the Immaculata and the Holy Spirit is so inexpressible, yet so perfect, that the Holy Spirit acts only by the Most Blessed Virgin, his Spouse. This is why she is the Mediatrix of all grace given by the Holy Spirit. And since every grace is a gift of God the Father through the Son and by the Holy Spirit, it follows that there is no grace which Mary cannot dispose of as her own, which is not given to her for this purpose. (8)

The late Father H. M. Manteau-Bonamy, O.P., was a “peritus” at the Second Vatican Council and one of the world’s foremost authorities on the Mariology of St. Maximilian Kolbe. This article was excerpted from Immaculate Conception and the Holy Spirit: The Marian Teachings of St. Maximilian Kolbe, Franciscan Marytown Press, 1977.

 

Notes

(1) Miles Immaculatae, I, 1938.

(2) Taken from material written by St. Maximilian which he was collecting for a book, hereafter referred to as Sketch, followed by the year, in this case 1940.

(3) Even in the divine life of the Trinity Father Kolbe loves to see the Son as Mediator between the Father and the Holy Spirit.

(4) Sketch, 1940.

(5) Sketch, 1940.

(6) Conference given by St. Maximilian, summarized by Brothers who heard it.

(7) Sketch, 1940.

(8) Letter to Father Mikolajczyk, July 28, 1935.

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Taken from: http://www.motherofallpeoples.com/2012/02/st-maximilian-kolbe-and-the-immaculatas-universal-mediation/

For Pope Francis, Mary’s greatness comes down to this one virtue.

by Elise Harris

Vatican City, Aug 15, 2015 / 07:18 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On the feast of the Assumption of Mary, Pope Francis said that faith is the defining virture of her greatness and that the mysterious way she was taken into heaven is a foreshadowing of what awaits each of us.
“The Gospel also shows us the truest reason for Mary’s greatness and her blessedness: it is faith,” the Pope told pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for his Aug. 15 Angelus address, marking the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary.
Faith, he said, “is the heart of Mary’s entire story; she knew – and she said it – that throughout history weighs the violence of the overbearing, the pride of the rich, the arrogance of the proud.”
Yet she still believed and proclaimed “that God does not leave his children alone, humble and poor, but sustains them with merciful care, casting down the mighty from their thrones, scattering the proud in the conceit of their hearts.”
Dogmatically defined in 1950, the assumption of the Virgin Mary’s body into heaven is celebrated Aug. 15 every year, and is one of the most important Marian feast days in the Catholic Church.
In his address, Pope Francis turned to the day’s Gospel reading from Luke, which recounts Mary’s visit to her cousin Elizabeth shortly after conceiving Jesus through the Holy Spirit.
He recalled Elizabeth’s greeting to Mary: “Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.”
“This is the faith of our mother, this is the faith of Mary!” he said.
Francis pointed to the famous canticle Mary uttered in response, called the “Magnificat,” in which she praises God for the marvelous deeds he has done both in her own life and throughout history.
In this prayer Mary expresses her joy, because she is fully aware of what all the great works in her life at that point mean, namely that through her the Lord will accomplish the salvation her people have long been waiting for, the Pope said.
The prayer also shows us the full meaning of Mary’s life, he added, explaining that “if the mercy of the Lord is the engine of her story (then) she who bore the Lord of life (could not be touched by) the corruption of the tomb.”
Francis continued, saying that the message of Mary’s assumption isn’t limited to just her life, but serves as a reminder for each person of what is to come.
“The great things done in (Mary) by the Omnipotent One touch us deeply, they speak to us of our journey in life, they remind us of the end that awaits us: the house of the Father.”
Because of Mary’s assumption into heaven, we see that life “is not a senseless wandering, but a pilgrimage which, with all of the sufferings and uncertainties, has a sure destination” where the Father awaits us with love, he said.
However, until that destination is reached, God has given his people a sign of consolation and hope for the journey, the Pope said.
And that sign “has a face and a name: the luminous face of the Mother of God, the holy name of Mary, full of grace, blessed because she believed in the word of the Lord.”
Each member of the Church is also destined to share in the glory of Mary, their mother, because we also believe in Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and, through baptism, have entered into the mystery of salvation, Francis said.
The Pope concluded by asking for Mary’s intercession, so that “while winding our way on this earth, she turn her merciful eyes upon us.”
After leading pilgrims in the traditional Marian prayer, Pope Francis turned his thoughts to all those affected by Wednesday’s chemical explosions in Tianjin, China.
Tearing through an industrial area where toxic chemicals and gas had been stored, the Aug. 12 explosions were large enough to be picked up by space satellites, and have so far left 85 dead and more than 700 injured, according to reports.
“I assure my prayers for those who have lost their lives, and for all those suffering from this disaster; may the Lord give relief to them and support those committed to alleviating their suffering.”

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Taken from: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/for-pope-francis-marys-magnanimity-comes-down-this-one-virtue-30607/

First Friday Devotion

“The prayer of the Church venerates and honors the Heart of Jesus . . . which, out of love for men, he allowed to be pierced by our sins.”²

Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is of great antiquity in the Church. It was St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, however, who made this devotion widespread. In 1675, within the octave of the feast of Corpus Christi, our Lord appeared to her and said: “Behold this heart which, not withstanding the burning love for men with which it is consumed and exhausted, meets with no other return from most Christians than sacrilege, contempt, indifference and ingratitude, even in the sacrament of my love [the Eucharist]. But what pierces my heart most deeply is that I am subjected to these insults by persons especially consecrated to my service.”3

To those who show him love and who make reparation for sins, however, our Lord made a great pledge: ”I promise you in the unfath­omable mercy of my heart that my omnipotent love will procure the grace of final penitence for all those who receive communion on nine successive first Fridays of the month; they will not die in my disfavor, or without having received the sacraments, since my divine heart will be their sure refuge in the last moments of their life.”4

The great promise of the Sacred Heart is most consoling: the grace of final perseverance and the joy of having Jesus’ heart as our sure refuge and infinite ocean of mercy in our last hour.

 To gain this grace, we must:

• Receive holy Communion on nine consecutive first Fridays.
• Have the intention of honoring the Sacred Heart of Jesus and of reaching final perseverance.
• Offer each holy Communion as an act of atonement for offenses against the Blessed Sacrament.

Introductory Prayer

Almighty and everlasting God, look upon the heart of your well-beloved Son and upon the praise and satisfaction which he offers to you in the name of all sinners; and grant them pardon when they seek your mercy. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you for ever and ever.

R.  Amen.

Reading: Jn 19:31-37

Since it was the day of Preparation, in order to prevent the bodies from remaining on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him; but when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water.

He who saw it has borne witness-his testimony is true, and he knows that he tells the truth-that you also may believe. For these things took place that the scripture might be fulfilled, “Not a bone of him shall be broken.” And again another scripture says, “They shall look on him whom they have pierced.”

Considerations⁵

1. Love is revealed to us in the Incarnation, the redemptive journey which Jesus Christ made on our earth, culminating in the supreme sacrifice of the cross. And on the cross it showed itself through a new sign: “One of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water.” This water and blood of Jesus speak to us of a self-sacrifice brought to the last extreme: “It is fin­ished”-everything is achieved, for the sake of love. . . .

The fullness of God is revealed and given to us in Christ, in the love of Christ, in Christ’s heart. For it is the heart of him in whom “the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.” Were one to lose sight of this great plan of God-the overflow of love in the world through the Incarnation, the Redemption and Pentecost-he could not understand the refinement with which our Lord deals with us.

2. Let us realize all the richness hidden in the words “the Sacred Heart of Jesus.” When we speak of a person’s heart, we refer not just to his sentiments, but to the whole person in his loving dealings with others. In order to help us understand divine things, Scripture uses the expression “heart” in its full human meaning, as the summary and source, expression and ultimate basis, of one’s thoughts, words and actions. One is worth what one’s heart is worth. . . .

So, when we talk about the heart of Jesus, we stress the certainty of God’s love and the truth of his commitment to us. When we recommend devotion to the Sacred Heart, we are recommending that we should give our whole selves to Jesus, to the whole Jesus-our souls, our feelings and thoughts, our words and actions, our joys.

That is what true devotion to the heart of Jesus means. It is knowing God and ourselves. It is looking at Jesus and turning to him, letting him encourage and teach and guide us. The only difficulty that could beset this devotion would be our own failure to understand the reality of an incarnate God.

3. Jesus on the cross, with his heart overflowing with love for us, is such an eloquent commentary on the value of people and things that words only get in the way. Men, their happiness and their lives, are so important that the very Son of God gave himself to redeem and cleanse and raise them up. “Who will not love this heart so wounded?” a contemplative asks in this connection. “Who will not return love for love? Who will not embrace a heart so pure? We, who are made of flesh, will repay love with love. We will embrace our wounded One, whose hands and feet ungodly men have nailed; we will cling to his side and to his heart. Let us pray that we be worthy of linking our heart with his love and of wounding it with a lance, for it is still hard and impenitent. . . .”

But note that God does not say: “In exchange for your own heart, I will give you a will of pure spirit.” No, he gives us a heart, a human heart, like Christ’s. I don’t have one heart for loving God and another for loving people. I love Christ and the Father and the Holy Spirit and our Lady with the same heart with which I love my parents and my friends. I shall never tire of repeating this. We must be very human, for otherwise we cannot be divine. . . .

If we don’t learn from Jesus, we will never love. If, like some people, we were to think that to keep a clean heart, a heart worthy of God, means “not mixing it up, not contaminating it” with human affection, we would become insensitive to other people’s pain and sorrow. We would be capable of only an “official charity,” something dry and soulless. But ours would not be the true charity of Jesus Christ, which involves affection and human warmth. In saying this, I am not supporting the mistaken theories-pitiful excuses-that misdirect hearts away from God and lead them into occasions of sin and perdition. . . .

4. But I have still a further consideration to put before you. We have to fight vigorously to do good, precisely because it is difficult for us to resolve seriously to be just, and there is a long way to go before human relations are inspired by love and not hatred or indifference. We should also be aware that, even if we achieve a reasonable distribution of wealth and a harmonious organization of society, there will still be the suffering of illness, of misunderstanding, of loneliness, of the death of loved ones, of the experience of our own limitations.

Faced with the weight of all this, a Christian can find only one genuine answer, a definitive answer: Christ on the cross, a God who suffers and dies, a God who gives us his heart opened by a lance for the love of us all. Our Lord abominates injustice and condemns those who commit it. But he respects the freedom of each individual. He permits injustice to happen because, as a result of original sin, it is part and parcel of the human condition. Yet his heart is full of love for men. Our suffering, our sadness, our anguish, our hunger and thirst for justice . . . he took all these tortures on himself by means of the cross. . . .

Suffering is part of God’s plans. This is the truth, however difficult it may be for us to understand it. It was difficult for Jesus Christ the man to undergo his passion: “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” In this tension of pleading and acceptance of the Father’s will, Jesus goes calmly to his death, pardoning those who crucify him.

This supernatural acceptance of suffering was, precisely, the greatest of all conquests. By dying on the cross, Jesus overcame death. God brings life from death. The attitude of a child of God is not one of resignation to a possibly tragic fate; it is the sense of achievement of someone who has a foretaste of victory. In the name of this victorious love of Christ, we Christians should go out into the world to be sowers of peace and joy through everything we say and do. We have to fight-a fight of peace-against evil, against injustice, against sin. Thus do we serve notice that the present condition of mankind is not definitive. Only the love of God, shown in the heart of Christ, will attain our glorious spiritual triumph.

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1.   Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church (=CCC), 667, 2664, 2665.
2.   Cf. CCC, 2669.
3.   St. Margaret M. Alacoque, Autobiography (=MMAA).
4.   Ibid.
5.   Saint Josemaría Escrivá, “Finding Peace in the Heart of Christ,” 162-170, Princeton, N.J.: Scepter Publishers,1974. Footnotes used by the author in the original homily are omitted.


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Taken from: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/resources/prayers/devotions/to-our-lord-jesus-christ/first-friday-devotion/

Mary Queen Of All Creation

ENCYCLICAL LETTER

LAUDATO SI’

OF THE HOLY FATHER

FRANCIS

ON CARE FOR OUR COMMON HOME

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VIII. QUEEN OF ALL CREATION

241. Mary, the Mother who cared for Jesus, now cares with maternal affection and pain for this wounded world. Just as her pierced heart mourned the death of Jesus, so now she grieves for the sufferings of the crucified poor and for the creatures of this world laid waste by human power. Completely transfigured, she now lives with Jesus, and all creatures sing of her fairness. She is the Woman, “clothed in the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars” (Rev 12:1). Carried up into heaven, she is the Mother and Queen of all creation. In her glorified body, together with the Risen Christ, part of creation has reached the fullness of its beauty. She treasures the entire life of Jesus in her heart (cf. Lk 2:19,51), and now understands the meaning of all things. Hence, we can ask her to enable us to look at this world with eyes of wisdom.


242. At her side in the Holy Family of Nazareth, stands the figure of Saint Joseph. Through his work and generous presence, he cared for and defended Mary and Jesus, delivering them from the violence of the unjust by bringing them to Egypt. The Gospel presents Joseph as a just man, hard-working and strong. But he also shows great tenderness, which is not a mark of the weak but of those who are genuinely strong, fully aware of reality and ready to love and serve in humility. That is why he was proclaimed custodian of the universal Church. He too can teach us how to show care; he can inspire us to work with generosity and tenderness in protecting this world which God has entrusted to us.

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Taken from: http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html

A Kingdom of Truth



Taken from: http://www.ignatius.com/promotions/jesus-of-nazareth/excerpts.htm

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At this point we must pass from considerations about the person of Pilate to the trial itself. In John 18:34–35 it is clearly stated that, on the basis of the information in his possession, Pilate had nothing that would incriminate Jesus. Nothing had come to the knowledge of the Roman authority that could in any way have posed a risk to law and order. The charge came from Jesus' own people, from the Temple authority. It must have astonished Pilate that Jesus' own people presented themselves to him as defenders of Rome, when the information at his disposal did not suggest the need for any action on his part.

Yet during the interrogation we suddenly arrive at a dramatic moment: Jesus' confession. To Pilate's question: "So you are a king?" he answers: "You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Every one who is of the truth hears my voice" ( Jn 18:37). Previously Jesus had said: "My kingship is not of this world; if my kingship were of this world, my servants would fight, that I might not be handed over to the Jews; but my kingship is not from the world" (18:36).

This "confession" of Jesus places Pilate in an extraordinary situation: the accused claims kingship and a kingdom (basileía). Yet he underlines the complete otherness of his kingship, and he even makes the particular point that must have been decisive for the Roman judge: No one is fighting for this kingship. If power, indeed military power, is characteristic of kingship and kingdoms, there is no sign of it in Jesus' case. And neither is there any threat to Roman order. This kingdom is powerless. It has "no legions".

With these words Jesus created a thoroughly new concept of kingship and kingdom, and he held it up to Pilate, the representative of classical worldly power. What is Pilate to make of it, and what are we to make of it, this concept of kingdom and kingship? Is it unreal, is it sheer fantasy that can be safely ignored? Or does it somehow affect us?

In addition to the clear delimitation of his concept of kingdom (no fighting, earthly powerlessness), Jesus had introduced a positive idea, in order to explain the nature and particular character of the power of this kingship: namely, truth. Pilate brought another idea into play as the dialogue proceeded, one that came from his own world and was normally connected with "kingdom": namely, power — authority (exousía). Dominion demands power; it even defines it. Jesus, however, defines as the essence of his kingship witness to the truth. Is truth a political category? Or has Jesus' "kingdom" nothing to do with politics? To which order does it belong? If Jesus bases his concept of kingship and kingdom on truth as the fundamental category, then it is entirely understandable that the pragmatic Pilate asks him: "What is truth?" (18:38).

It is the question that is also asked by modern political theory: Can politics accept truth as a structural category? Or must truth, as something unattainable, be relegated to the subjective sphere, its place taken by an attempt to build peace and justice using whatever instruments are available to power? By relying on truth, does not politics, in view of the impossibility of attaining consensus on truth, make itself a tool of particular traditions that in reality are merely forms of holding on to power?

And yet, on the other hand, what happens when truth counts for nothing? What kind of justice is then possible? Must there not be common criteria that guarantee real justice for all — criteria that are independent of the arbitrariness of changing opinions and powerful lobbies? Is it not true that the great dictatorships were fed by the power of the ideological lie and that only truth was capable of bringing freedom?

What is truth? The pragmatist's question, tossed off with a degree of scepticism, is a very serious question, bound up with the fate of mankind. What, then, is truth? Are we able to recognize it? Can it serve as a criterion for our intellect and will, both in individual choices and in the life of the community?

The classic definition from scholastic philosophy designates truth as "adaequatio intellectus et rei" (conformity between the intellect and reality; Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae I, q. 21, a. 2c). If a man's intellect reflects a thing as it is in itself, then he has found truth: but only a small fragment of reality — not truth in its grandeur and integrity.

We come closer to what Jesus meant with another of Saint Thomas' teachings: "Truth is in God's intellect properly and firstly (proprie et primo); in human intellect it is present properly and derivatively (proprie quidem et secundario)" (De Verit., q. 1, a. 4c). And in conclusion we arrive at the succinct formula: God is "ipsa summa et prima veritas" (truth itself, the sovereign and first truth; Summa Theologiae I, q. 16, a. 5c).

This formula brings us close to what Jesus means when he speaks of the truth, when he says that his purpose in coming into the world was to "bear witness to the truth". Again and again in the world, truth and error, truth and untruth, are almost inseparably mixed together. The truth in all its grandeur and purity does not appear. The world is "true" to the extent that it reflects God: the creative logic, the eternal reason that brought it to birth. And it becomes more and more true the closer it draws to God. Man becomes true, he becomes himself, when he grows in God's likeness. Then he attains to his proper nature. God is the reality that gives being and intelligibility.

"Bearing witness to the truth" means giving priority to God and to his will over against the interests of the world and its powers. God is the criterion of being. In this sense, truth is the real "king" that confers light and greatness upon all things. We may also say that bearing witness to the truth means making creation intelligible and its truth accessible from God's perspective — the perspective of creative reason — in such a way that it can serve as a criterion and a signpost in this world of ours, in such a way that the great and the mighty are exposed to the power of truth, the common law, the law of truth.

Let us say plainly: the unredeemed state of the world consists precisely in the failure to understand the meaning of creation, in the failure to recognize truth; as a result, the rule of pragmatism is imposed, by which the strong arm of the powerful becomes the god of this world.

At this point, modern man is tempted to say: Creation has become intelligible to us through science. Indeed, Francis S. Collins, for example, who led the Human Genome Project, says with joyful astonishment: "The language of God was revealed" (The Language of God, p. 122). Indeed, in the magnificent mathematics of creation, which today we can read in the human genetic code, we recognize the language of God. But unfortunately not the whole language. The functional truth about man has been discovered. But the truth about man himself — who he is, where he comes from, what he should do, what is right, what is wrong — this unfortunately cannot be read in the same way. Hand in hand with growing knowledge of functional truth there seems to be an increasing blindness toward "truth" itself — toward the question of our real identity and purpose.

What is truth? Pilate was not alone in dismissing this question as unanswerable and irrelevant for his purposes. Today too, in political argument and in discussion of the foundations of law, it is generally experienced as disturbing. Yet if man lives without truth, life passes him by; ultimately he surrenders the field to whoever is the stronger. "Redemption" in the fullest sense can only consist in the truth becoming recognizable. And it becomes recognizable when God becomes recognizable. He becomes recognizable in Jesus Christ. In Christ, God entered the world and set up the criterion of truth in the midst of history. Truth is outwardly powerless in the world, just as Christ is powerless by the world's standards: he has no legions; he is crucified. Yet in his very powerlessness, he is powerful: only thus, again and again, does truth become power.

In the dialogue between Jesus and Pilate, the subject matter is Jesus' kingship and, hence, the kingship, the "kingdom", of God. In the course of this same conversation it becomes abundantly clear that there is no discontinuity between Jesus' Galilean teaching — the proclamation of the kingdom of God — and his Jerusalem teaching. The center of the message, all the way to the Cross — all the way to the inscription above the Cross — is the kingdom of God, the new kingship represented by Jesus. And this kingship is centered on truth. The kingship proclaimed by Jesus, at first in parables and then at the end quite openly before the earthly judge, is none other than the kingship of truth. The inauguration of this kingship is man's true liberation.

At the same time it becomes clear that between the pre-Resurrection focus on the kingdom of God and the post-Resurrection focus on faith in Jesus Christ as Son of God there is no contradiction. In Christ, God — the Truth — entered the world. Christology is the concrete form acquired by the proclamation of God's kingdom.

After the interrogation, Pilate knew for certain what in principle he had already known beforehand: this Jesus was no political rebel; his message and his activity posed no threat for the Roman rulers. Whether Jesus had offended against the Torah was of no concern to him as a Roman.

Yet Pilate seems also to have experienced a certain superstitious wariness concerning this remarkable figure. True, Pilate was a sceptic. As a man of his time, though, he did not exclude the possibility that gods or, at any rate, god-like beings could take on human form. John tells us that "the Jews" accused Jesus of making himself the Son of God, and then he adds: "When Pilate heard these words, he was even more afraid" (19:8).

I think we must take seriously the idea of Pilate's fear: Perhaps there really was something divine in this man? Perhaps Pilate would be opposing divine power if he were to condemn him? Perhaps he would have to reckon with the anger of the deity? I think his attitude during the trial can be explained not only on the basis of a certain commitment to see justice done, but also on the basis of such considerations as these.

Jesus' accusers obviously realize this, and so they now play off one fear against another. Against the superstitious fear of a possible divine presence, they appeal to the entirely practical fear of forfeiting the emperor's favor, being removed from office, and thus plunging into a downward spiral. The declaration: "If you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend" ( Jn 19:12) is a threat. In the end, concern for career proves stronger than fear of divine powers.

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Pope Francis Declares Holy Year for Mercy

Rome, Italy, Mar 13, 2015 / 10:05 am (CNA/EWTN News).- During his homily for a Lenten penitential service, Pope Francis announced an extraordinary Jubilee to start at the end of the year, which will be dedicated to a theme close to the pontiff’s heart: mercy.

“Dear brothers and sisters, I have thought about how the Church can make clear its mission of being a witness of mercy,” the Pope told attendees of his March 13 penitential liturgy in St. Peter’s Basilica.

“It's a journey that starts with a spiritual conversion. For this reason I have decided to declare an Extraordinary Jubilee that has the mercy of God at its center. It will be a Holy Year of Mercy.”

Daniel Ibanez/CNA.

 

by Elise Harris

The biblical passage for the Holy Year's theme is from Luke Chapter 6 verse 36, in which Jesus tells his disciples, “Be merciful as your Father is merciful.”

“I am convinced that the whole Church will be able to find in this Jubilee the joy of rediscovering and making fruitful the mercy of God, with which we are all called to give consolation to every man and every woman of our time,” Francis said, and entrusted the Holy Year to Mary, Mother of Mercy.

Pope Francis made his announcement during a penitential liturgy opening the second “24 Hours for the Lord” event, which he originally called for in Lent of last year.

An initiative of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization, the event is designed to widen access to the Sacrament of Confession by having parishes open their doors for an extended period of time with priests available to those who come.

Francis’ announcement of the Extraordinary Jubilee for mercy not only falls on the opening of the 24 hours for the Lord event, which follows the theme “God rich in mercy,” but also the two year anniversary of his pontificate.

The Jubilee, also called a Holy Year, will open this year on Dec. 8 – the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception – and will close Nov. 20, 2016 with the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe.

It will also coincide with the 50th anniversary of the closing of the Second Vatican Council in 1965. The Jubilee will be organized by the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization.

Sunday readings during Ordinary Time for the Holy Year will be taken from the Gospel of Luke, as he is often referred to as “the evangelist of mercy.” Among the well-known parables of mercy present in Luke’s Gospel are those of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the merciful father.

The official announcement of the Jubilee will take place on Divine Mercy Sunday, the Sunday after Easter, with a public proclamation in front of the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica.

Each of the four papal basilicas in Rome has a holy door, which are normally sealed shut from the inside so that they cannot be opened. The doors are only opened during Jubilee years so that pilgrims can enter through them in order to gain the plenary indulgence that is connected with the Jubilee.

The rite of the opening of the Holy Door is intended to symbolically illustrate the idea that the Church’s faithful are offered an “extraordinary path” toward salvation during the time of Jubilee.

After the Holy Door opens in St. Peter’s Basilica, those of the other three Roman basilicas, St. John Lateran, St. Paul Outside the Walls and St. Mary Major, will be opened.

In ancient Hebrew tradition, the Jubilee Year was celebrated every 50 years and was intended to restore equality among the children of Israel by providing opportunities for families who had lost their property and even their personal freedom to regain them.

It was also a year in which the wealthy were reminded that their Israelite slaves would again become their equals and regain their rights.

The Catholic tradition of practicing the Holy Year began with Pope Boniface VIII in 1300, and since 1475 an Ordinary Jubilee has been celebrated every 25 years in order to allow each generation to experience at least one during their lifetime.

However, as is the case with Pope Francis’ 2016 Holy Year of Mercy, an extraordinary Jubilee can be called for a special occasion or for an event that has a particular importance.

Until now there have only been 26 ordinary Jubilee celebrations, the last of which was the Jubilee of 2000.

The Holy Year is traditionally a year of forgiveness of sins and also the punishment merited by one’s sins. It is also a year for reconciliation between enemies, conversion and receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

The first extraordinary Jubilee was called in 16th century, and the most recent have been in 1933, when Pope Pius XI called one to celebrate 1900 years of Redemption, and in 1983 when St. John Paul II proclaimed one to honor 1950 years of Redemption.

Mercy is a theme that is dear to Francis, and is the central topic of his episcopal motto “miserando atque eligendo,” which he chose when ordained a bishop in 1992.

One translation of the motto, taken from a homily given by St. Bede on Jesus’ calling of St. Matthew, is “with eyes of mercy.”

In his first Angelus address as the Bishop of Rome, March 17, 2013, Francis spoke of “Feeling mercy...this word changes everything.”

Mercy, he said then, “is the best thing we can feel: it changes the world. A little mercy makes the world less cold and more just. We need to understand properly this mercy of God, this merciful Father who is so patient.”

In the English version of his first Apostolic Exhortation “Evangelii Gaudium,” the word “mercy” appears 32 times.

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Taken from: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pope-francis-declares-2016-to-be-a-jubilee-for-mercy-84325/