HOMILY OF POPE FRANCIS

Subject: HOMILY OF POPE FRANCIS Sat May 18, 2013 12:57 pm

Should probably put this under spirituality and religion, but the second half of it, which I'm posting here, isn't about Catholicism, Christianity, or even religion. It's about being human, and it seemed really important, so I put it here where it would be seen, an have a better chance of being read:

HOMILY OF POPE FRANCIS

Saint Peter's Square
Tuesday, 19 March 2013

Quote :: .....The vocation of being a “protector”, however, is not just something involving us Christians alone; it also has a prior dimension which is simply human, involving everyone. It means protecting all creation, the beauty of the created world, as the Book of Genesis tells us and as Saint Francis of Assisi showed us. It means respecting each of God’s creatures and respecting the environment in which we live. It means protecting people, showing loving concern for each and every person, especially children, the elderly, those in need, who are often the last we think about. It means caring for one another in our families: husbands and wives first protect one another, and then, as parents, they care for their children, and children themselves, in time, protect their parents. It means building sincere friendships in which we protect one another in trust, respect, and goodness. In the end, everything has been entrusted to our protection, and all of us are responsible for it. Be protectors of God’s gifts!

Whenever human beings fail to live up to this responsibility, whenever we fail to care for creation and for our brothers and sisters, the way is opened to destruction and hearts are hardened. Tragically, in every period of history there are “Herods” who plot death, wreak havoc, and mar the countenance of men and women.

Please, I would like to ask all those who have positions of responsibility in economic, political and social life, and all men and women of goodwill: let us be “protectors” of creation, protectors of God’s plan inscribed in nature, protectors of one another and of the environment. Let us not allow omens of destruction and death to accompany the advance of this world! But to be “protectors”, we also have to keep watch over ourselves! Let us not forget that hatred, envy and pride defile our lives! Being protectors, then, also means keeping watch over our emotions, over our hearts, because they are the seat of good and evil intentions: intentions that build up and tear down! We must not be afraid of goodness or even tenderness!

Here I would add one more thing: caring, protecting, demands goodness, it calls for a certain tenderness. In the Gospels, Saint Joseph appears as a strong and courageous man, a working man, yet in his heart we see great tenderness, which is not the virtue of the weak but rather a sign of strength of spirit and a capacity for concern, for compassion, for genuine openness to others, for love. We must not be afraid of goodness, of tenderness!

Today, together with the feast of Saint Joseph, we are celebrating the beginning of the ministry of the new Bishop of Rome, the Successor of Peter, which also involves a certain power. Certainly, Jesus Christ conferred power upon Peter, but what sort of power was it? Jesus’ three questions to Peter about love are followed by three commands: feed my lambs, feed my sheep. Let us never forget that authentic power is service, and that the Pope too, when exercising power, must enter ever more fully into that service which has its radiant culmination on the Cross. He must be inspired by the lowly, concrete and faithful service which marked Saint Joseph and, like him, he must open his arms to protect all of God’s people and embrace with tender affection the whole of humanity, especially the poorest, the weakest, the least important, those whom Matthew lists in the final judgment on love: the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick and those in prison (cf. Mt 25:31-46). Only those who serve with love are able to protect!

In the second reading, Saint Paul speaks of Abraham, who, “hoping against hope, believed” (Rom 4:18). Hoping against hope! Today too, amid so much darkness, we need to see the light of hope and to be men and women who bring hope to others. To protect creation, to protect every man and every woman, to look upon them with tenderness and love, is to open up a horizon of hope; it is to let a shaft of light break through the heavy clouds; it is to bring the warmth of hope! For believers, for us Christians, like Abraham, like Saint Joseph, the hope that we bring is set against the horizon of God, which has opened up before us in Christ. It is a hope built on the rock which is God.

To protect Jesus with Mary, to protect the whole of creation, to protect each person, especially the poorest, to protect ourselves: this is a service that the Bishop of Rome is called to carry out, yet one to which all of us are called, so that the star of hope will shine brightly. Let us protect with love all that God has given us!

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/homilies/2013/documents/papa-francesco_20130319_omelia-inizio-pontificato_en.html

Subject: Re: HOMILY OF POPE FRANCIS Sat May 18, 2013 1:11 pm

Very well said.
This pope appears to have much better ideas than the previous one.

Subject: Re: HOMILY OF POPE FRANCIS Sat May 18, 2013 2:47 pm

5/18/2013
I love Pope Francis, he doesn't live in the Vatican, he lives
in a hotel next door and he had the retired Pope live on the
Vatican grounds, I believe he's trying to show the world he's
like everyone else, a human being, I would love to meet him.
God Bless the Pope.
Cheers.. Joe Very Happy

Subject: Re: HOMILY OF POPE FRANCIS Sun May 19, 2013 12:29 am

The message of love is most important.

Subject: Re: HOMILY OF POPE FRANCIS Sun May 19, 2013 1:58 pm

I love this Pope. I loved John Paul II as well. They are both true shepherds. I hope Pope Francis lives to a ripe old age. He reminds me of Anthony Quinn's portrayal of a revolutionary Pope in The Shoes of the Fisherman. My wife made the same observation within a day of his elevation to the Papacy.

Subject: Re: HOMILY OF POPE FRANCIS Sun May 19, 2013 2:03 pm

I love this Pope. I loved John Paul II as well. They are both true shepherds. I hope Pope Francis lives to a ripe old age. He reminds me of Anthony Quinn's portrayal of a revolutionary Pope in The Shoes of the Fisherman. My wife made the same observation within a day of his elevation to the Papacy.

Subject: Re: HOMILY OF POPE FRANCIS Sun May 19, 2013 3:00 pm

Wasn't that a fantastic film?

Annie

Subject: Re: HOMILY OF POPE FRANCIS Sun May 19, 2013 3:30 pm

Why are all these new writings not put down as an addendum to the Bible of old?

Just curious as Alice.

Love,

Betty

Subject: Re: HOMILY OF POPE FRANCIS Sun May 19, 2013 8:09 pm

Loved the movie, Ann. (I'd also love to know how the heck I managed to post the same thing twice/simultaneously?????)

Subject: Re: HOMILY OF POPE FRANCIS Sun May 19, 2013 8:33 pm

5/20/2013
His Holiness Pope Francis...
https://twitter.com/Pontifex

Cheers Joe Very Happy

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