org. Every part of the Church, and many others outside of her – believers or non-believers – have received Pope Francis` clear and hope-filled words. They are also words that motivate us to assume the responsibility we all have to build a world in accordance to the Will of God, in the strength of the Spirit and through the way of Christ. Cardinals and bishops, priests, men and women religious, novices and seminarians, families, the youth and elderly, communities and institutes have received this challenge to go out “onto the street” to take – not a utopian hope – but concrete deeds in living evangelization projects to all men and women wherever they may be. And if they are on the “outskirts” then we have to go there, with all the risks and dangers it may include. He repeats to us constantly: I prefer an injured church, because she goes out to serve, to a Church that is sick because of her self-absorption. Testimony to this can be found in the section of Schoenstatt.org where on a weekly basis texts are selected which motivate us on our own pilgrimage toward the 2014 Jubilee. Undoubtedly, because we are the Church, these words are also directed to us. How happy must our Father not be with this missionary impetus which is given to us from the very heart of the Church! (Fr. José María García)
WEEK 49/2013
It is a universal pilgrimage toward a common goal, which in the Old Testament is Jerusalem, where the Temple of the Lord rises. For from there, from Jerusalem came the revelation of the Face of God and of his Law. Revelation found its fulfillment in Jesus Christ, and he, the Word made flesh, became the “Temple of the Lord”: he is both guide and goal of our pilgrimage, of the pilgrimage of the entire People of God; and in his light the other peoples may also walk toward the Kingdom of justice, toward the Kingdom of peace.
Angelus, 1. 12.2013
While we accustomed to think of Jesus preaching, healing, walking through the streets speaking to people, or even being raised upon the Cross, we are not accustomed to think of Jesus smiling, or joyful. However, Jesus was full of joy. Jesus’ joy finds its source in intimacy with the Father. His inner joy comes precisely from this relationship with the Father in the Holy Spirit. And this is the joy he gives to us, and this joy is true peace…A Church without joy is unthinkable…The joy of the Church is to announce the name of Jesus, and to proclaim: My spouse is the Lord, he is God who saves us and accompanies us. In this joy of a bride the Church becomes a mother. Pope Paul VI would say: the joy of the Church is to evangelize, to go ahead and speak with her bridegroom…And to share this joy with the children she gives birth to and raises.
4. 12. 2013, Santa Marta
A Christian word without Christ at its centre leads to vanity, to pride, power for the sake of power. The Lord breaks down these people. This happens continuously in the history of salvation. Hannah, the mother of Samuel says it; Mary says it in the Magnificat: the Lord breaks down the vanity and pride of people who believe they are the rock. These people stand behind a word but without Jesus Christ: this word is Christian but it is without Jesus Christ, it lacks a relationship with Jesus Christ, it lacks prayer with Jesus Christ, service in Jesus Christ and love for Jesus Christ. This is what the Lord tells us today: We should build our lives on this rock and He is the rock. I am referring to Christian words, because when these are not Christ centered they divide us from ourselves and divide the Church. We ask the Lord to help in this humility to speak words rooted in Jesus Christ, not ones pronounced for the sake of power which lead to the madness of vanity and pride. With this humility of being disciples of salvation and to go out not with words that, because we believe they are powerful end in the madness of vanity, in the madness of pride. May the Lord give us this grace of humility to speak with Jesus Christ and founded on Jesus Christ.
5.12.2013, Santa Marta
If we look at the most painful moments of our lives, when we have lost a loved one — our parents, a brother, a sister, a spouse, a child, a friend — we realize that even amid the tragedy of loss, even when torn by separation, the conviction arises in the heart that everything cannot be over, that the good given and received has not been pointless. There is a powerful instinct within us which tells us that our lives do not end with death. This thirst for life found its true and reliable answer in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus’ Resurrection does not only give us the certainty of life after death, it also illumines the very mystery of the death of each one of us. If we live united to Jesus, faithful to him, we will also be able to face the passage of death with hope and serenity.
Audience, 27.11.2013
The one who practices mercy does not fear death! Do you agree? Shall we say it together so as not to forget it? The one who practices mercy does not fear death. And why does he not fear it? Because he looks death in the face in the wounds of his brothers and sisters, and he overcomes it with the love of Jesus Christ. If we will open the door of our lives and hearts to our littlest brothers and sisters, then even our own death will become a door that introduces us to heaven, to the blessed homeland, toward which we are directed, longing to dwell forever with God our Father, with Jesus, with Our Lady and with the Saints.
Audience, 27.11.2013
The Lord wants us to understand what is going on in our hearts, in the world and in history. He wants us to understand the meaning of what is happening around us. In fact it is in answering these questions that we come to perceive the signs of the times. Yet in this we have an enemy against us. The enemy is the spirit of the world, who does not want us to be a people. Rather, he wants us to become ‘the masses’ who are neither thinking nor free. A thinking that is uniform, weak, and yet so widespread. The spirit of the world does not want us to place ourselves before God and ask: why is this happening? To distract us from the essential questions, he therefore proposes a pret-à-porter [ready-to-wear] way of thinking, according to our own tastes: I think as I like. What he does not want is what Jesus asks of us: free thought, the thought of a man and a woman who belongs to the people of God. Yet, he noted, the Lord redeemed us by making us his people, the people of God, by making us free.
29.11., Santa Marta
We need the Lord’s help, we need the Holy Spirit in order to understand the signs of the time. In fact, it is precisely the Spirit who gives us the intelligence to understand. It is good to ask the Lord Jesus for the grace of sending us his spirit of understanding, so that our thought might not be weak, uniform, and according to our own tastes but rather in accord with God and with this thinking – with mind, heart and spirit – which is the Spirit’s gift, to seek to understand well the signs of the times.
Santa Marta, 29.11.2013
Just as in each of our lives we always need to begin again, to get up again, to rediscover the meaning of the goal of our lives, so also for the great human family it is always necessary to rediscover the common horizon toward which we are journeying. The horizon of hope! This is the horizon that makes for a good journey. The season of Advent, which we begin again today, restores this horizon of hope, a hope which does not disappoint for it is founded on God’s Word. A hope which does not disappoint, simply because the Lord never disappoints! He is faithful! He does not disappoint! Let us think about and feel this beauty. The model of this spiritual disposition, of this way of being and journeying in life, is the Virgin Mary. A simple girl from the country who carries within her heart the fullness of hope in God! In her womb, God’s hope took flesh, it became man, it became history: Jesus Christ. Her Magnificat is the canticle of the People of God on a journey, and of all men and women who hope in God and in the power of his mercy. Let us allow ourselves to be guided by her, she who is mother, a mamma and knows how to guide us. Let us allow ourselves to be guided by her during this season of active waiting and watchfulness.
Angelus, 1.12.2013
See all texts in “Francis for the Pilgrims 2014”
The aim of the pilgrimage
is the renewal of the covenant of love
as a missionary and unifying creative force,
i.e. internally the renewal of the Schoenstatt Family
and externally the shaping of covenant culture.
