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 20/2014
Let us read the Gospel, a small section each day. This way we will learn what is most essential in our lives: love and mercy.
Tweet from 13.05.2014
The moment we receive Him and host him in our heart, the Holy Spirit begins immediately to make us sensitive to his voice and to direct our thoughts, our sentiments and our intentions according to God’s heart. At the same time, he leads us increasingly to turn our interior gaze on Jesus, as model of our way of acting and of relating to God the Father and to our brothers. Counsel, therefore, is the gift with which the Holy Spirit renders our conscience capable of making a concrete choice in communion with God, according to the logic of Jesus and of his Gospel. In this way, the Spirit makes us grow interiorly, he makes us grow positively, he makes us grow in the community and helps us not to fall prey to egoism or our own way of seeing things. Thus the Spirit helps us to grow and also to live in community. The essential condition to preserve this gift is prayer. We always come back to the same subject: prayer! But prayer is so important. To pray with the prayers that we all know from childhood, but also to pray with our own words. To pray to the Lord: “Lord, help me, counsel me, what must I do now?” And with prayer we make room for the Spirit to come to help us at that moment. To counsel us on what we must all do. Prayer, never forget prayer! Never! No one, no one is aware when we pray in the bus, in the street: we pray in silence with our heart. Let us take advantage of these moments to pray, to pray that the Spirit will give us this gift of counsel.
General audience, 7.5.2014
In the present economic system and in the mentality that it generates the word solidarity has become uncomfortable, even annoying. Last year I said to you that, for this world, it seemed like a dirty word! The crisis of the last few years, which has deep ethical causes, has increased this ‘allergy’ to words such as solidarity, the just distribution of goods, priority of work And the reason is that we cannot – or don’t want – to truly study how these ethical values can become concrete economic values, that is, to cause virtuous dynamics in production, in work, in commerce, and in finance itself. And this is exactly what you are trying to do, always holding the theoretical and practical aspects together, the thought and experiences in the field…In particular, the Christian entrepreneur is asked to unite the Gospel always with the reality in which he operates; and the Gospel asks him to put in the first place the human person and the common good, to do everything he can to ensure that there are opportunities for work, dignified work. Naturally, this “enterprise” cannot be carried out in isolation, but collaborating with others who share the ethical base and seek to widen the network as much as possible.
To members of the Centesimus Annus – Pro Pontifice Foundation, 10.5.2014
In intimacy with God and in listening to his Word, little by little, we put aside our personal logic, dictated most often by our closures, our prejudices and our ambitions, and we learn instead to ask the Lord: what is your desire? What is your will? What pleases you? In this way, a profound attunement matures in us, almost innate in the Spirit and we experience the truth of Jesus’ words presented to us in Matthew’s Gospel: “When they deliver you up, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you” (Matthew 10:19-20). It is the Spirit who counsels us, but we must make room for the Spirit, so that he can counsel us. And to make room is to pray, to pray so that He will come and help us always. As all the other gifts of the Spirit, then, counsel also constitutes a treasure for the whole Christian community. The Lord does not speak to us only in the depth of our heart; He speaks to us, yes, but not only there, but He also speaks to us through the voice and witness of brothers. It is truly a great gift to be able to meet men and women of faith that, especially in the most complicated and important moments of our life, help us to enlighten our heart and recognize the will of the Lord!
General Audience, 7.5.2014
The Christian community the parish, the diocese, the associations is the place in which the entrepreneur, but also the politician, the professional, the trade unionist, draw the energy to nourish their commitment and to deal with their brothers. This is indispensable, because sometimes the work environment becomes arid, hostile, inhuman. The crisis puts the hope of entrepreneurs to a harsh test; we cannot abandon those who are in most difficulty. Dear friends of Centesimus Annus, you can give effective witness in your field, because you not only bring words, and addresses, but you bring the experience of persons and enterprises that seek to act completely on the Christian ethical principles in the present situation of the world of work.
To members of the Centesimus Annus – Pro Pontifice Foundation, 10.5.2014
These are those who scattered because of the persecution that took place after the death of Stephen. They were scattered with the seed of the Gospel and took it everywhere. At first, they only addressed the Jews. Then, in a natural way, some of them reached Antioch and began to speak to the Greeks. And so, little by little, they opened the door to the Greeks and the Gentiles. When news of this reached Jerusalem, they sent Barnabas to Antioch to inspect. And everyone was happy because a great multitude was added to the Lord. These people did not say, let us go first to the Jews, and then the Greeks, the pagans, and everybody. No! They allowed themselves to be led by the Holy Spirit! They were docile to the Holy Spirit. And then one thing led to another, opening doors to the whole world: even to pagans, who according to their thinking, were unclean, they opened doors to everyone! Sometimes the Holy Spirit moves us to do bold things: like when He moved Phillip to baptise the minister of Ethiopia, or when he urged Peter to baptise Cornelius. Other times the Holy Spirit leads us gently and the virtue of allowing ourselves to be led by the Holy Spirit, to not resist the Holy Spirit, to be docile to the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is working today in the Church, is acting today in our lives. Some of you may say to me: ‘But I have never seen him!’ Be attentive to what happens to you, the things that come to your mind, what you feel in your heart. Good things? This is the Holy Spirit that invites you to go in this direction. This requires docility. The docility of the Holy Spirit.
Santa Marta, 13.5.2014
We cannot evangelise without dialogue. It is not possible. Because you should start precisely where the person who is to be evangelised is. This is so important! ‘But, Father, it takes so much time, because each one has his own story, comes with this, that, his ideas.’ And this takes time. But God wasted even more time in creating the world and he did it well! Dialogue. Taking time with the other person, because this is who God wants you to evangelise, to whom you will give the news of Jesus, is more important. But as he is, not as he should be: as he is now…Think about these three moments of evangelisation: docility in evangelising in doing the will of God; dialogue with the person- but in the dialogue begin with where they are – and thirdly, entrust them to grace: grace is more important than all the bureaucracy. What stops you? Let us remember this. And so often the Church becomes a company that manufactures impediments, so that people cannot arrive at grace. May the Lord make us understand this.
Santa Marta, 8.5.2014
