works of mercy Tag

POPE FRANCIS’ MESSAGE FOR THE WORLD DAY OF PEACE – 01.01.2017 • “The Jubilee of Mercy that ended in November encouraged each one of us to look deeply within and to allow God’s mercy to enter there. The Jubilee taught us to realize how many and diverse are the individuals and social groups treated with indifference and subjected to injustice and violence. They too are part of our “family”; they too are our brothers and sisters. The politics of nonviolence have to begin in the home and then spread toRead More
FRANCIS IN ROME – YEAR OF MERCY • The Wednesday after the canonisation of seven new saints on 19 October, Pope Francis began a new cycle of catequesis, focusing on what for him is the human-instrumental nucleus of the process of mercy: works of mercy, the “nothing without us,” to use our covenant language. He began this cycle with the work of feeding the hungry, highlighting the personal moment, the difference between giving something during a solidarity campaign (as important as this is) and do so in the first person,Read More
FRANCIS IN ROME – YEAR OF MERCY • During his catequesis during the General Audience on 12 October, Pope Francis recalled his previous meditations dedicated to the great mystery of God’s mercy, and emphasised the spiritual and corporal works of mercy. “We reflected on the Father’s action in the Old Testament, and then, in the Gospel account, we saw how Jesus, in his words and actions, is the Incarnation of Mercy,” he told the crowds gathered in St. Peter’s Square. The Holy Father warned that “it is not enough toRead More
PARAGUAY, by Maria Fischer and Ani Souberlich • “Do we have donations for one more house?” Ani Souberlich asked me several weeks ago. “I already asked for the material, it is for one of our families that I promised a roof, and with last week’s rain, they had some misfortune, and they are now practically living under a tree. I would like to help them now…and I want to build this house because it is cold. I will tell you more later!” Two or three days before, the first donationRead More
FRANCIS IN ROME, Maria Fischer • Pope Francis once again offered a glimpse of the works of mercy he undertakes every Friday as part of the Jubilee of Mercy.  This time he visited the neo-natal unit at the San Giovanni Hospital in Rome and a hospice that houses 30 terminally ill patients. Where babies fight for their lives The man in white dressed in green and visited babies who are fighting for their lives in incubators, and terminally ill patients who are waiting for the end of their lives.  FrancisRead More
ITALY, WYD 2016,  Gianfrancesco Romano • Gianfrancesco, a Schoenstatter, the first historic leader of the Schoenstatt Boys’ Youth from Italy, relates his experience of World Youth Day as a leader of his parish group. A personal experience of 3 World Youth Days From Cologne to Krakow, passing through Madrid, no, this was not because of some flight plan; it was not even the unfortunate acquisition of improbable routes to save some Euros on the flight. It is my very own personal experience of three (!) different World Youth Days. OnRead More
PARAGUAY, Mother of Tupãrenda House, Ana María Acha • In the photos of the blessing of Mother of Tupãrenda House, Ana María Acha, president of FundaProva (Foundation of the promotion of values and the prevention of violence) is shown with one of the cabbages from the organic garden in her hands. “It seems that you had to touch it to believe that what you experienced on 22 August was real,” I told her – and as a response she sent this testimony of the “prelude” to the blessing, an unforgettableRead More
GERMANY, Project: Trust in God  (GOTTvertrauen), by Maria Fischer • Wonderful and profound experiences were had by the colourful group that set off from Cologne on Sunday 31 July under the banner and with the intention: Trust in God. Rain – “usually not too bad, but more at times” – tired feet, good conversations, many photos, completely new experiences, such as the open round of thanksgiving in the evening during which the participants opened their hearts and related personal experiences, small but intensive with hosts at the wayside stops. OnceRead More
From Archbishop Emeritus Robert Zollitsch DD, Freiburg, Member of the Institute of Schoenstatt Diocesan Priests • When I watch the news about the wave of refugees and their camps in Greece on TV; when I read the press reports on the number of asylum seekers or even the arson attacks on homes for asylum seekers, I sometimes think: How would it be if I was one of them and had to experience personally what they are going through? So it is one of my greatest aims to make the peopleRead More
PARAGUAY, by Ani Souberlich and Maria Fischer • One afternoon in the life of one who lives in covenant solidarity with the very poor: “I arrived home from work. I took a shower and then I got to work: ironing clothes I washed yesterday to make packages for our ‘100 houses’ families and those I meet along the way…” When Ani Souberlich meets with her schoolmates, with friends or with Schoenstatters, they already know what will happen: she asks for clothes they no longer use, for toys, and anything thatRead More