Pope asks prisoners to pray that Christ make him a better servant

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Apr 2, 2015

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — In a moving ceremony that recalled how Jesus loved the world so deeply that he lowered himself to serve and died for everyone’s sins, Pope Francis washed the feet of 12 prison inmates, plus a small toddler who lives with his incarcerated mother.

“Jesus loved us, Jesus loves us, but without any limits, always, all the way to the end,” he said during the Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord’s Supper April 2.

“He does not tire of loving anyone, he loves all of us” so much that he gave his life in order “to give life to us, for each one of us … for you, for you, for me, for them,” he said, pointing to the men and women inmates gathered in the “Our Father” chapel in Rome’s Rebibbia prison complex.

The pope arrived at the prison to the cheers and shouts of hundreds of prisoners chanting “Francesco” and applauding as they stood along metal barricades lining a prison courtyard.

After getting out of a blue four-door vehicle, the pope turned to a large concrete prison block behind him and waved, presumably because voices and cheers were coming from within the heavily barred windows.

He greeted, hugged, clasped hands with and kissed the scores of inmates outside lining the barricade. Many held plastic rosaries out to be blessed; others wanted just to stroke his hand or ask him to pray for someone in a picture they showed him.

Despite the solemnity during the opening procession of Mass, many could not contain their emotion and joy at seeing the pope and the congregation of 300 inmates, prison staff and volunteers broke out in applause and people leaned in close to touch the pope, congesting an already narrow center aisle.

In his brief, off-the-cuff homily, the pope explained the meaning of the Lord’s Supper and the significance of Jesus washing his apostles’ feet.

Back in Jesus’ era, he said, when people came to visit, their feet would be dirty from wearing sandals on dusty roads.

“They didn’t have sampietrini cobblestones back then,” he said, as people smiled, recalling Rome’s signature lava stone-lined streets.

But instead of having a slave wash the apostles’ feet, Jesus performed the ritual himself to the apostles’ shock and incomprehension, the pope said.

Jesus loved people so much, he said, that “he became a slave in order to serve us, heal us, cleanse us,” he said.

Pope Francis said the church today asks “the priest to wash the feet of 12 people in memory of the 12 apostles.”

But in order to draw authentic meaning from the ceremony, everyone must “have the certainty in our hearts, we must be sure that when the Lord washes our foot, he washes away everything, he purifies us, he makes us feel his love once more.”

He said the men and women who would participate in the foot washing ceremony would be representing everyone, all 2,100 people, housed in the detention facility.

The pope then said that he, too, needed to be cleansed by the Lord, and asked that everyone pray that “the Lord also wash away my filth so that I become more of your servant, more of a servant in the service of the people, like Jesus was.”

Earlier in the day, the pope’s @Pontifiex Twitter account had the tweet: “Jesus washes the feet of the Apostles. Are we ready to serve others like this?”

After his homily, the pope removed his vestments and put on a large white garment tied over his alb. He kneeled before each of the 12 detainees: most were Italian, others came from Nigeria, Congo, Ecuador and Brazil. Two aides assisted the 78-year-old pope in kneeling and pulling him back up.

The pope poured water from a white plastic pitcher over each person’s foot, scrubbed it slowly with a white towel, bent low to kiss it and then looked up into the eyes of each person with a broad smile.

The gentle and caring gestures brought many of the inmates to tears while children’s squeals and banter bounced off the tall brick walls of the chapel.

Before washing the foot of a mother from Nigeria, the pope washed the tiny foot of her small boy, who calmly watched the proceedings from his mother’s lap.

She was one of many female detainees at the Mass who live in the prison’s maternity section, which houses incarcerated mothers with their children who are younger than three.

When the Mass ended, the pope patiently and happily made his way down the center aisle that had now become chocked with inmates eager for a hug and blessing. The pope’s guards, squeezed a few spots behind, appeared relaxed.

The evening Mass was the second of two Holy Thursday liturgies over which the pope presided. The first was a morning chrism Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica.

As Holy Thursday and the Mass of the Lord’s Supper commemorate Jesus’ institution of the Eucharist and the priesthood, the pope continued a tradition he started by having lunch with a small group of priests from the Diocese of Rome.

The Vatican newspaper said the pope used the occasion to have the 10 priests talk to him about their ministry, especially those who were working in very difficult circumstances, and to encourage them in their mission.

— By Carol Glatz, Catholic News Service.

Bishop assures victims at Healing Mass of God’s love

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The Catholic Sun

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Apr 2, 2015

FLAGSTAFF — In her poem “Healing,” Diane Vreuls writes, “They say the suffering unto health hurts less than suffering unto death. Those suffering don’t say this.”

In an effort to ease the suffering of victims of abuse, especially those abused by the clergy, Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted celebrated Mass at San Francisco de Asís Parish in Flagstaff March 14, offering words of hope and healing.

It’s among a special set of liturgies hosted each year by the diocesan Office of Child and Youth Protection for survivors of abuse and their families. At the Mass, which came ahead of April being Child Abuse Prevention Month, the bishop reflected on the words of the first reading of the Mass: “Come, let us return to the Lord, … it is He who will heal us … he will bind our wounds” (Hosea 6:1).

Office of Child and Youth Protection

Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted encourages anyone who has been a victim of child sexual abuse by any employee of the Roman Catholic Church to please come forward by contacting the Office of Child and Youth Protection.

Contact Us

Anne Vargas-Leveriza,  director

Phone: (602) 354-2396

Fax: (602) 354-2469

Hotline: (602) 463-8140

Email: ocyp@diocesephoenix.org

We are here because the love of Jesus prompts us, moves us, impels us,” Bishop Olmsted said. “We want whoever has been abused to know that Jesus loves them and that we love them and that they are not alone.”

Ray, a survivor of clergy abuse, knows all too well that feeling of loneliness. When he finally told his parents, they didn’t believe him.

“They thought no priest would do such things,” he said. But through it all, Ray never lost his faith in the Church or in God.

Bishop Olmsted cited a letter from Pope Francis addressing this very issue. “The Holy Father said, ‘that everything possible must be done to rid the Church of the scourge of sexual abuse of minors and to open pathways of reconciliation and healing for those who were abused.’” He said the gospel of the day with the parable of a Pharisee and a tax collector from Luke 18 tells us what attitude we need for our prayers to be heard.

“The Pharisee is arrogant… He tells God how good he is, what good things he does… The tax collector doesn’t even feel worthy to raise his eyes to heaven. He says, ‘O God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ This is how to begin every prayer.”

Ray and his wife, Paula, now run Healing With Hope, one of the support groups in the Diocese of Phoenix for survivors of clergy abuse. The group’s mission is to provide “a safe, non-judgmental atmosphere where confidentiality is held to the highest regard,” and welcomes anyone older than 18 who has suffered sexual abuse by a clergy member from any religion. Family members are also welcome to attend.

“We discuss different topics, how we are doing, what our current struggles are, and feelings and emotions that just are,” said Ray. “We accept one another right where we are on our journeys.

“We would like to see people return to the Church who left because of the abuse,” Paula added. “But even if they aren’t ready for that, we are here to open windows and let the sun shine in.”

At a reception following the Mass, Bishop Olmsted concluded, “I am grateful to have the opportunity to assure these people that God loves them.”

Resources

Healing With Hope is a support group for victims and family members of clergy sex abuse. For more information, contact Raymondhealingwithhope1@yahoo.com.

Grief to Grace is a retreat for victims and family members of clergy sex abuse. For more information, contact Phoenix@grieftograce.org.

— Mary Dahl, The Catholic Sun.

Bishops call for ‘mutual respect’ in ‘necessary dialogue’ on RFRA

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Catholic News Service

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Apr 2, 2015

Demonstrators gather in Indianapolis to protest new religious freedom law — Demonstrators rally at Monument Circle in Indianapolis March 28 to protest a religious freedom bill signed in to law by Indiana Gov. Mike Pence. More than 2,000 people gathered at the state Capitol to protest Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act because they say it would promote discrimination against individuals based on sexual orientation. (CNS photo/Nate Chute, Reuters)

Demonstrators rally at Monument Circle in Indianapolis March 28 to protest a religious freedom bill signed in to law by Indiana Gov. Mike Pence. More than 2,000 people gathered at the state Capitol to protest Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act because they say it would promote discrimination against individuals based on sexual orientation. (CNS photo/Nate Chute, Reuters) — Demonstrators rally at Monument Circle in Indianapolis March 28 to protest a religious freedom bill signed in to law by Indiana Gov. Mike Pence. More than 2,000 people gathered at the state Capitol to protest Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act because they say it would promote discrimination against individuals based on sexual orientation. (CNS photo/Nate Chute, Reuters)

INDIANPOLIS (CNS) — Indiana’s Catholic bishops April 1 urged people to show mutual respect for one another and allow “the necessary dialogue” to take place to make sure no one in the state will face discrimination, “whether it is for their sexual orientation or for living their religious beliefs.”

Remarking on the state’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act, signed into law March 26, they said it “appears to have divided the people of our state like few other issues in recent memory.”

Their statement came amid protests by gay rights groups and others who say that the new religious freedom law could be a vehicle of legal discrimination.

Republican Gov. Mike Pence said he stood behind the religious freedom bill passed by the Indiana General Assembly when he signed it into law, but has since asked state lawmakers to send him some clarifications to make “it clear that this law does not give businesses the right to deny services to anyone.”

“We want to make it clear that Indiana is open for business, we want to make it clear that Hoosier hospitality is not a slogan, it’s our way of life,” he said at a morning news conference March 31.

Pence attributed the firestorm over the measure to a combination of what he called “mischaracterization,” “misunderstanding” and “sloppy reporting.” As a result “Indiana has come under the harsh glare of criticism from around the country,” he said.

In their statement, the Catholic bishops reiterated the Catholic Church’s teaching that “every human being is created in the image of God,” that “every person deserves to be treated with dignity and respect” and that everyone has a right to life’s basic necessities.

“We believe that it is crucial that religious freedom be protected,” they said.

“We support efforts to uphold the God-given dignity of all the people of this state while safeguarding the rights of people of all faiths to practice their religion without undue burden from the government,” they said in conclusion.

At the signing ceremony, Pence said if he thought the religious freedom bill “legalized discrimination in any way in Indiana, I would have vetoed it. For more than 20 years, the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act has never undermined our nation’s anti-discrimination laws, and it will not in Indiana.”

“Indiana’s law contains no reference to sexual orientation,” he said, adding that it “simply mirrors” the federal law, known as RFRA.

The 1993 law says that the government “shall not substantially burden a person’s exercise of religion” unless that burden is the least restrictive means to further a compelling governmental interest.” It does not apply to the states, so with Indiana, there are now 20 that have passed such legislation.

In a March 27 post on a blog for lawyers called IN Advance, Indiana trial lawyer Matt Anderson called his state’s measure a “vague and just a poorly written law” that he said could be applied to disputes between private citizens. “You can defend yourself in a criminal or civil action on the very broad basis of ‘any exercise of religion,'” which is how it could be used to discriminate against gays and others, he argued.

Richard Garnett, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame in northern Indiana, in an opinion column in the March 26 issue of the South Bend Tribune, called the state’s RFRA a “moderate measure” modeled after the federal law and those of several other states and said it “does not give anyone a ‘license to discriminate.'”

Garnett noted that the more than 20 years of history of the applying of RFRA statutes to specific cases shows that courts across the country “have not applied it to require excessive accommodations or exemptions from anti-discrimination laws and civil-rights protections.”

In response to criticism, House Speaker Brian Bosma and Senate President Pro Tem David Long announced that the General Assembly will consider legislation to clarify the religious freedom law, which received a large majority of support from both chambers. The Senate passed the bill 40-10, and the House approved it 63-31.

Several House members spoke out against the bill during floor debate.

Democratic Rep. Ed Delaney of Indianapolis called the bill “futile and destructive,” adding that he felt the bill would allow discrimination. House Minority Leader Rep. Scott Pelath, a Democrat from Michigan City, also raised concerns, saying that he also believed the bill would permit discrimination.

Democratic Reps. Vernon Smith of Gary and Cherrish Pryor of Indianapolis, who are African-Americans, said even though they were devout Christians, they opposed the bill because they believed it could potentially cause discrimination.

In his opinion piece, Garnett pointed out that religious freedom laws have helped people of a broad variety of faiths.

“In practice, over the last two decades or so, Religious Freedom Restoration acts have been used not to excuse illegal discrimination or harmful behavior but instead to secure humane accommodations,” Garnett said, “such as allowing members of a small Brazilian church to possess plants that are necessary to make sacramental tea, or preventing the government from firing a Rastafarian with a traditional haircut, or respecting a family’s religious objections to an autopsy of their loved one.”

Professor Daniel Conkle of Indiana University’s Maurer School of Law has repeatedly sought to debunk the claims that RFRA allows for discrimination, citing current legal cases in support of his position. He testified during the House and Senate hearings, and reiterated his position in a recent opinion column in The Indianapolis Star.

Conkle, a constitutional law expert who supports gay rights and same-sex marriage, said the RFRA legislation has “little to do with same-sex marriage and everything to do with religious freedom.”

He added that “most religious freedom claims have nothing to do with same-sex marriage or discrimination.”

Conkle said in his column the Indiana law is “anything but a ‘license to discriminate,’ and it should not be mischaracterized or dismissed on that basis.” According to Conkle, even in the narrow setting of wedding service providers, claims for religious exemptions recently have been rejected in various states, including states that have adopted RFRA legislation.

— By Brigid Curtis Ayer, Catholic News Service. Curtis Ayer is a correspondent for The Criterion, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis.

Pope to priests: Exhaustion is part of ministry; find renewal in Christ

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Catholic News Service

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Apr 2, 2015

Pope Francis celebrates Holy Thursday chrism Mass in St. Peter's Basilica at Vatican — Pope Francis celebrates Holy Thursday chrism Mass in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican April 2. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Priestly ministry is hard, sometimes lonely or dangerous work serving the neediest with an open, vulnerable heart, Pope Francis told the world’s priests.

But priests need to learn how to draw strength from their flock and their love for God, and not look for rest or retreat in “worldly pursuits,” hiding in their office or riding in cars “with tinted windows,” he said April 2 during the chrism Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica.

Priests can find renewal when they do not try to be “supermen,” but instead put their trust in God to embrace them and carry them through, he said.

Pope Francis breathes over chrism oil, a gesture symbolizing the infusion of the Holy Spirit, during Holy Thursday chrism Mass in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican April 2. (CNS photo/Paul Haring) — Pope Francis breathes over chrism oil, a gesture symbolizing the infusion of the Holy Spirit, during Holy Thursday chrism Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican April 2. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

Presiding over the first of two Holy Thursday liturgies, Pope Francis blessed the oils that will be used in the sacraments of baptism, confirmation, ordination and the anointing of the sick.

As Holy Thursday was the day Jesus shared his priesthood with the apostles, Pope Francis led the more than 1,500 priests, bishops and cardinals in a renewal of their priestly vows and dedicated his lengthy homily to the priesthood, focusing on “the tiredness of priests.”

“Do you know how often I think about this weariness all of you experience? I think about it a lot and I pray about it often, especially when I am tired myself,” he told those assembled.

The reading from the Book of Isaiah, he said, outlines the challenging work of priestly ministry: bringing glad tidings to the lowly, healing the brokenhearted, proclaiming liberty to those held captive, releasing the imprisoned and comforting those who mourn.

If a priest is doing his job right — if his heart is open and he experiences with compassion all the troubles, fears and joys of his people, then “so many emotions, so much affection exhaust the heart of a pastor,” he said.

For a priest, knowing what one’s flock is going through is not a detached reading of “a news report,” but comes from “suffering with them.”

Sharing in people’s suffering makes the heart feel “broken into a thousand little pieces” and given away so much it almost seems “eaten up by the people,” he said, drawing a parallel with what is said at the Last Supper: take this all of you, eat this, drink this.

The 78-year-old pope, who works at an often demanding pace and is known to not take vacation, said, “How difficult it is to learn how to rest. What comes into play here is our trust and our remembering that we too are sheep and we need the Lord to help us.”

While he had warned members of the Roman Curia in December of “15 spiritual diseases” they should avoid, in his Holy Thursday homily for priests Pope Francis outlined three kinds of “weariness” they should watch out for:

exhaustion from being with the people
fatigue from fighting “the devil and his minions”
ennui from becoming selfish and worldly

Like Jesus, the priest is called to go out and care for others, he said, which leads to a kind of “weariness of the crowd.”

“People love their priests, they want and need their shepherds,” and a priest “with the smell of sheep” experiences a “good and healthy tiredness” and can smile “the smile of a father who gazes upon his children or grandchildren.”

Pope Francis leaves after celebrating Holy Thursday chrism Mass in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican April 2. (CNS photo/Paul Haring) — Pope Francis leaves after celebrating Holy Thursday chrism Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican April 2. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

But that gaze “has nothing to do with those who smell of expensive cologne and look at you from afar and from on high,” he said in a homily delivered in Italian.

If Jesus is there shepherding with the priest, “we cannot be shepherds whose faces are bitter, grouchy or, even worse, bored,” because being with the flock with the smile of a father reflects a weariness that brings joy, he said.

The “weariness of enemies” comes from defending one’s flock from evil and battling the devil, who tries to silence the word of God and distort it, he said.

Priests must not let down their guard and must “neutralize” the bad without destroying the good, but they also must not presume “to protect like supermen what the Lord alone must protect.”

“In these situations of weariness, the Lord says to us: ‘Have courage! I have overcome the world’ and this word gives us strength,” he said.

When talking about the third form of weariness, the “weariness of ourselves,” the pope emphasized that it was his final point “so that you won’t be too worn out by this homily,” which at 21 minutes, was longer than the norm for Pope Francis.

While the first two kinds of weariness “come from being exposed” to the outside world, which is what pastoral care demands, the third kind of weariness was “perhaps the most dangerous” because it is self-centered, he said.

It was a paradox of giving up everything for the priesthood yet yearning for the fleshpots of Egypt — “a weariness I like to call ‘flirting with spiritual worldliness,'” he said.

The best way to avoid this danger, he said, is to never let go of that first love for Christ. “Only love gives rest,” he said.

The weariness that comes from following Christ and being human “is precious in the eyes of Jesus who embraces us and lifts us up,” he said.

The pope told priests to let Jesus continue to personally wash their feet and cleanse them from “every stain, that worldly and grimy smog that clings to us from the journey we make in his name.”

No priest has to let his feet stay dirty and sore, he said. “Like war wounds, the Lord kisses them so that he washes away the grime of our work,” he said.

“Let us learn to be tired out, but a good tired out!”

Later in the day, the pope was scheduled to celebrate the Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord’s Supper at a Rome prison and wash the feet of six male and six female inmates.

— By Carol Glatz, Catholic News Service.

Gov. Ducey signs pro-life bill into law

By

Joyce Coronel

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Apr 1, 2015

WOMAN MARCHES AROUND ARIZONA STATE CAPITOL AFTER SUPREME COURT DECISION ON IMMIGRATION LAW — Allison Culver marches with a U.S. flag around the Arizona State Capitol after the Supreme Court upheld a key part of Arizona's crackdown on illegal immigrants in Phoenix June 25. The high court, in a mixed opinion with several dissents, rejected much of the law, known as S.B. 1070. However, it affirmed the section requiring state law enforcement officials to check the immigration status of detainees they suspect are in the country illegally. (CNS photo/Darryl Webb, Reuters)

As Catholics count down the final days until Easter, their bishops welcomed new pro-life legislation signed into law by Gov. Doug Ducey March 30.

SB 1318, a measure that ensures taxpayer dollars do not fund abortions, was enacted just as Catholics turn their hearts toward Resurrection Sunday, which marks the triumph of Christ over sin and death.
The new law also includes a provision that women must be informed that the effects of the abortion pill can possibly be reversed.

In a statement signed by the six Catholic bishops who comprise the Arizona Catholic Conference, including Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted and Auxiliary Bishop Eduardo A. Nevares of the Diocese of Phoenix, the bishops expressed their gratitude for the new legislation.

“SB 1318 is a simple bill that better protects taxpayers not wanting to subsidize abortion. We are grateful that Arizona continues to be a state that values innocent life from conception until natural death, and that SB 1318 has been signed into law,” the statement read.

Jason Walsh, executive director of Arizona Right to Life, said that polls indicate the public opposes taxpayer-funded abortion.

“The left will want to make us look like we’re the radicals, but when it comes to protecting innocent human life, that’s what the bill really focuses on,” Walsh said.

Ron Johnson, executive director of the ACC, said the provision in the law about informed consent vis-a-vi the abortion pill was no guarantee of reversal.

“We heard testimony in committee from a doctor who said he had a patient come to him from Planned Parenthood who changed her mind.”

“There never is, but there are women who regret it,” Johnson said. “We heard testimony in committee from a doctor who said he had a patient come to him from Planned Parenthood who changed her mind.”

At the clinic, the woman was told there was “no possibility of reversal but she pulled out her smart phone, googled ‘abortion pill reversal’ and found out there was indeed something. She went to see a doctor and saved the baby,” Johnson said. “The claims by some that there is no evidence is absurd because there is evidence. It’s just relatively new.”

Dr. Alan Sawyer, an obstetrician-gynecologist who testified in favor of SB 1318, also wrote an opinion piece in the Arizona Republic praising the new law. Sawyer and Dr. Clint Leonard, a fellow OB-GYN who co-authored the article, stated that they had both administered the abortion pill reversal regimen to women who regretted taking the first abortion pill and that “to date, over 80 live births have been recorded” and that “there are more than 60 healthy pregnancies because of the abortion pill reversal.”

Arizona is the first state to require health care providers inform women of the possibility of reversal of the abortion pill’s effects.

Pope says a ‘good Easter’ requires making Jesus’ passion one’s own

By

Catholic News Service

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Apr 1, 2015

Filipinos hang on wooden crosses during re-enactment of Crucifixion — Filipinos hang on wooden crosses during the re-enactment of the Crucifixion in the Philippines' Pampanga province in this 2014 file photo. Nearly 20 penitents and a Danish filmmaker were nailed to crosses on Good Friday. (CNS photo/Erik De Castro, Reuters)

Pope Francis greets a child as he arrives for his general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican April 1. (CNS photo/Paul Haring) — Pope Francis greets a child as he arrives for his general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican April 1. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — For a “good Easter,” Christians must do more than simply recall the passion of Jesus during Holy Week; they must “enter into the mystery” of the Easter Triduum and make Jesus’ feelings and attitudes their own, Pope Francis said.

During his general audience April 1, he also recalled the “true martyrs” of today, men and women who “offer their lives with Jesus” for their Christian faith. Their witness, in imitation of Christ’s sacrifice, “reflects a ray of this perfect, full and pure love (of Christ),” he said. Theirs, he added, “is a service of Christian witness to the point of bloodshed. It is the service Christ did for us, he redeemed us.”

The pope began his catechesis, dedicated to the celebration of Holy Week and Easter, by saying that the death and resurrection of Christ are “the culmination” of the entire liturgical year and of the Christian life.

The pope offered reflections for each day of the Triduum, beginning with Holy Thursday. With the “prophetic gesture” of washing the apostles’ feet, Jesus expressed “the meaning of his life and passion — service to God and brother,” the pope said.

At baptism, “the grace of God washed us of our sin and we took on Christ,” he said. Every time Catholics receive the Eucharist, “they are united with the Servant Christ in obedience to his commandment to love as he loved,” he said.

“If we receive holy Communion without being open sincerely to washing each other’s feet, we do not recognize the body of the Lord,” he said.

Pope Francis waves as he arrives for his general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican April 1. (CNS photo/Paul Haring) — Pope Francis waves as he arrives for his general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican April 1. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

The second day of the Triduum, Good Friday, recalls how Jesus “transformed the greatest iniquity into the greatest love” with his sacrifice on the cross, the pope said.

Following Christ, many Christian men and women today are giving their lives as martyrs, the pope said. He gave the example of the “heroic testimony” of Fr. Andrea Santoro, an Italian priest who was killed in 2006 while working as a missionary in Turkey.

“This example of a man of our times, and many others, strengthens us in offering our lives as gifts of love to our brothers in imitation of Jesus,” he said.

The pope also spoke about the significance of Jesus’ last words on the cross: “It is finished.”

“They mean that the work of salvation is accomplished, that all of the Scriptures find their complete fulfillment in the love of Christ,” he said.

“How beautiful it would be if all of us, at the end of our lives, with our mistakes, our sins, even with our good works and our love for our neighbor, can say to the Father as Jesus did, ‘It is finished.’ Not with the perfection (of Jesus) but saying, ‘Lord, I did everything that I could. It is finished,'” the pope said, speaking off the cuff.

On Holy Saturday, the church identifies with Mary and contemplates Christ in the tomb, after the “victorious battle of the cross,” the pope continued.

“In the darkness that envelopes creation, she remains alone to keep the flame of faith lit, hoping against all hope in the resurrection of Jesus,” he said.

“Sometimes, the darkness of night can penetrate the soul and we think, ‘there is nothing left to do,’ and the heart no longer finds the strength to love,” the pope said, speaking about life’s discouragements. “But it is in this very darkness that Christ lights the fire of the love of God.”

The pope said the great mystery of Easter is that “the stone of pain is rolled back, leaving room for hope.”

“As Christians, we are called to be sentinels of the morning, who know how to see the signs of the Risen one,” like the disciples at the tomb on Easter morning, he said.

— By Laura Ieraci, Catholic News Service.

10 years since St. John Paul died [VIDEO]

By

Catholic News Service

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Apr 1, 2015

Pope Francis commemorated the death of Saint John Paul II during his weekly general audience April 1.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The example St. John Paul II gave the world is still alive and many people continue to be inspired by his faith, passion and joy, Pope Francis said.

Noting that April 2 marked the 10th anniversary of St. John Paul’s death, Pope Francis asked that people pray the Polish saint “intercede for us, for families, for the church so that the light of the Resurrection shines through all of the darkness in our life and fills us with joy and peace.”

Speaking to pilgrims at the end of his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square April 1, the pope highlighted the spiritual legacy of his predecessor, whom he canonized together with St. John XXIII in April 2014.

“Dear young people, learn to face life with his passion and enthusiasm; dear people who are sick, carry with joy the cross of suffering like he taught us; and you newly married couples, always put God at the heart (of everything) so that your conjugal relationship may be more loving and happier,” he said.

— By Carol Glatz, Catholic News Service.

Bishop Olmsted blesses holy oils, priests renew promises at annual Chrism Mass

By

Joyce Coronel

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Mar 31, 2015

Chrism Mass 2015 - Ss Simon and Jude Cathedral - 148 — In a tradition dating back to the early Church, Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted of the Diocese of Phoenix gathered March 30 with his brother priests to bless the oils that will be used in sacraments during the coming year. (Billy Hardiman/CATHOLIC SUN)

[dropcap type=”4″]I[/dropcap]n a tradition dating back to the early Church, Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted of the Diocese of Phoenix gathered March 30 with his brother priests to bless the oils that will be used in sacraments during the coming year.

More than 130 priests along with 60 deacons, members of assorted religious orders and laity from all over the diocese packed into Ss. Simon and Jude Cathedral for the two-hour solemn celebration of the Chrism Mass.

Since ancient times, the oils used in sacraments are blessed at the Chrism Mass. The Oil of Catechumens, used in baptism, as well as the Oil of the Sick, used in anointing those who are seriously ill, are blessed along with the Holy Chrism for baptism, confirmation and holy orders.

Bishop Olmsted zeroed in on the reality of spiritual warfare during his homily. “Exorcism was an indispensable part of Jesus’ mission from the Father,” Bishop Olmsted said. “As spiritual fathers, which we become through our priestly ordination, we have the honor and the grave duty to prepare our people for spiritual warfare, to ready them for the opposition between ‘the spirit of the world and the Spirit that is from God.’”