Pope: Pray for war-torn regions this Holy Week
A look at Pope Francis' Palm Sunday.
Posted on 03/25/2024 06:00 AM (Word on Fire)
Friends, in today’s Gospel, Mary of Bethany anoints Jesus’ feet with perfumed oil, preparing him for burial.
Posted on 03/24/2024 08:30 AM (USCCB News Releases)
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Only Jesus can deliver humanity from hatred and violence, Pope Francis said on Palm Sunday.
"Jesus entered Jerusalem as a humble and peaceful king," he said in brief remarks after celebrating Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter's Square. He prayed that the faithful would open their hearts to the Lord because he alone "can deliver us from animosity, hatred, violence, because he is mercy and the forgiveness of sins."
On a sunny and windy day, about 60,000 people attended the Mass March 24, which began with a solemn procession of hundreds of people carrying green palm branches followed by about 60 cardinals and bishops, carrying "palmurelli," pale green palm branches that were woven and braided.
Dressed in red vestments, the color of the Passion, Pope Francis presided over the Mass, the solemn beginning of Holy Week, but he skipped the homily and did not have an aide read any prepared remarks. Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, prefect of the Dicastery for Eastern Churches, was the main celebrant at the altar.
The Vatican offered no explanation about why there was no homily. The pope did read brief remarks after praying the Angelus, greeted the cardinals in attendance from his wheelchair, and he rode in the popemobile for about 15 minutes enthusiastically greeting the faithful, waving, gesturing, offering a thumbs up and occasionally calling out remarks to those he saw.
In his brief remarks, he expressed his sorrow over a deadly attack in Moscow March 22 in which more than 130 people were killed inside a crowded concert venue.
He prayed for the victims of this "cowardly terrorist attack" and called for the conversion of the "hearts of those who plan, organize and carry out these inhumane actions that offend God, who commanded, 'Thou shalt not kill.'"
The pope extended his prayers to all people who suffer because of war, particularly those in Ukraine, "where so many people find themselves without electricity because of intense attacks against the infrastructure that, in addition to causing death and suffering, carry the risk of an even larger humanitarian catastrophe."
He also asked people not to forget about the people of Gaza who "are suffering so much" and the many other places experiencing war.
Posted on 03/24/2024 06:00 AM (Word on Fire)
Friends, on this Palm Sunday, we are privileged to become immersed in Mark’s great Passion narrative, where the kingship of Jesus emerges with great clarity—and also with great irony.
Posted on 03/23/2024 08:30 AM (USCCB News Releases)
WASHINGTON – Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, and president of the U.S. Conference of Bishops (USCCB), and Bishop A. Elias Zaidan of the Maronite Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon, the chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on International Justice and Peace call on the faithful to renew their prayers during Holy Week for an end to the Israel-Hamas war.
“As the Church enters Holy Week and Christ’s suffering on the cross and his resurrection are made present to us so vividly, we are connected to the very source of hope. It is that hope that spurs us to call on Catholics here in the United States and all those of good will to renew their prayers for an end to the raging Israel-Hamas war.
“Thousands of innocent people have died in this conflict, and thousands more have been displaced and face tremendous suffering. This must stop. As the Holy Father recently said, ‘One cannot move forward in war. We must make every effort to negotiate, to negotiate, to end the war.’ To move forward, a cease fire and a permanent cessation of war and violence is absolutely necessary. To move forward, those held hostage must be released and civilians must be protected. To move forward, humanitarian aid must reach those who are in such dire need.
“As Christians, we are rooted in the hope of the resurrection, and so we pray for a just and lasting peace in the Holy Land.”
###
Posted on 03/23/2024 06:00 AM (Word on Fire)
Friends, in today’s Gospel, the chief priests and Pharisees unite in a plot to kill Jesus because he raised Lazarus from the dead.
Posted on 03/22/2024 10:18 AM (Word on Fire)
Friends, at the end of last year, I was delighted to attend my first G.K. Chesterton conference and to celebrate Mass for the attendees. During my homily, I spoke briefly on the difference between right worship and false worship.
Posted on 03/22/2024 09:00 AM (Word on Fire)
When we let the Holy Spirit realign our wills to God’s will, we allow ourselves to be drawn into the magnetic field of the Blessed Trinity.
Posted on 03/22/2024 08:30 AM (USCCB News Releases)
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Holy Spirit is like a line prompter at a theater, behind the scenes and constantly whispering to Christians the words of Jesus, said the preacher of the papal household.
"However, he does not mechanically suggest the words of the Gospel, like from a script, but explains them, adapts them and applies them to specific situations," Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa told Pope Francis, cardinals and members of the Roman Curia.
Concluding his series of Friday Lenten meditations March 22, Cardinal Cantalamessa insisted that listening to the Holy Spirit and discerning what the Spirit is saying to individuals and to the church at large is an exercise essential to following Jesus.
"We don't start out knowing the concrete path of holiness God wants for each of us," he said. "God reveals it step by step, so it is not enough to have a well-crafted plan and then follow it. There is no model of perfection that is identical for everyone."
God does not produce saints with a cookie cutter -- "God does not like cloning," he said. "Every saint is an original invention of the Spirit."
Faith, for a Christian, is not just a belief or even a feeling of love for the Lord, the cardinal said, it is a call to follow Jesus concretely in the way one lives and shares in the mission of the church.
And that, too, is different for each person, he said.
A person comes to understand their unique call through prayer, meditating on Scripture, speaking with a spiritual guide and following the teaching of the church, he said. But especially important are the promptings and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, which also give the person "the necessary strength and often the joy to accomplish it if the person consents."
Of course, Cardinal Cantalamessa said, understanding that call requires discernment, which is not as easy as judging something as good or bad.
"The most delicate problem about inspirations has always been to discern those that come from the Spirit of God from those that come from the spirit of the world or from your own passions or from the evil spirit," he said.
Jesus told his disciples that a true or false prophecy can be judged by the fruit it produces, the cardinal said, which is a helpful thing to keep in mind as the universal church continues to grow in the process of synodality and its encouragement to listen and pray together to discover the promptings of the Holy Spirit for sharing the Gospel today.
"In the moral field," Cardinal Cantalamessa said, "a fundamental criterion is the Spirit's coherence with itself. One cannot ask for something that is contrary to divine will as expressed in the Scriptures, in the teaching of the church and in the obligations of one's own state in life. A divine inspiration will never ask one to do something the church considers immoral."
"The flesh," he said, tries to make its own arguments and sometimes they sound good, "for example, that God is love and everything that is done for love is from God."
St. Ignatius of Loyola taught that "what comes from the Spirit of God brings with it joy, peace, tranquility, sweetness, simplicity, light. What comes from the spirit of evil, instead, brings with it disturbance, agitation, anxiety, confusion, darkness," he said.
"But it is true that in practice things are more complex," he said. "Inspiration can come from God, and despite that, cause great disturbance. But this is not due to the inspiration, which is sweet and peaceful like everything that comes from God. Rather it is born from resistance to the inspiration or from the fact that we are not ready to do what we are asked to do."
However, he said, "if inspiration is accepted, the heart will soon find itself in a deep peace. God rewards every little victory in this area by making the soul feel its approval, which is the most beautiful thing, the purest joy that exists in this world."
Posted on 03/22/2024 06:00 AM (Word on Fire)
Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus declares, “The Father is in me and I am in the Father.”
Posted on 03/21/2024 09:00 AM (Word on Fire)
We must work harder than ever against the abortion and prenatal testing industries to evangelize a culture told to reject “imperfect” life.