Sept 2013 - two - abbey

6. Pope Francis celebrates Solemnity of the Assumption at Castel Gandolfo

Pope Francis on Thursday August 15, celebrated an open-air mass to mark the Solemnity of Blessed Virgin Mary's Assumption into Heaven at the papal summer residence of Castel Gandolfo in the town’s main square.
After the mass Pope Francis led the recitation of the Angelus Prayer, and after his lunch he visited the Parish of Saint Thomas of Villanova.





Below, please find the text of the Pope’s homily.



Dear Brothers and Sisters!

At the end of its Constitution on the Church, the Second Vatican Council left us a very beautiful meditation on Mary Most Holy. Let me just recall the words referring to the mystery we celebrate today: “the immaculate Virgin preserved free from all stain of original sin, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, when her earthly life was over, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things” (no. 59). Then towards the end, there is: “the Mother of Jesus in the glory which she possesses in body and soul in heaven is the image and the beginning of the church as it is to be perfected in the world to come. Likewise, she shines forth on earth, until the day of the Lord shall come” (no. 68). In the light of this most beautiful image of our Mother, we are able to see the message of the biblical readings that we have just heard. We can focus on three key words: struggle, resurrection, hope.

The passage from Revelation presents the vision of the struggle between the woman and the dragon. The figure of the woman, representing the Church, is, on the one hand, glorious and triumphant and yet, on the other, still in travail. And the Church is like that: if in heaven she is already associated in some way with the glory of her Lord, in history she continually lives through the trials and challenges which the conflict between God and the evil one, the perennial enemy, brings. And in the struggle which the disciples must confront, Mary does not leave them alone: the Mother of Christ and of the Church is always with us. And in a way, Mary shares this dual condition. She has of course already entered, once and for all, into heavenly glory. But this does not mean that she is distant or detached from us; rather Mary accompanies us, struggles with us, sustains Christians in their fight against the forces of evil. Prayer with Mary, especially the rosary, has this “suffering” dimension, that is of struggle, a sustaining prayer in the battle against the evil one and his accomplices.
The second reading speaks to us of resurrection. The Apostle Paul, writing to the Corinthians, insists that being Christian means believing that Christ is truly risen from the dead. Our whole faith is based upon this fundamental truth which is not an idea but an event. Even the mystery of Mary’s Assumption body and soul is fully inscribed in the resurrection of Christ. The Mother’s humanity is “attracted” by the Son in his own passage from death to life. Once and for all, Jesus entered into eternal life with all the humanity he had drawn from Mary; and she, the Mother, who followed him faithfully throughout her life, followed him with her heart, and entered with him into eternal life which we also call heaven, paradise, the Father’s house.

Mary also experienced the martyrdom of the Cross: she lived her Son’s Passion to the depths of her soul. She was fully united to him in his death, and so she was given the gift of resurrection. Christ is the first fruits from the dead and Mary is the first of the redeemed, the first of “those who are in Christ”.
The Gospel suggests to us the third word: hope. Hope is the virtue of those who, experiencing conflict – the struggle between life and death, good and evil – believe in the resurrection of Christ, in the victory of love. The Magnificat is the song of hope, it is the song of the People of God walking through history. It is the song many saints, men and women, some famous, and very many others unknown to us but known to God: mums, dads, catechists, missionaries, priests, sisters, young people, even children, who have faced the struggle of life while carrying in their heart the hope of the little and the humble. Everywhere today, the Church too sings “My soul glorifies the Lord”. This song is particularly strong in places where the Body of Christ is suffering the Passion. And Mary is there too, near those communities, our brothers and sisters, she accompanies them, suffers with them, and sings the Magnificat of hope with them.

Dear Brothers and Sisters, with all our heart let us too unite ourselves to this song of patience and victory, of struggle and joy, which unites the triumphant Church with the pilgrim one, earth with heaven, and history with eternity.



7. Pope Francis appeals for peace, dialogue and reconciliation in Egypt

Pope Francis on Thursday August 15, lamented the "sad news" coming from Egypt following the bloody crackdown there by security forces on protesters and appealed for peace, dialogue and reconciliation. The following is a translation into English of his remarks which came at the end of his Angelus address in the papal summer residence of Castel Gandolfo where he had just celebrated an open-air mass to mark the Solemnity of Mary's Assumption into Heaven.

"Unfortunately, sad news has come from Egypt. I wish to ensure my prayers for all the victims and their families, the injured and all those who are suffering. Let us pray together for peace, dialogue and reconciliation in that dear nation and throughout the world. Mary, Queen of Peace, pray for us. Let's all say it, Mary, Queen of Peace, pray for us."







8. Pope stresses importance of dialogue to Japanese students



Pope Francis met with students and Staff from "Gauken Bunri Seibu Junior High School, in Tokyo Japan on Saturday, August 21. Speaking to the Japanese students in the Courtyard of St Damaso in the Vatican, Pope Francis underlined the importance of discussion and dialogue as a means of bringing about understanding and peace.The Pope told the students that we can never grow culturally if we are isolated. Instead, he said if we go out and discover other cultures, other ways of thinking and other religions, we emerge from ourselves and “begin the beautiful adventure that is called dialogue.”
Dialogue, stressed Pope Francis is very important because in relation to other cultures and religions, it matures and grows. But closed minds, continued the Pope can generate misunderstandings and quarrels. All the wars, and problems that are not resolved, happen because of a lack of dialogue. The Holy Father, said that meekness was an important attribute in dialogue because one listens first and then speaks. “This is the dialogue that makes peace”, he said.
A Japanese student then thanked the Pope and said the students would put into practice the words they had heard from him. The meeting concluded with the students singing the anthem of their school. Click here for video


9. Pope tells nuns they are like Mary, opening heaven’s doors

When Pope Francis visited a convent of Poor Clare nuns, he said that “a consecrated woman is a little like the Virgin Mary.” “Mary stands behind the door of Paradise, and when sinners get there, Saint Peter does not always open the door. Mary suffers, and remains there. But at night, when nobody can listen or hear, Mary opens the doors of Paradise, and lets everybody in,” Sister Maria Concetta told Vatican Radio, recounting the Pope’s words to them when he visited the Immaculate Conception Convent in Castel Gandolfo town, just outside Rome.

Pope Francis visited the cloistered convent just before celebrating the August 15 Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary with a public Mass in the square of the hilltop town, where the Pope’s summer residence is situated. While previous Pontiffs have customarily spent August in Castel Gandolfo, Pope Francis has remained in the Vatican. Another nun, Sr. Maria Assunta, said “Pope Francis invited us to deeply live our vocation and to be faithful to our charisms of simplicity and poverty that make us sisters.” The Poor Clares were founded in 1212 as a Franciscan order for women, by St. Francis and St. Clare of Assisi.

10. Pope donates €100,000 to poor dioceses in Argentina
Pope Francis has himself led the way while encouraging Catholics in his native Argentina to “unceasingly” reach out to help those in need by participating in a national collection on Sunday, Sept. 8. The Argentine Pontiff was the first to offer his own contribution by donating €100,000 to the special collection for dioceses in need. Pope Francis had earlier sent a message to Argentinian Catholics, through Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, urging them to generously participate in the drive on the theme, “We Trust in Your Help.”
The Pope's donation was drawn from the collection taken up annually around the world in June, known as Peter's Pence, which the Holy Father uses to help those suffering from natural disasters, hunger and other calamities. As a priest and bishop in Argentina, Pope Francis worked closely with large sectors of the population suffering from poverty, and now as head of the Catholic Church he continues to keep in touch with them. The administrator of the collection, Luis Porrini, said that although the collection will be taken up on Sept. 8, the Pope’s donation will arrive beforehand, since donations for the cause can be made year round.



11. Good reception for Pope Francis in China, says Hong Kong’s bishop

The Chinese media has reported on Pope Francis in “an honest, objective way” in these first four months of his pontificate “and that is already unusual”, according to Cardinal John Tong Hon, the bishop of Hong Kong. The reporting is “neutral”, he said during his recent visit to Rome. Pope Francis “has made a good impression” on Chinese Catholics, he added. He recalled that when he returned to Hong Kong after the conclave last March “many people” came up to him in church, or stopped him on the street, “to thank God that the cardinals elected such a good pope”.
They told him, “It’s God’s blessing for us”. The Chinese cardinal believes Pope Francis has started his ministry very well with his spontaneous, human approach to people and his “great concern for the poor”. He is particularly happy with the way Pope Francis has spoken, on a number of occasions, about China and the Church in China, reaching out in a friendly, open way.
Despite the present stalemate in Sino-Vatican relations, the cardinal is optimistic about the future of this relationship. He said “I am always optimistic that with new leadership in the Vatican and Beijing, a gradual development can take place in relations between China and the Holy See.”
He recalled that when he bade farewell to Pope Francis as he left the Vatican for Hong Kong, the Pope told him “The Church in China is in my heart.”

12. Pope sends message to Knights of Columbus
Pope Francis has commended the Knights of Columbus for their outstanding role in helping Catholic men to respond to their vocation to be ‘protectors of creation, protectors of God’s plan inscribed in nature, protectors of one another and of the environment’. The Pope’s remarks came in a message sent on his behalf by Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, to Supreme Knight Carl Anderson, as the Catholic fraternal benefits organization, based in New Haven, Conn., US, held its 131st annual convention in San Antonio, Texas, August 6-8, on the theme, “Be Protectors of God’s Gifts.” While praising the 1.8 million-member organization, for its charitable works and encouraging it to defend the faith, the Pope encouraged every knight and council to continue “to bear witness to the authentic nature of marriage and the family, the sanctity and inviolable dignity of human life, and the beauty and truth of human sexuality.” “In this time of rapid social and cultural changes, the protection of God’s gifts cannot fail to include the affirmation and defense of the great patrimony of moral truths taught by the Gospel and confirmed by right reason, which serve as the bedrock of a just and well-ordered society.” The Pope also expressed his appreciation for the Knights’ “clear public witness” in the forum of religious freedom, and for “protecting the right and duty of believers to participate responsibly, on the basis of their deepest convictions, in the life of society.” Founded in 1882, the Knights of Columbus have charity as their central commitment, the organization has grown to 1.8 million members worldwide. During the past year, Knights donated more than $167.5 million and more than 70 million hours of service to charitable causes. With charity as its central commitment, the organization has members in over 12 countries, including the Philippines.

13. Pope’s surprise visit to Vatican workshops

Pope Francis, who was on vacation at home in the Vatican since July, made an unannounced surprise visit, Friday August 09, morning, to the workshop area of Vatican City. He particularly greeted workers at the carpentry, the electricity and water centres and metalworkers. While the Holy Father was going about, others nearby were able to see and greet him as well.
Alessandro De Gregori who works at the electricity centre narrated to Vatican Radio how they were taken aback when a car pulled up and Pope Francis stepped down and entered their centre. “Such a thing has never happened in about 10 years of my work here,” De Gregori gushed. “It was really moving to meet him,” he said, “even though all Vatican employees had already met the Pope at the morning Masses. It was truly a pleasant surprise.” De Gregori said it was nice of him to come to them instead of the other way about. Pope Francis shook hands with the employees, asking them questions about their work and went about visiting various sections.