Happy feast of St Francis Xavier and Happy birthday to the Pope's worldwide prayer network

https://www.jesuits.global/it/saint-blessed/saint-francis-xavier/

Today is also the 176th Birthday of Pope's worldwide prayer network (which includes EYM). During the first Vespers of St Francis Xavier SJ Feast a group of Jesuits seminarists were inspired of doing something for spreading the Good News of The Gospel through prayer. Here a video with the history of Pope's worldwide prayer network 

https://youtu.be/SmclWTMvuVc 

St Francis Xavier  SJ is the patron Saint of Missions with St Therese of Lisieux and the patron saint of Pope's worldwide prayer network and EYM. 

https://www.popesprayer.va/

Zacchaeus and those on the margins

"Zacchaeus and those on the margins.

Sunday's Gospel (Lk 19:1-11)

The Gospel of Luke tells us the beautiful story of Jesus’ encounter with Zacchaeus. Jesus is traveling through Jericho, a huge city. He’s on his way to Jerusalem, and it’s toward the end of his ministry, so he would have been well known in the area. As a result, he probably had a large crowd following him. 

In Jericho, there is a man named Zacchaeus. He was the chief tax collector in the region and so would have also been seen by the Jewish people as the “chief sinner.” Why? Because he would have been seen as colluding with the Roman authorities. So Zacchaeus was someone who was probably on the outs with everyone.

Now, here I would like you to invite you to think of Zacchaeus as a symbol for those on the margins, specifically, the L.G.B.T. Catholic. Not because the L.G.B.T. people are more sinful than the rest of us—because we’re all sinners. But because they feel so marginalized. Think of the L.G.B.T. person as Zacchaeus.

Luke’s Gospel describes Zacchaeus as “short in stature.” How little “stature” L.G.B.T. people often feel that they have in the church! Luke also says that Zacchaeus could not see Jesus “on account of the crowd.” That was probably because of his height, but how often does the “crowd” get in the way of the person with “little stature,” the L.G.B.T. person, encountering Jesus? When are we in the church part of the “crowd” that doesn’t let L.G.B.T. people come close to God?

So Zacchaeus climbs a tree, because, as Luke tells us, he wanted to see “who Jesus was.” And this is what the L.G.B.T. person wants: to see who Jesus is. But the crowd gets in the way.

Imagine how embarrassing this must have been for Zacchaeus: not only climbing the tree like a child, but also putting on display his "short stature." Yet those on the margins often have to "go out on a limb" just to be able to do things that others take for granted.  

Now here comes Jesus making his way through Jericho, probably with hundreds of people clamoring for his attention. And whom does he point to? One of the religious authorities? One of his disciples? No, to Zacchaeus! And what does he say to Zacchaeus? Does he shout, “Sinner!” Does he shout, “You terrible tax collector”? 

No! He says, “Hurry down for I must stay at your house today!” It’s a public sign of welcome to someone on the margins.

And Zacchaeus comes down and receives Jesus “with joy.”  Think of what it’s like for someone on the margins, who has felt excluded for so long, to feel welcome. It evokes joy!

Then comes my favorite line in the story: “All who saw it began to grumble!” Which is exactly what is happening today toward L.G.B.T. people. People grumble! Go online and you’ll see all the grumbling. An offer of mercy to someone on the margins always makes people angry.

But Zacchaeus climbs down from the tree and, as the Gospels say, he “stood there.” The original Greek is much stronger, "statheis": he stood his ground. How often have L.G.B.T. people had to stand their ground in the face of opposition and prejudice in the church?  How often do people with “little stature” have to do that?  

Then Zacchaeus says that he will give half of his possessions to the poor and repay anyone he has defrauded four times over. An encounter with Jesus leads to a conversion, as it does for everyone. And what do I mean by conversion? Not “conversion therapy.” No, the conversion that happens to Zacchaeus is the conversion that we’re all called to. 

In the Gospels, Jesus calls it "metanoia," a conversion of minds and hearts. For Zacchaeus, conversion meant giving to the poor.

By the way, some New Testament scholars think that this line could be as easily translated as “I am giving half of my possessions to the poor.” That is, he is already giving money to the poor.  The one who was thought to be a sinner turns out to be more generous than anyone suspected.

All this, Zacchaeus’s "metanoia," comes from an encounter with Jesus. Because Jesus’ approach was, more often than not, community first, conversion second. For John the Baptist the model was to convert first and then be welcomed into the community. This is an insight from the Scripture scholar Ben Meyer.  

For Jesus, it’s community first, conversion second. Welcome and respect come first.

This is how Jesus treats people who feel on the margins. He seeks them out before anyone else; he encounters them, and he treats them with respect, sensitivity and compassion.

So when it comes to L.G.B.T. people and their families in our church, it seems that there are two places to stand. You can stand with the crowd, who grumble and who oppose mercy for those on the margins. Or you can stand with Zacchaeus, and, more important, with Jesus." 

By Father James Martin SJ

Taken from Father James Martin SJ Official Facebook page 

https://www.facebook.com/46899546495/posts/10156439750846496/

Presepe - Nativity - Christmas Time

Father Arturo Sosa SJ Jesuit General: Merry Christmas to all the Society of Jesus,the whole Church and to all good's Will People

Father Pedro Arrupe SJ is now Servant of God

The Jesuit Superior General has announced today that the "cause" for the beatification of Pedro Arrupe, SJ (Jesuit General 1965-83 and founder of Jesuit Refugee Service) has been opened by the Vicariate of Rome. He is now "Servant of God Pedro Arrupe." Taken from https://twitter.com/JamesMartinSJ/status/1062722252763025408?s=19
Today is the birthday of Pedro Arrupe SJ. And today is also the 38th Jesuit Refugees Service founded by the beloved father Pedro Arrupe SJ. 
Go to Servant of God Pedro Arrupe website https://arrupe.jesuitgeneral.org/en/

In The Service of Peace

In The Service of Peace

https://youtu.be/2mi2IHVFlWs

2018 joint statement on climate justice by Bishops’ Conferences

2018 joint statement on climate justice by Bishops’ Conferences

The following appeal is issued by the Church leaders of the continental groupings of episcopal conferences. It is addressed to government leaders and representatives and it calls on them to work towards an ambitious implementation of the Paris Agreement for the people and the planet. In particular, we ask for a COP24 Summit (Katowice, Poland, December 2018) able to prove a milestone on the path set out in 2015 in Paris.

Faced with the growing urgency of the current ecological and social crisis, building on and inspired by the work done on the ground over the past three years by so many courageous actors around the world - within the Catholic Church and beyond - to promote and “live” the messages carried by the Encyclical Letter Laudato Si’, we call for ambitious and immediate action to be taken in order to tackle and overcome the devastating effects of the climate crisis. These actions need to be taken by the international community at all levels: by persons, communities, cities, regions, nations.

We have heard “the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor”. We have listened to the call of the Holy Father, Pope Francis, and we stand in solidarity with our Brother Bishops who have already taken stances against the limitless and dangerous use and exploitation of our Mother Earth’s resources, as well as our current models of development, supported by financial institutions and systems that put life, community, solidarity, and well-being on earth after profit, wealth and unbridled growth. We must be prepared to make rapid and radical changes (LS171) and resist the temptation to look for solutions to our current situation in short-term technological fixes without addressing the root causes and the long-term consequences.

Our call is based on the following principles:

Urgency: “Time is a luxury we do not have”. There is a growing awareness in the public opinion, also thanks to scientific research and data, that there is no time to waste and we want to bring that urgency into concrete plans aiming to move towards a fair share of resources and responsibilities, where the big emitters take political accountability and meet their climate finance commitments. “We can see signs that things are now reaching a breaking point, due to the rapid pace of change and degradation” (LS 61).

Intergenerational justice: “Young people demand change” (LS, 13). Their future is in grave danger and our generation is not doing enough to leave them a healthy planet. Being so short-sighted is an unacceptable injustice. “Consequently, intergenerational solidarity is not optional, but rather a basic question of justice, since the world we have received also belongs to those who will follow us” (LS 159).

Human dignity and rights, in particular of the most vulnerable, must always be at the center of the climate agenda. In implementing the Paris Agreement, human rights must be effectively protected, respected and upheld both in national policies and on the ground. Governments should show their efforts in this sense in their Nationally Determined Contributions and in their funding choices for adaptation and resilience.

And therefore we demand policies that include and acknowledge the following calls and elements:

1.5°C to stay alive: We have a moral duty to keep global warming to “well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels”, as agreed by governments in the Paris Agreement. Pope Francis: As we know, everyone is affected by the climate crisis. Yet the effects of climate change are not evenly distributed. It is the poor who suffer most from the ravages of global warming [...] Many of those who can least afford it are already being forced to leave their homes and migrate to other places that may or may not prove welcoming. Many millions of migrants will follow. A fair and just ecological transition, as required by the Paris Agreement, is a matter of life or death for vulnerable countries and people living in coastal areas.

We need a deep and durable shift towards sustainable lifestyles and bold political choices that could back those efforts to address overconsumption and drastically cut ecological footprints at individual and community levels. “All these actions presuppose a transformation on a deeper level, namely a change of hearts and minds”.

Special traditions and knowledge of Indigenous communities must be listened to, effectively protected and preserved: they offer valuable solutions for the care and sustainable management of natural resources. “It grieves us to see the lands of indigenous peoples expropriated and their cultures trampled on by predatory schemes and by new forms of colonialism, fueled by the culture of waste and consumerism“. False solutions which use natural resources as production commodities (such as large hydro, agrofuel or cash crops) at the expense of indigenous communities’ rights cannot be defended.  

A financial paradigm shift is necessary. “Financial institutions have an important role to play, as part both of the problem and its solution”.It is nowadays necessary and urgent to establish a system of transparency, efficiency and evaluation in conformity with – among others – the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and the Paris Agreement, and that financial markets be regulated according to these global frameworks. We call for a finance which serves society, builds communities and promotes integrity, equality and justice.  

The energy sector must be transformed: We reiterate our urgent call to “put an end the fossil fuel era” through a rapid transition to an economy powered by renewable energy, as we know from scientists that most fossil fuel reserves need to remain underground. That requires phasing out fossil fuel subsidies and shifting investments away from corporations that continue to explore for new fossil fuel reserves in a way that is incompatible with the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting temperature rise. In parallel, ambitious efforts are needed to ensure a just transition in which workers from affected industries are supported and investments are directed towards supporting renewable energy systems. Building safe, affordable, reliable, and efficient energy systems based on renewable sources, which meet communities’ development needs, can help tackle poverty, inequality and environmental degradation.

We must rethink the agriculture sector. Agriculture should pursue its fundamental function of providing healthy and nutritious food and making it available and accessible to all, thus contributing to eliminating hunger worldwide. Agriculture should not be solely used for its potential to capture carbon, nor to favour the interests of large businesses at the expenses of poor farmers and the health of people. Agroecology should be especially promoted as a particularly adaptive and resilient practice, especially for smallholder farmers, and as a model ensuring human well-being, stronger communities, and care for the environment.

The above mentioned points are also at the heart of the several actions the wide Catholic community is carrying out to turn the vision of Laudato Si’ and the Paris Agreement into practice. We renew our commitment to take bold steps to live the change we call for within our institutions. We firmly believe that this ecological conversion is also a spiritual challenge. We encourage all the initiatives within and beyond the Catholic Church that already witness that living more sustainably is possible, achievable and fairer. Ultimately, this is key to the survival of human kind.

BISHOP SIGNATORIES TO THIS DECLARATION:

Angelo Cardinal Bagnasco               
President, CCEE, Archbishop of Genoa           

Oswald Cardinal Gracias
President, FABC, Archbishop of Mumbai

Rubén Cardinal Salazar Gómez
President, CELAM, Archbishop of Bogota

Archbishop Peter Loy Chong
President, FCBCO, Archbishop of Suva

Archbishop Jean-Claude Hollerich
President, COMECE, Archbishop of Luxembourg

Archbishop Gabriel Mbilingi
President, SECAM, Archbishop of Lubango

Written in collaboration with the Catholic networks Caritas Internationalis, CIDSE and the Global Catholic Climate Movement

Happy birthday St Ignatius of Loyola

"Happy 527th birthday to St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the #Jesuits, who was born on this day (we think) in 1491! "
https://twitter.com/jesuitnews/status/1054716621707771904?s=19

http://jesuits.org/spirituality?PAGE=DTN-20130520125033

Happy birthday to my beloved #StIgnatiusofLoyola 💙💙💙I love you, pray for me, pray for the Church and against Devil attacks.

God bless the Church, Pope Francis and the Jesuits !

#PrayfortheChurch - The Mission of Religious

While we continue to pray everyday for the Church and against Devil attacks praying  the Holy Rosary ending it with Sub Tuum Praesidium and St Michael Archangel prayers, another Pope Video has been released yesterday: "The Mission of Religious"

 

Don't miss the Pope Video already released this month,#PrayfortheChurch

 

The Most Holy Virgin Mary Our Lady of Sorrow

The Most Holy Virgin Mary Our Lady of Sorrow

The Exaltation of The Holy Cross

WMOF2018 Dublin How to Show Welcoming and Respect in Our Parishes to the LGBT People and their families - Full text and video of the Lecture with Father James Martin SJ in Dublin on 23rd of August 2018

WMOF2018 Dublin
How to Show Welcoming and Respect in Our Parishes to the LGBT People and their families -
Full text and video of the Lecture with Father James Martin SJ in Dublin on 23rd of August 2018
(The topic and the title were chosen by the Vatican Dicaster that organised the WMOF2018) 

Full text
https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2018/08/23/father-james-martin-how-parishes-can-welcome-lgbt-catholics

Full Video

This Jesuit could have left Syria. Instead Fr. Frans van der Lugt died a martyr

This Jesuit could have left Syria. Instead he died a martyr.

Fr. Frans van der Lugt

https://aleteia.org/2018/08/21/this-jesuit-could-have-left-syria-instead-he-died-a-martyr/?platform=hootsuite

WMOF2018 IN DUBLIN World Meeting of Families 2018 in Dublin from 21st to 26th of August

https://www.worldmeeting2018.ie/en/

Today the World Meeting of Families has started in Dublin. Pope Francis has invited to join with our prayers.
Aren't you in Dublin like me? Please participate praying from your home and your parish.
The Vatican invited Father James Martin SJ to give a lecture. On his Twitter account @JamesMartinSJ he has written
"Dear friends: Prayers welcome! God willing, I'll be leaving tonight for the World Meeting of Families in Dublin, where I'll be giving a lecture, at the invitation of the Vatican, entitled, "Showing Welcome and Respect in Our Parishes to LGBT People and their Families" @WMOF2018 1 https://t.co/eiK9EGIaWb"
https://twitter.com/JamesMartinSJ/status/1031973880896868358?s=19

"I'm grateful for the invitation and for the opportunity to remind parishes that LGBT Catholics are as much a part of the church as anyone else. Thanks to the pastors, pastoral workers and parishioners who helped me craft this talk of insights and "best practices" for parishes 2"
https://twitter.com/JamesMartinSJ/status/1031974150703931399?s=19

"Now, more than ever, in the face of increased hatred, LGBT Catholics need to know that God loves them and that they are part of God's family. For those in Dublin, the talk is at 11:30 AM at the Hall 8A.  It will posted immediately afterwards on the @americamag website. 3"
https://twitter.com/JamesMartinSJ/status/1031974496901713922?s=19

"More info about the talk is here: https://t.co/ZQLSeldX7S 
I ask for your prayers for an increase in respect, compassion and sensitivity in our church. Many thanks!  4/4"
https://twitter.com/JamesMartinSJ/status/1031974911584231424?s=19

#WMOF2018 .@WMOF2018 #WorldMeetingofFamilies
https://twitter.com/JamesMartinSJ/status/1031976145456181248?s=19

"To all the LGBT Catholics, and their families and friends, who shared your stories with me, wept with me, laughed with me, asked me questions about our faith, and challenged me with your insights: I'm carrying you in my heart to the World Meeting of Families in Dublin. #WMOF2018"
https://twitter.com/JamesMartinSJ/status/1031995504907956225?s=19

https://www.worldmeeting2018.ie/en/Programme/Congress/Thursday-Programme/Session-2-Presentation-3

May God bless World Meeting of Families. May God bless all the families of the world. May God bless Father James Martin SJ. May all the parishes of the world be LGBT welcoming. May God bless all his children and LGBT Catholics are Catholic like all the others Catholic people. May God bless everybody.
Amen and Alleluia,  Jesus Christ Our Lord come!

Pray > Prayers on poverty > Lord, I come to do your will (Father Michael Fitzsimmons/CAFOD)

Pray > Prayers on poverty > Lord, I come to do your will
Father Michael Fitzsimmons/CAFOD
https://cafod.org.uk/Pray/Prayer-resources/Lord-I-come-to-do-your-will

Prayer: Lord, I come to do your will

Lord, allow my ears to listen to the cry of the earth,

the voices of my sisters and brothers,

those who face the hash reality of climate change.

Lord, I come do your will.

 

Lord, allow my eyes to see the beauty of creation.

In flowers, creatures, forests, and cities alike.

Lord, I come do your will.

 

Lord, allow my voice to speak out for justice,

and ensure people living in poverty are heard.

Lord, I come do your will.

 

Lord, allow my hands to care for the earth,

To toil, to recap, to celebrate.

Lord, I come do your will.

 

Lord, allow my feet to take the path less trod,

to walk the extra mile,

to take your message out to the world

Lord, I come do your will.

 

Father Michael Fitzsimmons/CAFOD

Prayer: For a better world

https://cafod.org.uk/Pray/Prayer-resources/Prayer-for-a-better-world

Prayer: For a better world

For the people whose lives have touched ours,
for the love they show,
the burdens they lift,
the hopes we share.

Compassionate God, we ask you:
to fill us with your love,
to place in our hearts a spirit of courage,
to move us to reach out to others in need.

And lead us to play our part,
so that now and in generations to come
all your children may share
in our hope for a better world.

We ask this through Christ our Lord,

Amen

Catherine Gorman, written for the Your Catholic Legacy consortium 

Taken from https://cafod.org.uk/Pray/Prayer-resources/Prayer-for-a-better-world

August 2018 Pope's prayer intention

August 2018
I invite you to pray for this Pope's Intention https://clicktopray.org/en/pope_prayers/47

Queen of all creation pray for us

https://cafod.org.uk/Pray/Prayer-resources

The Mission of the Laity

5 things to remember / Building a bridge