Benedictine Sisters of FL

Holy Name Monastery
Founded 1889

Pope Francis

Keep the Creche in Christmas

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Keep the Creche in Christmas, Pope Urges

 

By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service

December 5, 2022 (CNS) — Stopping to gaze at and perhaps pray before a Nativity scene is one of the best ways to remember the real meaning of Christmas, Pope Francis said.

“In its genuine poverty,” the pope said, “the creche helps us to rediscover the true richness of Christmas and to purify ourselves of so many aspects that pollute the Christmas landscape.”

Pope Francis met Dec. 3 with the artisans who carved the 18-piece Nativity scene in St. Peter’s Square; the donors of the white pine Christmas tree; the residents of a psychiatric rehabilitation center who, along with a group of students and grandparents, created the ornaments; and with representatives of the government of Guatemala, which set up another Nativity scene in the Vatican audience hall.

“Simple and familiar, the Nativity scene recalls a Christmas that is different from the consumerist and commercial Christmas. It is something else. It reminds us how good it is for us to cherish moments of silence and prayer in our days, often overwhelmed by frenzy,” Pope Francis told them during a midday gathering.

The group was scheduled to gather in St. Peter’s Square in the evening for the official unveiling of the Nativity scene and the lighting of the Christmas tree. But a major rainstorm with a forecast for more caused the Vatican to move the evening festivities indoors, although hundreds of people still were in the square for the lighting.

Meeting with the donors, Pope Francis encouraged everyone to find some quiet time to spend before a creche at Christmas.

“Silence encourages contemplation of the child Jesus,” the pope said, and “helps us to become intimate with God, with the fragile simplicity of a tiny newborn baby, with the meekness of his being laid down, with the tender affection of the swaddling clothes that envelop him.”

“If we really want to celebrate Christmas,” he said, “let us rediscover through the crib the surprise and amazement of littleness, the littleness of God, who makes himself small, who is not born in the splendor of appearances, but in the poverty of a stable.”

To truly encounter Jesus, the pope said, people must meet him in the manger, leaving their own vanity and pretense behind.

“Prayer is the best way to say thank you before this gift of free love, to say thank you to Jesus who desires to enter our homes and our hearts,” he said. “Yes, God loves us so much that he shares our humanity and our lives.”

“Even in the worst moments,” the pope said, “he is there, because he is the Emmanuel, the God with us, the light that illuminates the darkness and the tender presence that accompanies us on our journey.”

The lights on the Christmas tree, he said, are a reminder that Jesus came “to lighten our darkness, our existence often enclosed in the shadow of sin, fear, pain.”

But, the pope said, the tree also should make people think about the importance of roots.

Like a tree, he said, only a person who is “rooted in good soil remains firm, grows, matures, resists the winds that shake him and becomes a point of reference for those who look upon him.”

The Christmas tree, Pope Francis said, is a reminder of the need to remain rooted in Christ.

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Pope calls prayers and fasting

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Pope calls for day of prayer, fasting

for peace in Ukraine

 

S. Lynn McKenzie, CIB moderator writes: “There are Benedictine nuns and sisters in Ukraine who need our prayers.  I heard from the CIB Delegate of CIB Region 7 which includes Poland, Ukraine and Lithuania – she has been in touch with the abbess of the monastery of nuns in Zhytomyr Ukraine who said that the military base near them was destroyed by shelling last night.  Some people in the area are coming to the abbey of the nuns to take refuge.  I’m afraid that this will spill beyond Ukraine borders.”

VATICAN CITY | As the threat of war loomed over the world, Pope Francis called on people to pray and fast for peace in Ukraine on Ash Wednesday.

Before concluding his general audience Feb. 23, the pope called on believers and nonbelievers to combat the “diabolical insistence, the diabolical senselessness of violence” with prayer and fasting.

“I invite everyone to make March 2, Ash Wednesday, a day of fasting for peace,” he said. “I encourage believers in a special way to devote themselves intensely to prayer and fasting on that day. May the Queen of Peace protect the world from the folly of war.”

In his appeal, the pope said he, like many around the world, felt “anguish and concern” after Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized the independence of the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

The pope said that due to the “alarming” developments in the region, “once again, the peace of all is threatened by partisan interests.”

“I would like to appeal to those with political responsibilities to do a serious examination of conscience before God, who is the God of peace and not of war, who is the father of all and not only of some, who wants us to be brothers and sisters and not enemies,” he said.

He also urged world leaders to “refrain from any action that would cause even more suffering to the people, destabilizing the coexistence between nations and discrediting international law.”

Putin’s recognition of the two breakaway regions’ independence was seen by Western leaders as a violation of international law protecting Ukraine’s territorial integrity and as a move that could pave the way for a Russian invasion of eastern Ukraine.

In the wake of the Russian president’s actions, the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union announced sanctions against several Russian banks and institutions.

In a statement released Feb. 22, Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of Kyiv-Halych, head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, said Putin’s recognition of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions has caused “irreparable damage” to the “logic of international relations.”

He also said the Russian president “destroyed foundational principles for a long-term process of restoring peace in Ukraine” and “created the path for a new wave of military aggression against our state.”

~Article by Catholic News Service posted on Florida Catholic Media
February 23,2022
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Pope Francis encourages participation in Season of Creation

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Pope Francis encourages participation

in Season of Creation

The Season of Creation is a time to renew our relationship with our Creator and all creation through celebration, conversion, and commitment together. During the Season of Creation, we join our sisters and brothers in the ecumenical family in prayer and action for our common home.

Pope Francis encourages participation in Seasons of Creation: “Now is the time for all people, especially Catholics and Christians, to increase their commitment to our common home by doing more than ever to protect God’s creation.”

Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios I proclaimed September 1 as a day of prayer for creation for the Orthodox in 1989. In fact, the Orthodox church year starts on that day with a commemoration of how God created the world.

The World Council of Churches was instrumental in making the special time a season, extending the celebration from September 1 until October 4.

Pope Francis made the Roman Catholic Church’s warm welcoming of the season official in 2015.

The season starts September 1, the Day of Prayer for Creation, and ends October 4, the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of ecology beloved by many Christian denominations.

Throughout the month-long celebration, the world’s 2.2 billion Christians come together to care for our common home. Please join us.

Resources for prayer and action Herehttps://seasonofcreation.org/

 

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“There can be no preaching in the wrong atmosphere.”

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“There can be no preaching in the wrong atmosphere.”

                                                                                                                                                William Barclay (1907-1978)

 

This reading from Mark’s Gospel reminds us that God sends prophets into our midst for our benefit.  The question is: Are we open-minded enough to listen to new ideas and insights, to allow our attention to be re-directed to things we have ignored or taken for granted?  For instance: how have we listened to, implemented Pope Francis’ invitation to care for all of creation, human and non-human?  Normally, papal documents are addressed to the bishops of the Church to disseminate and promote through their diocese.  But, Pope Francis addresses his message directly to us, his friends, the people of God.

You’ve heard the expression: “You can’t tell a book by its cover.”  All too often we judge the “cover.”  We get so bogged down in appearances, in the humanity of the proclaimer that we refuse to listen to the proclamation.  Who does she/he think she/he is?

You may have seen episodes of “America’s Got Talent” when you knew by the judges’ interaction with the performers that they were writing off this act before the contestant got started.  Like the time when the three fellows looking like they’d just rolled out of bed came on stage.  When they opened their mouths, spell-binding tenor music poured forth into the auditorium where hundreds, along with the judges, sat in stunned silence, open-mouthed, on the edges of their seats realizing what a terrible presumptive judgment they’d made.

Perhaps what is even worse is when we view ourselves in such a negative way that we say: “Who am I to tell anyone what to do or not do, when I know that often I do things far worse?”  The reality is that every one of us, simply because of our baptism, has been called to be a prophet.  There are some things over which we cannot compromise.  There are times when silence is the best response we can muster; when words would not improve the silence.  But there are many times when we cannot keep silent.  We cannot be dissuaded by our own shortcomings.  God will stand by us and give us what we need when we need it.  Relax, draw a deep breath, and remind yourself: “I don’t have to act today with yesterday’s grace.”  But we do need to remember if we fail to share the prophetic message of the Gospel, other louder voices will be happy to impose their godless vision on all of us.  It never has been easy to be a prophet and it never will be.  The message of the Gospel is challenging and sometimes controversial, but it’s a message that people (we) need to hear whether or not we want to hear it.  And God promises a prophet’s reward for fidelity to our mission.  On the other hand, if we prefer not to rock the boat, as Aristotle said “To avoid criticism…say nothing, do nothing, and be nothing.”

This story of one day in the life of Jesus we learn that his trip to Nazareth was not a private family visit.  He came for public ministry.  Usually when the people heard Jesus speak, they were amazed.  But, a lot of what he said confused his enemies.  They couldn’t explain Him, so they rejected His message.  They thought they knew everything about Him.  They knew Him as a “just” common craftsman, just another boy from Nazareth.  They voiced their thoughts: “You are no better than we are!  Why should we listen to you?”

These people did what most people do when they cannot understand someone.  They resorted to rejection, ridicule and the last refuge of a small mind: a tie-breaking put down!  They did what was never done in that society!  They insulted his mother calling him “Son of Mary.”  A male was always referred to as the son of his father, even if his father was dead.  To call a boy the son of his mother was to imply that His mother had been a harlot.  Jesus was amazed that these people lacked faith.  They had heard the truth, seen the truth and they still turned a deaf ear and a blind eye.  As a result, He left Nazareth, and there is no record that He ever returned there.

We may sum up this lesson in the words of William Barclay: “There can be no preaching in the wrong atmosphere.  The listeners are responsible for at least half of every sermon.  In an atmosphere of expectancy, the least effort will catch fire.  In an atmosphere of coldness or indifference, the most spirit-filled of sermons will fall flat.”

~Reflection by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB

 

Please pray for those in the path of the hurricane.

                                                                                    Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB

 

First Reading  Ezekiel 2:2-5     Second Reading  2 Corinthians 12:7-10 
Gospel   Mark 6:1-6
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World Day of Prayer for Vocations

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World Day of Prayer for Vocations

“Dream of Joseph” from Pope Francis

This evening I’d like to share with you excerpts from Pope Francis’ message for the 2021 World Day Prayer for Vocations.  Back in December 2020, His Holiness Pope Francis declared Saint Joseph “Patron of the Universal Church” as he opened the Year of Joseph.  His letter to us for today’s International day of prayer for Church Vocations is entitled “Saint Joseph: The Dream of Vocation.”  Pope Francis writes:

God looks on the heart and in Saint Joseph he recognized the heart of a father, able to give and generate life in the midst of daily routines.  Vocations have this same goal: to beget and renew lives every day.  The Lord desires to shape the hearts of fathers and mothers: hearts that are open, capable of great initiatives, generous in self-giving, compassionate in comforting anxieties and steadfast in strengthening hopes.  The priesthood and the consecrated life greatly need these qualities nowadays, in times marked by fragility but also by the sufferings due to the pandemic, which has spawned uncertainties and fears about the future and the very meaning of life.  Saint Joseph comes to meet us in his gentle way, as one of “the saints next door.”  At the same time, his strong witness can guide us on the journey.

Saint Joseph suggests to us key words for each individual’s vocation.  The first is dream.  If we were to ask people to express in one word their life’s dream, it would not be difficult to imagine the answer: “to be loved.”  It is love that gives meaning to life, because it reveals life’s mystery.  Indeed, we only have life if we give it; we truly possess it only if we generously give it away.  God’s call always urges us to take a first step, to give ourselves, to press forward.  There can be no faith without risk.  Every “yes” bears fruit because it becomes part of a larger design, of which we glimpse only details, but which the divine Artist knows and carries out, making of every life a masterpiece.  Every true vocation is born of the gift of oneself, which is the fruit of mature sacrifice.  Our gift of self will not come to fulfilment if it stops at sacrifice.  Were that the case, instead of becoming a sign of the beauty and joy of love, the gift of self would risk being an expression of unhappiness, sadness and frustration.

Pope Francis continues: “I like to think of Saint Joseph, as the protector of vocations.”  In fact, from his willingness to serve comes his concern to protect.  The Gospel tells us that Joseph wasted no time fretting over things he could not control, in order to give full attention to those entrusted to his care.  Such thoughtful concern is the sign of a true vocation, the testimony of a life touched by the love of God.  What a beautiful example of Christian life we give when we refuse to pursue our ambitions or indulge in our illusions, but instead care for what the Lord has entrusted to us through the Church!  God then pours out his Spirit and creativity upon us – he works wonders in us, as he did in Joseph.

Together with God’s call which makes our greatest dreams come true, and our response which is made up of generous service and attentive care, there is (another) characteristic of Saint Joseph’s daily life and our Christian vocation, namely fidelity.  Joseph is the “righteous man who daily perseveres in quietly serving God and God’s plans.”  At a particularly difficult moment in his life, he thoughtfully considered what to do.  He did not yield to the temptation to act rashly, simply following his instincts or living for the moment.  Instead, he pondered things patiently.  He knew that success in life is built on constant fidelity to important decisions.  This was reflected in his perseverance in plying the trade of a humble carpenter, a quiet perseverance that made no news in his own time, yet has inspired the daily lives of countless Christians ever since.  For a vocation – like life itself – matures only through daily fidelity.

How is such fidelity nurtured?  In the light of God’s own faithfulness.  The first words that Saint Joseph heard in a dream were an invitation not to be afraid, because God remains ever faithful to his promises.  Do not be afraid: these words the Lord also addresses to you whenever you feel that, even amid uncertainty and hesitation, you can no longer delay your desire to give your life to him.  He repeats these words when, perhaps amid trials and misunderstandings, you seek to follow his will every day, wherever you find yourself.  They are words you will hear anew, at every step of your vocation, as you return to your first love.  They are a refrain accompanying all those who – like Saint Joseph – say yes to God with their lives through their fidelity each day.

This fidelity is the secret of joy.  A hymn in the liturgy speaks of the “transparent joy” present in the home of Nazareth.  It is the joy of simplicity, the joy experienced daily by those who care for what truly matters: faithful closeness to God and to our neighbor.  How good it would be if the same atmosphere, simple and radiant, sober and hopeful, were to pervade our seminaries, religious houses and presbyteries!  Pope Francis continues…”I pray that you will experience this same joy, (my) dear brothers and sisters who have generously made God the dream of your lives, serving God through a fidelity that is a powerful testimony in an age of fleeting choices and emotions that bring no lasting joy.  May Saint Joseph, protector of vocations, accompany you with his fatherly heart!”

Please pray for perseverance for our postulants: Marietta and Kathleen.

If it be God’s will, we pray: send vocations to our community.

God bless  you!  Stay safe – keep healthy and happy and never lose hope – believe that God has a plan that is unfolded for us day-by-day … which is all we need one-day-at-a-time.

~Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB, Prioress

 

For the full text of Pope Francis letter (cited in the attached reflection) click on the link below.

Pope Francis’ full message

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Holy Thursday

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After the meal, Jesus took off his outer garments, tied a towel around his waist, poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet and dry them.     [John 13:4-5]

 “That’s all it takes: Serve others.  Yet we resist.  We are lazy, too busy or too caught up in our own world and interests.  Jesus shows us the example.  Wash the feet of others.  You don’t have to take it literally, but you do have to serve others.  Better yet, serve someone who can’t repay you.  Hold the door, let someone go first, clean up after someone.  Just find a way to serve.”    (Fr. Thomas J. Connery)

 

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