Papal Preacher: “Peace is not only born from political agreements or diplomatic or military strategies, but from men and women who find the courage to be small.” www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-c...
Fasting helps us to identify and order our “appetites,” keeping our hunger and thirst for justice alive and freeing us from complacency. It teaches us to pray and act responsibly towards our neighbor. #Lent 2/2
Fasting is a concrete way to prepare ourselves to receive the Word of God. Abstaining from food is an ancient ascetic practice that is essential on the path of conversion. 1/2
Let us #PrayTogether that nations move toward effective disarmament, particularly nuclear disarmament, and that world leaders choose the path of dialogue and diplomacy instead of violence. #PrayerIntention
Would you imagine what a world without wars would be like? #PrayTogether
Composed of men and women, the Church is divine. Even in our littleness and limitations, we can always serve as instruments in God’s hands to build up His Church. #GeneralAudience
Every path towards conversion begins when we allow the Word of God to touch our hearts and welcome it with a docile spirit. The Lenten journey is a welcome opportunity to heed the voice of the Lord and renew our commitment to follow Christ. #Lent
In these days, troubling news has also arrived of clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan. I urgently appeal for a return to dialogue. Let us #PrayTogether that harmony may prevail in all conflicts throughout the world. Only peace, a gift of God, can heal the wounds between peoples.
May diplomacy regain its proper role, and may the well-being of peoples, who yearn for peaceful existence founded on justice, be upheld. And let us continue to pray for peace. 2/2
Faced with the possibility of a tragedy of immense proportions, I make a heartfelt appeal to all the parties involved to assume the moral responsibility of halting the spiral of violence before it becomes an unbridgeable chasm. 1/2
Stability and peace are not achieved through mutual threats, nor through the use of weapons, which sow destruction, suffering, and death, but only through reasonable, sincere, and responsible dialogue. 2/2
I am following with deep concern what is happening in the Middle East and in Iran during this tumultuous time. 1/2
The Redeemer thus transfigures the wounds of history, enlightening our minds and hearts. (Mt 17:1-9) 2/2
The Transfiguration foreshadows the light of Easter: an event of death and resurrection, of darkness and new light that Christ radiates on all bodies scourged by violence, crucified by pain, or abandoned in misery. 1/2
I invite everyone to pray for the war-torn people of Ukraine and for all those who suffer due to this war and every conflict in the world, so that the long-awaited gift of peace may shine in our days.
The #GospelOfTheDay (Mt 4:1-11) invites us to view Lent as a luminous path. Through prayer, fasting and almsgiving, we can renew our cooperation with the Lord, so He can craft our lives as unique masterpieces.
#Lent is a time in which the Church, guided by a sense of maternal care, invites us to place the mystery of God back in the center of our lives, in order to find renewal in our faith and keep our hearts from being consumed by the anxieties and distractions of daily life.
...so that hurtful words may diminish and give way to a greater space for the voice of others. Let us strive to make our communities places where the cry of those who suffer finds welcome, and listening opens paths towards liberation. 2/2
Let us ask for the grace of a #Lent that leads us to greater attentiveness to God and to the least among us. Let us ask for the strength that comes from the type of fasting that also extends to our use of language... 1/2
“Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’” (Joel 2:17). The prophet Joel’s question is like a goad. It reminds us of considerations from those who look at the people of God from the outside. #Lent urges us to change direction, to convert, so that our witness may be more credible.
Only then will the Easter Triduum, which we will celebrate as the summit of the Lenten journey, unleash all its beauty and meaning. This will take place if we participate, through penance, in the passage from death to life, from powerlessness to the possibilities of God. #AshWednesday #Lent 2/2
We need to recognize our sins to convert. This itself is a sign and testimony of the Resurrection, as it means we will not remain among the ashes, but that we will rise up and rebuild. 1/2
As we begin our journey through #Lent, let us ask the Lord to grant us the gift of true conversion of heart, so that we may better respond to His love for us and share that love with those around us.
Only in this way will we be able to develop more effective and sustainable healthcare systems. 2/2
We need to rediscover the fundamental attitude of care as support and closeness to others, not only because someone is in need or is sick, but because they experience vulnerability, the vulnerability that is common to all human beings. 1/2
I express my closeness to the people of Madagascar who have been impacted by two cyclones, flooding and landslides within a short period of time. I pray for the victims, their families and for all who have suffered serious damage.
The #GospelOfTheDay (Mt 5:17-37) offers us this valuable teaching: minimal righteousness is not enough. We must have great love, which is possible with the power of God.
Jesus teaches us that true righteousness consists in love and that, within every precept of the Law, we must learn to identify a call to love. It is not enough to refrain from killing a person physically, if one then kills with words and undermines the other person's dignity.
Throughout the centuries, the Gospel has permeated the structures, standards, and ways of acting and thinking of the civilizations it has entered. It has done so not through violent revolution, but through peaceful transformation from within—through consciences and the conversion of hearts.
May #OurLadyOfLourdes, whom we celebrate today, accompany you with a mother’s care, intercede for you before God, and obtain graces to sustain you on your journey. We entrust to her all those who are ill, whom we remember with particular affection on this World Day of the Sick. #PrayTogether
