Here’s an interesting piece on surveys about religion that will make you think. For example, the next time you are asked online or in person at a shopping mall or over the phone to answer a survey, ask yourself: How is the question phrased?: http://www.cruxnow.com/life/2014/11/18/religion-survey-babble-confuses-103-of-readers-heres-why/?s_campaign=crux:email:daily
On another matter – totally:
The thrills of living overseas; I read the instruction booklet for my new washer (see yesterday’s blog) and guess what. The shortest program for a cold water, small load of not very dirty items, is 55 minutes! The average programs run from 2 to 3 hours!! And these are the energy savers! This is typical for Europe – and it is worse for dryers, which explains why so few homes have them and why you see clothes hanging from lines in Italy! So, if you live in the US and Canada, the next time you wash and dry a load of towels, thank your lucky stars for real energy savers!
You will love today’s general audience! And you will be comforted by Pope Francis’ words on how to be a saint and who is eligibile – we all are!!
HOW TO BE A SAINT (IN ONE EASY LESSON)
Pope Francis, in his catechesis today at the general audience, focused on the universal call to holiness of all baptized, and stressed that, “every state of life leads to holiness, always” but we must be open to God’s gift of grace.”
Basically, said Pope Francis, becoming a saint, is up to us – IF we accept the Lord’s call to the vocation of holiness and IF we accept his grace to get there!
Photo from news.va
A look at some of the world’s most well-known saints – Francis, Dominic, Padre Pio, John Paul II, John XXIII, Clare, Therese, Teresa, Catherine – tells us that most were men and women Religious and/or founders of religious orders, Popes, etc. This could easily discourage even the most faithful of Christians – most of whom are not consecrated Religious but, said Pope Francis, we must not be discouraged: “The call to holiness is not just for bishops, priests or religious … No. We are all called to become saints! So often, we are tempted to think that holiness is granted only to those who have the opportunity to break away from the ordinary tasks, to devote themselves to prayer. But it is not so!
“Some people,” he went on, “think that holiness is closing your eyes and putting on a pious face… No! That is not holiness! Holiness is something greater, more profound that God gifts us. Indeed, it is by living with love and offering Christian witness in our daily tasks that we are called to become saints. And everyone in the particular condition and state of life in which they find themselves.”
The Holy Father urged the faithful to examine their consciences, asking how they could respond to the Lord’s call to sanctity, and suggesting ways to respons as he mentioned various states of life. He explained that when the Lord calls us to be holy, he does not ask us to do something weighty or difficult or im possible or even sad, but rather offers us an invitation to share in his joy.
The Pope then asked questions about various states of life: Are you consecrated? Be holy living your gift and your ministry with joy. Are you married? Be holy and loving and take care of your husband or your wife, as Christ did with the Church. Are you a baptized person who is not married? Be holy by performing your work with honesty and competence and giving time to the service of others. “But, father, I work in a factory … I work as an accountant, always with the numbers, I cannot be a saint there…” “Yes, you can! There, where you work you can become a saint. God gives you the grace to become a saint. God communicates with you.” Always and everywhere you can become a saint, that is, by being receptive to the grace that is working in us and leads us to holiness.
“Are you a parent or grandparent?” asked the Pope. “Be holy by passionately teaching your children or grandchildren to know and follow Jesus. And this takes a lot of patience, to be a good parent, a good grandfather, a good mother, a good grandmother, it takes a lot of patience and this patience is the holiness exercising patience. Are you a catechist, educator or volunteer? Be holy by becoming a visible sign of God’s love and His presence beside us.
“This is it: every state of life leads to holiness, always! At home, on the streets, at work, at church, in the moment and with the state of life that you have, a door is opened on the road to sainthood. Do not be discouraged to travel this road. God gives you the grace to do so. And this is all that the Lord asks, that we be in communion with Him and serve others. Life lived in communion with the Lord and in the service of others.”
Francis noted that, “we do not walk the path of sanctity alone, each for himself, but rather together, in that single body that is the Church, loved and sanctified by the Lord Jesus Christ.”
“BUILDING PEACE IS DIFFICULT, LIVING WITHOUT PEACE IS A TORMENT!”
At the end of the general audience today, Pope Francis made a heartfelt plea for peace in Jerusalem and throughout the Holy Land, in the wake of yesterday’s killing in a Jewish synagogue of four rabbis, including three Americans and one British. A fifth person, a policeman, was killed and many others wounded in the attempt
“I am following with concern,” said the Pope, “the alarming increase in tension in Jerusalem and other parts of the Holy Land, with unacceptable episodes of violence that do not spare even the places of worship. I assure a special prayer for all the victims of this dramatic situation and for those who suffer most as a result. From the bottom of my heart, I make an appeal to the parties involved to put an end to the spiral of hatred and violence and to make courageous decisions for reconciliation and peace. Building peace is difficult, but living without peace is a torment!”
PILGRIMS PRAY FOR PEACE AND WALK WAY OF THE CROSS IN JERUSALEM
A pilgrimage group in the Holy Land for the November 20th annual International Walk for Peace, given the attack Monday in Jerusalem that killed five people, has modified its original schedule and now calls itself the pilgrimage of “A Heartfelt Prayer for Peace,” This annual event was organized by ORP, Opera Romana Pellegrinaggi.
Building on Pope Francis’ strong appeal for peace in Jerusalem and the Holy Land at the Wednesday general audience, tomorrow morning the pilgrims will meet at 7:45 at St. Catherine’s Church in Bethlehem where they will be given olive tree branches and pause for prayer with the Palestinian community. Afterwards, they will board busses for the 5-mile ride to Jerusalem. Instead of the walk from Bethlehem to Jerusalem, pilgrims will walk the Way of the Cross – the Via Dolorosa – from the convent of the scourging or flagellation to the basilica of the Holy Sepulchre.
Msgr. Liberio Andreatta, vice president of ORP who is in the Holy Land with the group, said in an ORP communique, “we wanted the walk to be transformed into the Way of the Cross, which is the heart of the Christian faith, the cross carried with love to overcome evil.” He is in Jerusalem to mark a diocesan and national pilgrimage that is celebrating the 80th anniversary of the founding of ORP, an office that is part of the vicariate of Rome.
Msgr. Andreatta said, “As we walk through Christ’s passion, we will experience the atrocious human suffering that these populations have gone through in these last hours, we will pray with them and for them so that hatred will not – cannot – have the final word. As Christians we are called to witness to Christ crucified, Who died and rose from the dead. This is the spirit that will animate our steps.”
After the Via Crucis, or Way of the Cross, pilgrims will gather at the Notre Dame Center to participate in the prayer for peace initiative, together with the Israeli community.
Joan's Rome 