The doctrinal mission of the Successor of Peter - Pope John Paul II

The doctrinal mission of the Successor of Peter

According to the Gospel texts, the universal pastoral mission of the Roman Pontiff, the Successor of Peter, involves a doctrinal mission. As the universal pastor, the Pope has a mission to announce revealed doctrine and to promote true faith in Christ throughout the Church. This is the integral meaning of the Petrine ministry.

The importance of the doctrinal mission entrusted to Peter - still according to Gospel sources - is due to the fact that he shares in the pastoral mission of Christ. Peter is the leader of those Apostles to whom Jesus said: 'As the Father sent me, so I am sendingyou' (John 20:21; cf. 17:18). As the universal pastor, Peter has to act on Christ's behalf and in tune with him throughout the vast human area in which Jesus wishes his Gospel to be preached and the saving truth to be carried - that is, the whole world. In the mission of universal pastor, the Successor of Peter is thus the heir to a doctrinal munus, in which he is intimately associated with Peter in Jesus' mission.

This detracts in no way from the pastoral mission of the Bishops who, according to the Second Vatican Council, have among their principal duties that of preaching the Gospel: for they 'are heralds of the faith ... who preach the faith to the people assigned to them, the faith which is destined to inform their thinking and direct their conduct' (Lumen gentium 25).

The Bishop of Rome, however, as the head of the episcopal college by Christ's will, is the first herald of the Faith, to whom falls the task of teaching revealed truth and of showing how it is to be applied in human behaviour. His is the primal responsibility for spreading the Faith in the world.

The Successor of Peter has carried out this doctrinal mission by issuing a continual series of oral and written interventions, which constitute the ordinary exercise of the Magisterium as the teaching of the truth to be believed and to be translated into practice (fidem et mores). The acts which express this Magisterium may be more or less frequent and may take differing forms, depending on the needs of the day, the requirements of particular situations, the possibilities and means available, and the methodologies and techniques of communication; but, given that they derive from an explicit or implicit intention to pronounce on matters of faith and morals, they are connected to the mandate received by Peter and invested with the authority conferred on him by Christ.

To discharge this task, the Successor of Peter, in personal form but with institutional authority, expresses the 'rule of the Faith', which all members of the Universal Church ought to keep - the faithful at large, catechists, teachers of religion, theologians - in seeking the meaning of the permanent contents of the Christian faith, or in relation to discussions that arise within and without the ecelesial community on various points or on the whole corpus of doctrine.

True, everyone in the Church, and theologians especially, is called to carry out this task of constant clarification and explanation. But the mission of Peter and his successors is to establish and confirm what the Church has received and believed from the beginning, what the Apostles have taught, and what Holy Scripture and Christian tradition have fixed as the matter of faith and as the Christian norm of life. Furthermore, the other pastors of the Church, the
Bishops who are the successors of the Apostles, are 'strengthened' by the Successor of Peter in their fellowship of faith with Christ and in the proper fulfilment of their mission. Thus the magisterium of the Bishop of Rome marks a line of charity and unity for all, which especially in times of maximum communication and discussion - such as our own - is absolutely necessary.

The Roman Pontiff has the mission of protecting Christians from errors in the field of faith and morals, and the duty of guarding the deposit of faith (Cf. 2 Timothy 4:7). Woe to him if he were to fear being criticized or misunderstood. He is charged with hearing witness to Christ, to his word, to his law, to his love. To awareness of his own responsibility in the doctrinal and moral sphere, the Roman Pontiff must add the commitment of being, like Jesus, 'meek andhumble of heart'.

Pope St. Gregory the Great (Gregory I) - 3 September 2010

Today is the feast of the Great Pope Gregory.

Pope Saint Gregory the Great not only saved the Church, in times so frightful that the men who lived in them were sure that the end of the world was come, but he founded the great civilization which has lasted down to our day and of which we are part, Western Civilization. All alone, in the midst of famine and pestilence, floods and earthquakes, endangered by Greeks and barbarians alike, and abandoned by the Emperor, Pope Gregory, frail and ailing in body but strong and undaunted in spirit, succored and saved his people, his city, his country, and the whole of Christendom.

The great Roman Empire which for three hundred years had persecuted the Christians and driven them underground to the catacombs, had for all of that time been in the process of decay. In 476, the thing was completed. The Empire in the West fell. It fell to the barbarian invaders not as the outcome of a great battle, but as the inglorious petering out of something that had been worse than dead for a long, long time.

There came to replace the soft and decadent, overrefined and grossly weak civilization of Rome, the rude and uncouth, unmannerly and brutal, but also strong and virile and young and convertible German nations, which for two centuries had been on the march, mysteriously moving as without purpose, on the one hand, and as if in response to a divine summons on the other. History calls it the “migration of nations.” In wave after wave, invasion after invasion, they streamed across Europe. They thundered down from the North, came up from the South, across from the East, and one by one they stormed the gates of Rome.

They were a strange mixture, these nations, of good and bad, gentle and rapacious, but their lives were distinguished by a purity more vigorous than the Romans’ and their respect and treatment of women, despite their rude manners and coarse living, far exceeded the Romans’. It is true of them that:

. . .The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner. By the Lord this has been done; and it is wonderful in our eyes.

Therefore I say to you, that the kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and shall be given to a nation yielding the fruits thereof. (Matt. 21: 42, 43.)

The Graeco-Romans had had their chance and, like the Jews, the first chosen people, they had failed. Centuries of patient labor on the part of the Church would pass before the wild tribes who replaced the “stone of the corner” could be taught and tamed and civilized, but once the long work was accomplished, Christ the King and His Queen Mother would be given the generous, glorious, unselfish ages of chivalry, the Crusades, and — the Thirteenth Century. The world would have known Gregory the Great, Leo III, Gregory VII, Innocent III, Boniface VIII, Bede, John Damascene, Peter Damian, Anselm, Bonaventure, Thomas Aquinas, Albert the Great, Gertrude, and a thousand others.

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The Bishop of Rome, the Successor of Peter - Pope John Paul II

The Bishop of Rome, the Successor of Peter

The Church is also Catholic in the sense that all of Christ's followers have to share in her world-wide mission of salvation by means of each individual apostolate. But the pastoral activity of all, and in particular the collegiate activity of the entire episcopate, attains unity through the ministerium Petrinum of the Bishop of Rome. 'The bishops,' says the Council, 'while loyally respecting the primacy and pre-eminence of their head, exercise their own proper authority
for the good of their faithful, indeed for the good of the whole Church (Lumen Gentium 22). And we should add, again quoting the Council, that if the collegiate authority over the whole Church attains its particular expression in an ecumenical council, it is 'the prerogative of the Roman Pontiff to convoke such Councils, to preside over them and to confirm them' (Lumen gentium 22). Thus the Pope, the Bishop of Rome, is the head of all, as the principle of unity and communion.

For the Successor of Peter, it is not a matter of claiming powers such as those wielded by the earthly 'rulers' of whom Jesus speaks (cf. Matthew 20:25-28), but of being faithful to the will of the Church's Founder, who instituted this type of society and this mode of government to promote communion in faith and charity.

To respond to Christ's will, the Successor of Peter must in a spirit of humble service and with the aim of assuring unity, assume and exercise the authority conferred on him. Even in the historically diverse ways of exercising it, he must imitate Christ in serving and reuniting those who are called to be part of the one fold. He will never subordinate to personal ends what he has received for Christ and for Christ's Church. He may never forget that the universal pastoral mission cannot but entail the deepest association with the Redeemer's sacrifice, with the
mystery of the Cross.'

The Popes on Socialism

The following is a list of quotes what the Popes have to say about Socialism.


PIUS IX (1846-1878):
“Overthrow [of] the entire order of human affairs”
“You are aware indeed, that the goal of this most iniquitous plot is to drive people to overthrow the entire order of human affairs and to draw them over to the wicked theories of this Socialism and Communism, by confusing them with perverted teachings.” (Encyclical Nostis et Nobiscum, December 8, 1849)

LEO XIII (1878-1903):
Hideous monster
“...communism, socialism, nihilism, hideous deformities of the civil society of men and almost its ruin.” (Encyclical Diuturnum, June 29, 1881)

Ruin of all institutions
“... For, the fear of God and reverence for divine laws being taken away, the authority of rulers despised, sedition permitted and approved, and the popular passions urged on to lawlessness, with no restraint save that of punishment, a change and overthrow of all things will necessarily follow. Yea, this change and overthrow is deliberately planned and put forward by many associations of communists and socialists” (Encyclical Humanum Genus, April 20, 1884, n. 27).

A sect “that threatens civil society with destruction”

Leo XIII (1877-1903):
Socialists assail the right of property sanctioned by natural law.

“…We speak of that sect of men who, under various and almost barbarous names, are called socialists, communists, or nihilists, and who, spread over all the world, and bound together by the closest ties in a wicked confederacy, no longer seek the shelter of secret meetings, but, openly and boldly marching forth in the light of day, strive to bring to a head what they have long been planning - the overthrow of all civil society whatsoever. Surely, these are they who, as the sacred Scriptures testify, ‘Defile the flesh, despise dominion and blaspheme majesty.’ (Jud. 8).” (Encyclical Quod Apostolici Muneris, December 28, 1878, n. 1)

Socialists debase the natural union of man and woman and assail the right of property
“They [socialists, communists, or nihilists] debase the natural union of man and woman, which is held sacred even among barbarous peoples; and its bond, by which the family is chiefly held together, they weaken, or even deliver up to lust. Lured, in fine, by the greed of present goods, which is ‘the root of all evils, which some coveting have erred from the faith’ (1 Tim. 6:10.3), they assail the right of property sanctioned by natural law; and by a scheme of horrible wickedness, while they seem desirous of caring for the needs and satisfying the desires of all men, they strive to seize and hold in common whatever has been acquired either by title of lawful inheritance, or by labor of brain and hands, or by thrift in one's mode of life.” (Encyclical Quod Apostolici Muneris, December 28, 1878, n. 1)

Destructive sect
“...socialists and members of other seditious societies, who labor unceasingly to destroy the State even to its foundations.” (Encyclical Libertas Praestantissimum, June 20, 1888)

Enemy of society and of Religion
“...there is need for a union of brave minds with all the resources they can command. The harvest of misery is before our eyes, and the dreadful projects of the most disastrous national upheavals are threatening us from the growing power of the socialistic movement. They have insidiously worked their way into the very heart of the community, and in the darkness of their secret gatherings, and in the open light of day, in their writings and their harangues, they are urging the masses onward to sedition; they fling aside religious discipline; they scorn duties; they clamor only for rights; they are working incessantly on the multitudes of the needy which daily grow greater, and which, because of their poverty are easily deluded and led into error. It is equally the concern of the State and of religion, and all good men

Saint Pius X (1903-1914) :

should deem it a sacred duty to preserve and guard both in the honor which is their due.” (Encyclical Graves de Communi Re, January 18, 1901, n. 21)



The dream of re-shaping society will bring socialism
“But stranger still, alarming and saddening at the same time, are the audacity and frivolity of men who call themselves Catholics and dream of re-shaping society under such conditions, and of establishing on earth, over and beyond the pale of the Catholic Church, ‘the reign of love and justice’ ... What are they going to produce? ... A mere verbal and chimerical construction in which we shall see, glowing in a jumble, and in seductive confusion, the words Liberty, Justice, Fraternity, Love, Equality, and human exultation, all resting upon an ill-understood human dignity. It will be a tumultuous agitation, sterile for the end proposed, but which will benefit the less Utopian exploiters of the people. Yes, we can truly say that the Sillon, its eyes fixed on a chimera, brings Socialism in its train.” (Apostolic Letter Notre Charge Apostolique ["Our Apostolic Mandate"] to the French Bishops, August 15, 1910, condemning the movement Le Sillon)




BENEDICT XV (1914-1922):
The condemnation of socialism should never be forgotten
“It is not our intention here to repeat the arguments which clearly expose the errors of Socialism and of similar doctrines. Our predecessor, Leo XIII, most wisely did so in truly memorable Encyclicals; and you, Venerable Brethren, will take the greatest care that those grave precepts are never forgotten, but that whenever circumstances call for it, they should be clearly expounded and inculcated in Catholic associations and congresses, in sermons and in the Catholic press.” (Encyclical Ad Beatissimi Apostolorum, November 1, 1914, n. 13)


PIUS XI (1922-1939):
"No one can be at the same time a good Catholic and a true socialist."

Socialism, fundamentally contrary to Christian truth
“... For Socialism, which could then be termed almost a single system and which maintained definite teachings reduced into one body of doctrine, has since then split chiefly into two sections, often opposing each other and even bitterly hostile, without either one however abandoning a position fundamentally contrary to Christian truth that was characteristic of Socialism.” (Encyclical Quadragesimo Anno, May 15, 1931, n. 111)

Socialism cannot be reconciled with Catholic Doctrine
“But what if Socialism has really been so tempered and modified as to the class struggle and private ownership that there is in it no longer anything to be censured on these points? Has it thereby renounced its contradictory nature to the Christian religion? This is the question that holds many minds in suspense. And numerous are the Catholics who, although they clearly understand that Christian principles can never be abandoned or diminished seem to turn their eyes to the Holy See and earnestly beseech Us to decide whether this form of Socialism has so far recovered from false doctrines that it can be accepted without the sacrifice of any Christian principle and in a certain sense be baptized. That We, in keeping with Our fatherly solicitude, may answer their petitions, We make this pronouncement: Whether considered as a doctrine, or an historical fact, or a movement, Socialism, if it remains truly Socialism, even after it has yielded to truth and justice on the points which we have mentioned, cannot be reconciled with the teachings of the Catholic Church because its concept of society itself is utterly foreign to Christian truth.” (Ibid. n. 117)


Catholic Socialism, a contradiction
“[Socialism] is based nevertheless on a theory of human society peculiar to itself and irreconcilable with true Christianity. Religious socialism, Christian socialism, are contradictory terms; no one can be at the same time a good Catholic and a true socialist.” (Ibid. n. 120)

PIUS XII (1939-1958):
The Church will fight to the end, in defense of supreme values threatened by socialism
“[The Church undertook] the protection of the individual and the family against a current threatening to bring about a total socialization which in the end would make the specter of the 'Leviathan' become a shocking reality. The Church will fight this battle to the end, for it is a question of supreme values: the dignity of man and the salvation of souls." (“Radio message to the Katholikentag of Vienna,” September 14, 1952 in Discorsi e Radiomessaggi, vol. XIV, p. 314)

The state can not be regarded as being above all
"To consider the State as something ultimate to which everything else should be subordinated and directed, cannot fail to harm the true and lasting prosperity of nations." (Encyclical Summi Pontificatus, October 20, 1939, n. 60)


JOHN XXIII (1958-1963):
“No Catholic could subscribe even to moderate socialism”
“Pope Pius XI further emphasized the fundamental opposition between Communism and Christianity, and made it clear that no Catholic could subscribe even to moderate Socialism. The reason is that Socialism is founded on a doctrine of human society which is bounded by time and takes no account of any objective other than that of material well-being. Since, therefore, it proposes a form of social organization which aims solely at production, it places too severe a restraint on human liberty, at the same time flouting the true notion of social authority.” (Encyclical Mater et Magistra, May 15, 1961, n. 34)


PAUL VI (1963-1978):
Too often Christians tend to idealize socialism
“Too often Christians attracted by socialism tend to idealize it in terms which, apart from anything else, are very general: a will for justice, solidarity and equality. They refuse to recognize the limitations of the historical socialist movements, which remain conditioned by the ideologies from which they originated.” (Apostolic Letter Octogesima Adveniens, May 14, 1971, n. 31)


JOHN PAUL II (1978-2005):
Socialism: Danger of a “simple and radical solution”
“It may seem surprising that ‘socialism’ appeared at the beginning of the Pope's critique of solutions to the ‘question of the working class’ at a time when ‘socialism’ was not yet in the form of a strong and powerful State, with all the resources which that implies, as was later to happen. However, he correctly judged the danger posed to the masses by the attractive presentation of this simple and radical solution to the ‘question of the working class.’" (Encyclical Centesimus Annus − On the 100th anniversary of Pope Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum, May 1, 1991, n. 12)

Fundamental error of socialism: A mistaken conception of the person
“Continuing our reflections, ... we have to add that the fundamental error of socialism is anthropological in nature. Socialism considers the individual person simply as an element, a molecule within the social organism, so that the good of the individual is completely subordinated to the functioning of the socio-economic mechanism. Socialism likewise maintains that the good of the individual can be realized without reference to his free choice, to the unique and exclusive responsibility which he exercises in the face of good or evil. Man is thus reduced to a series of social relationships, and the concept of the person as the autonomous subject of moral decision disappears, the very subject whose decisions build the social order. From this mistaken conception of the person there arise both a distortion of law, which defines the sphere of the exercise of freedom, and an opposition to private property.” (Ibid, n. 13)

BENEDICT XVI (2005 - present):
“We do not need a State which regulates and controls everything”

“The State which would provide everything, absorbing everything into itself, would ultimately become a mere bureaucracy incapable of guaranteeing the very thing which the suffering person − every person − needs: namely, loving personal concern. We do not need a State which regulates and controls everything, but a State which, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, generously acknowledges and supports initiatives arising from the different social forces and combines spontaneity with closeness to those in need. … In the end, the claim that just social structures would make works of charity superfluous masks a materialist conception of man: the mistaken notion that man can live ‘by bread alone’ (Mt 4:4; cf. Dt 8:3) − a conviction that demeans man and ultimately disregards all that is specifically human.” (Encyclical Deus Caritas Est, December 25, 2005, n. 28)

The choice and mission of Peter - Pope John Paul II

The choice and mission of Peter

Jesus stated: 'On this rock I shall build my Church and the gates of hell will never prevail against her' (Matthew 16:18). The words attest Jesus' wish to build his Church with essential reference to the specific mission and power which he in his lifetime would confer on Simon.

Jesus described Simon Peter as the foundation stone on which the church was going to be built. The relationship between Christ and Peter is thus reflected in the relationship between Peter and the Church. The former relationship charges the latter with importance and discloses its theological and spiritual significance which, objectively and ecclesially, is the basis of that jurisdiction.

Matthew is the only evangelist to record these words for us, but in this connection we should remember that Matthew is also the only one to have assembled material of particular interest about Peter (Matthew 14:28-31), perhaps with those communities in mind for whom he was writing his Gospel and on whom he was keen to impress the new concept of 'the assembly summoned' in the name of Christ, present in Peter.

On the other hand, 'Peter', the new name which Jesus gives to Simon is confirmed by the other evangelists without any disagreement over the name's significance as explained by Matthew. Nor, for that matter, can one see what other meaning it could have.We should also make clear that the 'Rock' of which Jesus is speaking is actually the person, Peter. Jesus says to him: 'Thou art Kephas.' The context in which this is said allows us an even firmer grasp of the sense of that 'Thou' person. After Simon has said who Jesus is Jesus says who Simon is, in his plan for building the Church. True, Simon gets called "Rock" after making his profession of faith, and this implies a relationship between his faith and the role of rock conferred on him. But the quality of rock is attributed to Simon's person, not to one of his actions, even though it was very noble and pleasing to Jesus. The word 'rock' suggests something permanent and sound hence it is applied to the person, rather than to an action of his, since by its nature an action would be transitory. Jesus' subsequent words confirm this, when he says that the gates of hell - that is, the powers of death - will never prevail'against her'. The expression could refer to the Church or to the rock.

Be that as it may, according to the logic of Christ's words, the Church founded on the rock can never be destroyed. The permanence of the Church is bound up with the rock. The relationship between Peter and the Church in itself duplicates the bond between the Church and Christ. For Jesus says 'my Church'. Which means that the Church will always be Christ's Church, the Church belonging to Christ. She doesn't become Peter's Church. But, as Christ's Church, she is built on Peter, who is Kephas, in the name of and by the authority of Christ.

To Peter, Jesus says: 'Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven' (Matthew 16:19). This is another metaphor used by Jesus to show that he wishes to invest Simon Peter with a complete and universal power guaranteed and ratified by heavenly approval. This is not only the power to enunciate points of doctrine or general directives to be acted upon; according to Jesus, it is the power 'to loose and to bind' - that is, to take all measures required for the life and development of the Church. The conjunction of the opposites 'to bind' and 'to loose' serves to show how total this power is.

We must, however, add at once that the purpose of this power is to give access to the Kingdom, not to close it: 'to open', to make it possible to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, and not to put obstacles in the way, which would be the same as I closing' it. Such is the purpose of the Petrine ministry, rooted in the redemptive sacrifice of Christ, who came to save and to be the Door and Shepherd of all within the communion of the one sheepfold.'

Feeling with the Church - Pope John Paul II

To possess and live the sense of the Church means first and foremost to believe in the God revealed byJesus Christ and proclaimed by the church. In order to believe and, as disciples, to follow Jesus of Nazareth - the Son of God, the Lord, the Messiah, the Redeemer of the human race - we must first come to know him by continual meditation on Holy Scripture, and especially on the Gospel, where he speaks to us in the first person to present us with his personality, his message, his claims, his miracles, his passion, death and resurrection - that is, 'the mystery
of his identity'.

To possess and live the sense of the Church means to know and love, the Church and sentire cum Ecclesia; to know and love the Church who is lin Christ, in the nature of a sacrament - a sign and instrument of communion with God and of unity with the whole human race' (Lumen Gentium I ); who is the sheepfold, whose one and necessary door and whose Good Shepherd is Christ (J0hn 10:1-10); who is the estate, the field of God, where Christ is the true vine making us who are its branches fruitful (John 15:1-5); who is the Body of Christ, in whom Christ's life is poured forth into us believers by the sacraments of the Faith; who is the New People of God, a people who has 'as its head Christ ". and its state is that of the dignity and freedom of the sons of God, in whose heart the Holy Spirit dwells as in a temple; its law, the new commandment to love as Christ loved US; its destiny, the kingdom of God' (Lumen gentium 9).

Of this Church we are members and children; by this Church we have been begotten to supernatural life in Baptism, which has grafted us into Christ. We should therefore love this Church as our Mother , because 'they cannot have God for Father who do not have the Church for Mother' (St Cyprian, De Catholicae Ecclesiae unitate 6; CSEL 3,1,214). The Church is our Mother and Teacher: we ought filially and docilely to listen to what she says to us, to what she passes on to us and teaches us by means of the magisterium of the Successor of Peter, the perpetual and visible principle and foundation-stone of the unity of the Faith and of ecclesial communion, and of the Bishops who by divine institution have succeeded to the place of the Apostles as pastors of the Church. Whoever listens to them, listens to Christ whoever despises them, despises Christ and the One who sent him (Luke 10:6). Genuine Christians are always in tune with the magisterium of the Church; they accept it and, with God's help, put it into practice in the manifold circumstances of daily life. This is the meaning of sentire cum Ecclesia.

Loving the Church - Pope John Paul II

Loving the Church

The Church, handing on the message of Revelation with which she has been entrusted, is the place of God's living presence in the human world, and the place where redemption takes place. The Church, as the Second Vatican Council states, is 'in Christ, in the nature of a sacrament - a sign and instrument, that is, of communion with God and of unity with the human race'. We should reconsider this essential statement in the Constitution Lumen gentium (n. 1) so that our mission may derive full benefit from it.

The face and function of the Church cannot be understoodunless we go right to the depths of her nature: in conferring baptism on us, she is our Mother, she gives us life in Christ, she makes us holy and transmits the gift of the Holy Spirit to us.

In the Eucharist, a thank-offering to the Father and a bond of fellowship among us, we are privileged to share in Christ's redemptive sacrifice. Outside of this sacramental dimension, we cannot but have a superficial and totally perverted vision of the Church.

It seems to me that today there is a need to rekindle a love in Catholics for the Church which they form and which they should not view from the outside. The Church is no mere association it is an authentic fellowship. To illustrate this concept, I want to quote St Irenaeus, the second-century Bishop of Lyons: 'The Father is above all, and he is the head of Christ, but the Word is through all things and he is himself the head of the Church; whilst the Spirit is in us all; and he is the living water which the Lord gave to those who believe in him and love him and know
that there is one sole God and Father' (Adversus haereses, V 18,2). Aware of their dignity as responsible children in the bosom of the Christian family, the baptized can the better welcome the prophetic messages transmitted by the Church, the gift of the Faith and the moral rules that follow from it.

Paintings of the Assumption of Our Lady

Bernardo Daddi, The Assumption of the Virgin


Aussumption Of the Virgin - Fra Angelico




Assumption of the Virgin - Correggio

Assumption of the Virgin - Annibale Carracci

Assumption of the Virgin - Annibale Carracci

The Assumption of the Virgin by Peter Paul Rubens

The Lady of the Assumption Gives St. Thomas Her Belt - Bartolomeo della Gatta

According to the one section of the Golden Legend, "St. Thomas was not there [at the Assumption], and when he came he would not believe this. And anon the girdle with which her body was girt came to him from the air, which he received, and thereby he understood that she was assumpt into heaven."

The flowers in the sarcophagus and the musical instruments refer to the "marvellous odour" and "voice of angels" that another section of the Legend describes at the time of the Assumption.


Bartolomeo intended the two figures in the foreground as St. Benedict and St. Scholastica, but when the painting came into the possession of the Servants of Mary they had the figures repainted to represent two of their own saints, Filippo Benizzi and Giuliana Falconeri.

The Assumption of The Virgin - Francesco Botticini

Prayer of St. Germanus to Our Lady

Prayer of St. Germanus to Our Lady:

O you, who are, after God, my powerful protectress and my true consolation in this world, you who are the celestial dew that sweetens my pains; the light of my soul when plunged in darkness, my guide in my journeys, my strength in my weaknesses, my treasure in poverty, the remedy of my wounds, my joy in all my sorrows, my refuge in all dangers, the hope of my life and of my salvation, deign to hear my prayers, to take an interest in my woes, and to show me that compassion which peculiarly belongs to the Mother of a God Who entertains such love and goodness towards men.
He is their Father, and He has constituted you their Mother. Ah! place me then amongst the number of your dearest children, and obtain for me from God all the graces which you know to be necessary for the salvation of my soul. Amen.

St. Jane Frances of Chantal - 12 August 2010

At the age of sixteen, Jane Frances de Fremyot, already a motherless child, was placed under the care of a worldly-minded governess. In this crisis she offered herself to the Mother of God, and secured Mary’s protection for life. When a Protestant sought her hand in marriage, she steadily refused to marry “an enemy of God and His Church.” Later, as the loving and beloved wife of the noble Baron de Chantal, she made her house the pattern of a Christian home. But God had marked her for something higher than domestic sanctity. Two children and a dearly beloved sister died, and then, in the full tide of their prosperity, her husband’s life was ended by an accident, through the innocent hand of a friend, when a small group went hunting in the forest.

For seven years the sorrows of her widowhood were increased by ill usage from servants and inferiors, and the cruel importunities of those who urged her to marry again. Harassed almost to despair by their entreaties, she branded on her heart the name of Jesus, and in the end left her beloved home and children, to live for God alone. It was on the 19th of March, 1609, that Madame de Chantal bade farewell to her family and relatives. Pale and with tears in her eyes, she passed around the large room, sweetly and humbly taking leave of each one. Her son, a boy of fifteen, used every entreaty, every endearment, to induce his mother not to leave them, and finally flung himself passionately across the doorsill of the room. In an agony of distress, she passed over the body of her son to the embrace of her aged and disconsolate father. The anguish of that parting reached its height when, kneeling at the feet of the venerable old man, she sought and obtained his last blessing, promising to repay his sacrifice in her new life by her prayers.

Well might Saint Francis de Sales call her “the valiant woman.” She founded under his direction and patronage the great Order of the Visitation. Sickness, opposition and want beset her, and the deaths of children, friends, and of Saint Francis himself followed, while eighty-seven houses of the Visitation rose under her hand. Nine long years of interior desolation completed the work of God’s grace in her soul. The Congregation of the Visitation, whose purpose was to admit widows and persons of fragile health, not accepted elsewhere, was canonically established at Annecy on Trinity Sunday of 1610. The Order counted thirteen houses already in 1622, when Saint Francis de Sales died; and when the Foundress died in her seventieth year, there were eighty-six. Saint Vincent de Paul saw her soul rise up, like a ball of fire, to heaven. At her canonization in 1767, the Sisters in 164 houses of the Visitation rejoiced.

Feast of St Clare

Today is the feast of St. Clare.

Here are some images to contemplate of St Clare. and her spiritual daughters from around the world including my most favourite St. Clare nun Mother Angelica











Ok the last picture is a mix of all different types of nuns. Its up here cause it is a picture from India

The mystery of the Church - Pope John Paul II

The mystery of the Church

There are people who mistakenly suppose that Christ can be separated from the Church, that one can devote one's entire life to Christ without reference to the Church. In so doing, they forget the truth proclaimed by St Paul in the words: 'A man never hates his own body, but he feeds and looks after it; and this is the way Christ treats the Church, because we are parts of his Body' (Ephesians 5:29-30).

As I stated in my recent Apostolic Letter on St Augustine: 'Since he is the only mediator and redeemer of mankind, Christ is the head of the Church; Christ and the Church are one sole mystic person, the total Christ' (Augustinum Hipponensem II, 3).

So, loving Christ means loving the Church. The Church exists for Christ, so as to continue his presence and witness in the world. Christ is the Spouse and Saviour of the Church. He is her Founder and her Head. The more we come to know and love the Church, the nearer we shall be to Christ. The Church is truly a mystery, a reality both human and divine, deserving to be studied and contemplated, yet nonetheless going far beyond the grasp of the human mind. St Paul, for instance, speaks of the Church as 'a field' which is tilled and made fertile by God (1 Corinthians 3:9). He calls the faithful 'the temple' of God in which the Holy Spirit dwells (Ephesians 5:21-23).

In point of fact, St. Paul often identifies the Church with Christ himseif, by calling her the Body of Christ (cf. Romans 12:12ff.), He also calls her 'our mother' (cf. Galatians 4:26), since, thanks to Christ's love and the waters of Baptism, she gives life to many children in the course of history, By means of these and many other symbols, we come to see, in a limited yet real way, the great richness of the mystery of the Church.

The Church is essentially a mystery of fellowship. The fellowship we share in the Church is both vertical and horizontal: fellowship with the Three Persons of the Most Holy Trinity, and fellowship with one another in the Body of Christ. To be in communion therefore implies a deep personal bond of knowledge and love.'

Faith - Pope Benedict XVI

Deus Caritas Est

A common thread throughout "Deus Caritas Est" and "Spe Salvi" is the interconnectedness between all the theological virtues. Faith gives certain hope that God has given himself in love to us.

The Pope writes in "Deus Caritas Est": "Faith tells us that God has given his Son for our sakes and gives us the victorious certainty that it is really true: God is love! It thus transforms our impatience and our doubts into the sure hope that God holds the world in his hands and that, as the dramatic imagery of the end of the Book of Revelation points out, in spite of all darkness he ultimately triumphs in glory. Faith, which sees the love of God revealed in the pierced heart of Jesus on the Cross, gives rise to love" (No. 39).

He also wrote that faith, which is an encounter with the living God in itself, opens "new horizons extending beyond the sphere of reason" but also purifies reason of any blindness. Thus "faith enables reason to do its work more effectively and to see its proper object more clearly" (No. 28).

"Spe Salvi"

Now would be a great time for a close rereading of "Spe Salvi," for of his three encyclicals none is as focused on faith as this one. The reason lies in the profound unity in the New Testament between the concepts of faith and hope. Faith is hope's "substance" which leads to eternal life (cf. No. 10).

Commenting upon the Letter to the Hebrews, Benedict XVI explains the nature of faith: "Faith is not merely a personal reaching out towards things to come that are still totally absent: it gives us something. It gives us even now something of the reality we are waiting for, and this present reality constitutes for us a 'proof' of the things that are still unseen. Faith draws the future into the present, so that it is no longer simply a 'not yet'" (No. 7).

In the present time, the Holy Father identified a faith-hope crisis, which he traced from the time of Francis Bacon to the present day: faith in progress is an attempt to build the kingdom of man. But faith in progress has failed man, showing itself to be a "threat" that betrays man's dignity and freedom (No. 17-23).

Later in the encyclical, he developed an eschatological theme of faith -- looking "forward" in trust to the coming resurrection of the body and judgment as the path to definitive justice. God is the one who brings justice; faith gives the certainty that death is not the end and that God will do so. In this certainty we also have certainty in eternal life (cf. Nos. 41-44). He wrote, "Only in connection with the impossibility that the injustice of history should be the final word does the necessity for Christ's return and for new life become fully convincing" (No. 43).

"Caritas in Veritate"

The Holy Father wrote in "Caritas in Veritate" that it is the truth that in charity reflects the twofold dimension of faith, one that is both personal and public (No. 3). Furthermore, the Church's social doctrine is an "instrument and an indispensable setting" for faith's formation (No. 15).

Echoing Pope Paul VI, Benedict XVI pointed out that while reason can grasp the equality of peoples, it cannot establish brotherhood without faith. Only faith in Divine Revelation enables us to perceive that we are one family under the Father (No. 19). He also emphasized the need for dialogue between faith and reason in human authentic human development (Nos. 56-57).

Many false forms of faith threaten development -- faith in human progress, faith in institutions, faith in political structures, faith in technology. But without faith in God, all of these "faiths" use, reduce or destroy man. Faith in God's presence in the mission of development gives purpose and hope to those who face such a great amount of work.

Can a faithless humanism work for the greater good of man in development? To this question, the Holy Father gave a striking answer: "A humanism which excludes God is an inhuman humanism" (No. 78). True development does not neglect man's spiritual dimension. Thus only development that is open to God is true to man. The Holy Father concluded his encyclical with the essential truth that development needs prayer (No. 79).

Imitating Mary's Faith

The need for a full development of the essence of faith is a need for the Church and the world. I hesitate to say what Benedict XVI will say in his coming encyclical, but I can say is that he will give us a rich theology of faith. Of that we can be certain.

But surely in his encyclical he will bring to the forefront, as he has often done, a model for faith. She is Mary, to whom the Pope has typically devoted the final paragraph of each encyclical.

The Holy Father often has commented upon Mary's faith, a model for the Christian confession and response to God's call. At the close of the Year for Priests, Benedict XVI called Mary the "great woman of faith and love who has become in every generation a wellspring of faith, love and life" (Homily, June 11, 2010).

He has often emphasized her assent to God's plan in the Annunciation, her journey of faith to share the good news with her cousin Elizabeth, her unwavering presence at the foot of the Cross, and her hope throughout the darkness of Holy Saturday awaiting the dawn of the fulfillment of the promises of her Son.

In "Spe Salvi" he asked, "Could it have ended before it began? No, at the foot of the Cross, on the strength of Jesus' own word, you became the mother of believers. In this faith, which even in the darkness of Holy Saturday bore the certitude of hope, you made your way towards Easter morning" (No. 50).

No matter what, we will come to a deeper understanding how to live "the faith" in the virtue of faith following the faith of the Virgin Mother, of whom Elizabeth said, "Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord" (Luke 1:45).

The Church - Pope John Paul II

Of this Church we are members and children;
by this Church we have been begotten
to supernatural life in Baptism
which has grafted us into Christ.
We should therefore love this Church
as our Mother.

In revealing the nature of God and the significance of human life, lesus has proclaimed the Truth for all time and all peoples. And, to maintain intact and
secure that Revealed Truth, which also includes the means of eternal salvation, he has founded the Church on Peter, the Apostles and their successors - that is, the Bishop of Rome, Successor of Peter, and the bishops who are in union with him.

Therefore:

(1) The Church is sure and certain, since it is willed and founded by Jesus Christ, who did not write down any of his own words or command them to be written down, but who has promised The Presence of the Holy Spirit, The Spirit of Truth, who will maintain and develop the Truth Revealed within the Church. according to need and demand.

(2) The Church is indefectible - that is to say, it will endure until the end of human history, despite defections, hostility, protest and muddle. For there is
the divine assurance: 'Go therefore, make disciples of all nations; baptise them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them
to observe all the commands I gave you. And see, I am with you always; yes, to the end of time' (Matthew 28:19-20).

(3) The Church is infallible in the sphere of truths to be believed and of Morals to be practised. For, of all the Apostles to whom 'Jesus gives his threefold powers of Teaching, Ministering and Governing, he chooses Peter and to him alone gives the powers or 'charisms' which in their turn imply another threefold immutable mission: Peter is the foundation stone of the Church's unity, he is the universal Pastor
with full responsibility for souls, he is assisted in an absolute way so that he cannot err in the field of Truth and can strengthen the whole Church. Plainly,
the powers given to the Apostles have been passed on to their successors, the Bishops and priests; and the powers given to Peter have passed down to his
Successors, the Bishops of the See of Rome.

Religious commitment - Pope John Paul II

Religious commitment

Religion: this is not hot news, sensational today and forgotten tomorrow. The Faith is not some teaching to be adapted to one's needs, as occasion dictates. It was neither invented by us nor created by us. The Faith is the great divine gift which Jesus Christ has given to the Church. St Paul says in his Letter to the Romans: 'The faith comes from preaching, and the preaching in turn comes from the word of Christ' (Romans 10:17). Believers find their foundation in Jesus Christ, who lives on in his Church through the centuries till Judgement Day.

The Faith draws its life from the traditions of the Church. Only in her can we be sure of finding the truth of Jesus Christ. Only a living branch of that tree, the Church community, can draw strength from her roots.

Today I exhort you to hold fast to the Church's Faith. This is what your mothers and fathers did before you. Keep the Faith yourselves and hand it on in turn to your children. This is the reason for my pastoral journey to you here: 'I want to make clear to you, brothers, what the message of the Gospel that I preached to you and that you accepted is, in which you stand firm' (1 Corinthians 15:1)

Without a firm faith, you will have no standards, and you will be a prey to the varying teachings of the day. Admittedly, today there are indeed some environments where the true doctrine is no longer accepted, and where new teachers to suit every taste are always being run after; but these will beguile you, as St Paul foretold. Do not let yourselves be deceived. Pay no heed to the prophets of egotism who put a distorted interpretation on the development of the individual,who offer an earthly doctrine of salvation and who want to build a world without God.

To be able to say 'Credo' - 'I believe' - we must be ready to deny ourselves, to give ourselves; we must also be ready to make sacrifices, to renounce Ourselves and to have a generous heart. For those who are brave enough for this, the darkness dissolves. Those who believe have found the beacon assuring them of a safe journey. Those who believe know which way to go and can get their bearings. Those who believe have found the right way, and no folly of whatever false teacher can ever mislead
them any more. Believers, having a sure foundation, are prepared to live their lives in a way which is worthy of a human being and pleasing to God. Aware that their lives are drawing to a close, believers can assent when God calls them to himself.

True, it must be admitted that life in the Church today is not the most comfortable way of living. It is less trouble to adapt to circumstance and take cover. Nowadays accepting the Faith and living it means going against the stream, To opt for this needs strength and courage.

Ignorance, religion's worst enemy - Popr John Paul II

Ignorance, religion's worst enemy

Each of us needs an integral and integrating training - cultural, professional, doctrinal, spiritual and apostolic -equipping us to live in a consistent inner unity
with ourselves and also, whenever necessary, to give reasons for our hope to anyone who asks us.

Our Christian identity requires us to make constant efforts to train ourselves more and more thoroughly, since ignorance is the worst enemy of our religion, How can one claim truly to love Christ if one is not committed to knowing him better?

Training and spiritual life! These two things are inseparable for anyone who aspires to lead a Christian life which is truly committed to forming and building a more just and more brotherly society. If you wish to be faithful in your daily lives to the demands of God and to the expectations of humanity and history, you must constantly noursih yourselves on the word of God and the sacraments, 'so that Christ's word may dwell in you abundantly' (Colossians 3:16)."

Faith in the Holy Spirit - Pope John Paul II

Faith in the Holy Spirit

The Church unceasingly professes her faith that there exists in our created world a Spirit who is an uncreated gift. He is the Spirit of the Father and of the Son; like the Father and Son, he is uncreated, without limit, eternal, omnipotent, God, Lord. This Spirit of God 'fills the universe', and all that is created recognizes in him the source of its own identity, finds in him its own transcendent expression, turns to him and awaits him, invokes him with its own being.

Humankind turns to him as to the Paraclete, the Spirit of truth and of love; human beings live by truth and by love and without the source of truth and love cannot live. To him turns the Church, which is the heart of humanity, to implore for all and dispense to all these gifts of the love which through him 'have beenpoured into our hearts'. To him turns the Church, along the intricate paths of humankind's pilgrimage on earth she implores, she unceasingly implores uprightness of human acts, as the Spirit's work she implores the joy and consolation that only he, the true Counsellor, can bring by coming down into people's inmost hearts; the Church implores the grace of the virtues that merit heavenly glory, implores eternal salvation, in the full communication of the divine life, to which the Father has eternally 'predestined'human beings, created through love in the image and likeness of the Most Holy Trinity.

Yes, we groan, but in expectation filled with unflagging hope, because it is precisely this human being that God has drawn near to, God who is Spirit. God the Father, 'sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.' At the culmination of the Paschal Mystery, the Son of God, made man and crucified for the sins of the world, appeared in the midst of his Apostles after the Resurrection, breathed on them and said: 'Receive the Holy Spirit.' This breath continues for ever, for 'the Spirit helps us in our weakness'.

The Dedication of St Mary of the Snows - 5th August 2010

There are in Rome three patriarchal churches in which, on different feast days, the Pope officiates. These are the Basilicas of Saint Peter on the Vatican Hill, Saint John Lateran, and Saint Mary Major on the Esquiline Hill. The last-named, the Liberian Basilica, was founded in the time of Pope Liberius, in the fourth century; it was consecrated to the Virgin Mary by Sixtus III in the year 435, under the title of Saint Mary ad Nives, or at the snow, because the Mother of God Herself chose, and indicated by a miracle, its site to be that of Her first church in Rome.

In the fourth century a patrician by the name of John and his pious spouse had no children; already advanced in age and without heirs, they resolved to consecrate their wealth to the Most Blessed Virgin. They prayed in order to know how the Queen of Heaven would like them to use their fortune. On August 5, 366, She appeared to each of them in a dream and told them that Her Divine Son’s and Her own will was that their wealth be employed in the construction of a church on Mount Esquiline, at a place which in the morning they would find covered with snow. They consulted together when the dawn broke, and went to the Pope at once to tell him what God had made known to them. He himself had had a similar dream and could not doubt that this was a celestial prodigy. He assembled the clergy and people, and all went in procession towards the indicated place, to verify the reality of the marvel. When they arrived on the hilltop, they saw an area covered with snow, extending over a space sufficient to build a vast church. It was built at the expense of the noble couple with great magnificence, and given the name of Saint Mary of the Snows.

The same Basilica is sometimes entitled Saint Mary ad Praesepe, of the Manger, from the holy crib or manger of Bethlehem, in which the Infant Jesus was laid at His birth. It was transported to Rome and kept in a sumptuous subterranean chapel of the church. Today this Basilica bears the name of Saint Mary Major, because it is, both by its beauty and its antiquity, the first of the numerous Roman churches dedicated to Mary.

Christ's Cross - a message of sorrow and salvation - Pope John Paul II

Christ's Cross - a message of sorrow and salvation

Although he was the light to enlighten all nations, Jesus was destined in his own day and in every age to be a sign disparaged, a sign opposed, a sign of contradiction.

This had been true for the prophets of Israel before him. It was true for John the Baptist and would be true for the lives of his future followers. He performed great signs and miracles: he healed the sick, multiplied the loaves and fishes, calmed tempests, restored the dead to life. Crowds flocked to him from everywhere and listened to him carefully because he spoke with authority. And yet he met harsh opposition from those who refused to open their hearts and minds to him. Finally we find the most tangible expression of this contradiction in his suffering and death on the Cross. Simeon's prophecy came true - true regarding the life of Jesus, and true regarding the lives of those who follow him, in every land and in every age. So the Cross becomes light; the Cross becomes salvation. Isn't this perhaps the Good News for the poor and for all who know the bitter taste of suffering?

The cross of poverty, the cross of hunger, the cross of every other sort of suffering can be transformed, since Christ's Cross has become a light in our world. It is a light of hope and salvation. It gives meaning to all human suffering. It brings with it the promise of an eternal life, free from sorrow, free from sin.

The Cross was followed by the Resurrection. Death was vanquished by life. And all who are united to the crucified and risen Lord can look forward to sharing in this selfsame victory.

Jesus, the way that leads us to the Father - Pope John Paul II

Jesus, the way that leads us to the Father

We 'reach' God through the truth about God and through the truth about everything outside God: about the creation, the macrocosm, and about human nature, the microcosm. We 'reach' God through the truth proclaimed by Christ, through the truth that Christ actually is. We reach God in Christ, who continually assures us: 'I am the truth.' And this 'reaching' God through the truth which is Christ is the source of life. It is the source of eternal life, which begins on earth in 'the darkness of faith' to reach its fullness in the vision of God 'face to face' - in the light of the glory where he abides for ever.

Christ gives us this life, for he is life, exactly as he says: 'I am the life.' 'I am the way, the truth and the life.'

Jesus is the Son of God and he is of the same substance as the Father. God from God and Light from Light, he became a human being to be the way which would lead us to the Father. During his earthly life he spoke ceaselessly about the Father. To him, to the Father, he directed the thoughts and hearts of all who listened to him. In a sense, he shared God's Fatherhood with them, and this appears particularly in the prayer he taught to his own disciples: the Our Father.

At the end of his messanic mission on earth, the day before his passion and death, Jesus said to the Apostles: 'In my Father's house there are many places to live in; otherwise I would have told you. I am going now to prepare a place for you' (John 14:2).

If the Gospel is a revelation of the truth that human life is a pilgrimage towards the Father's house, it is also a summons to the faith by which we journey as pilgrims: a call to pilgrim faith. Christ says: 'I am the way, the truth and the life.'

The human being, 'a pilgrim of the Absolute' - Pope John Paul II

The human being, 'a pilgrim of the Absolute'


Human life on earth is a pilgrimage. We are all aware of being in transit in this world. Our lives begin and end, they start at birth and go on till the moment of death. We are transitory beings. And on life's pilgrimage religion helps us to live in such a way as to reach our true destination. We are constantly kept aware of the transitory nature of this life, which we know to be extremely important as the preparation for life eternal. Our pilgrim faith directs us towards God and guides us in discharging those choices which will help us to win eternal life. So, every moment of our earthly pilgrimage is important - important as to its challenges, as to the choices we make.

In the Revelation of the Old and New Covenants,we who live in the visible world amid temporal things are also deeply aware of God's presence penetrating every aspect of our lives. This living God is in fact our last and absolute bulwark amid all the trials and sufferings of earthly existence. We yearn to possess this God once and for all, the moment we experience his presence. We strive to attain the vision of his face. In the words of the psalmist 'As the heart longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you O God.'

While we strive to know God, to see his face and experience his presence, God turns to us to reveal his own life to us. The Second Vatican Council dwelt at length on the importance of God's activities in the world, explaining that 'with the divine revelation God wished to manifest and communicate himself and his will's eternal decrees with regard to the salvation of mankind.'
This notwithstanding, this merciful and loving God who communicates himself through Revelation still remains an inscrutable mystery to us. And we, pilgrims of the Absolute, keep seeking the face of God throughout our lives. But, at the end of the pilgrimage of faith, we reach 'the Father's house', and being in this house' means seeing God face to face' (1 Corinthians 13:12)."

From the very beginning the human race has been called by God 'to subdue the earth and master it' (Genesis 1:28). We have received this earth from the Lord as a gift and as a responsibility. Made in his image and likeness, we have a special dignity. We are master and lord of the good things placed by the Creator in what he has made. We are collaborators with our Creator.

This being so, we for our part must never forget that all the good things that fill the created world are the Creator's gift. For so Holy Scripture advises us: 'Beware of thinking for yourself, "My own strength and the might of my own hand have given me the power to act like this." Remember the Lord your God; he was the one who gave you the strength to acquire riches, so as to keep, as he does today, the covenant which he swore to your ancestors' (Deuteronomy 8:17-18).

How apposite this advice has been in the course of human history! How especially apposite it is at the present day, with our progress in science and technology! For as we contemplate our brilliant achievements, the works of our mind and of our hands, we seem to grow more and more forgetful of him who is the author of all these works and of all the good things which the earth and the created world contain. The more we subdue the earth and master it, the more we seem to forget the Lord who has given us the earth and all the good things it contains.

love of truth is love of Christ - Pope John Paul II

Love of truth is love of Christ

There is a pollution of ideas and manners that can lead to human destruction. The pollution is sin, which generates falsehood.

Truth and falsehood. We must realize that falsehood very often presents itself to us under the garb of truth. Our discernment has to be the sharper, therefore, so that we can recognize the truth, the word that comes from God, and shun the temptations that come from the Father of Lies. I have in mind that sin which consists in denying God, in rejecting the light. As it says in St. John's Gospel, ' the true light' was in the world: the Word 'by whom the world was made but whom the world did not acknowledge (cf John 1:9 - 10).

' The truth contained in the Father's word. ' Yes, that is what we ought to say when we recognize Jesus Christ as the Truth. 'What is Truth?' Pilate asked Him. Pilate's tragedy was that he had the Truth in front of him in the person of Jesus Christ and couldn't recognize it.

This tragedy must not be repeated in our own lives. Christ is the centre of the Christian faith which the Church proclaims today as she has always done, to every man and woman. God was made man. 'The Word became flesh and dwelt among us' (John 1:14). In Jesus Christ the eye of faith beholds the human being as it can be and as God wishes it to be. At the same time Jesus reveals the Father's love for us. But the Truth is Jesus Christ. Love the Truth! live in the Truth! Carry the Truth to the world! Be witnessed to the Truth. Jesus is the Truth that saves; he is the whole Truth to which the Spirit of Truth will leads us (cf. John 16:13).

Dear young people, let us seek the truth about Christ and about his Church! but we must be consistent: let us love the Truth, live in the Truth, proclaim the Truth! O Christ, show us the Truth. Be the only Truth for us!'

Christian Faith and courage in life - Pope John Paul II

Christian Faith and courage in life

We have to make a conscious decision that we mean to be professing Christians, and we must have the courage to be different, if need be, from other members of our social group. Our decision to bear Christian witness presupposes that we perceive and understand the faith as a precious opportunity in life, transcending the views and manners of our environment. We must take every opportunity to experience how the Faith can enrich our existence, make us genuinely steadfast in the struggle for life, strengthen our hope against attacks of every kind of pessimism and despair, and prompt us to avoid all extremism and to commit ourselves thoughtfully to furthering justice and peace in the world; lastly, the Faith can console and cheer us in sorrow. And so it is our task and opportunity in this diaspora situation to experience more consciously how the Faith can helps us to live more fully and more deeply.

The first thing i want to offer you is an invitation to optimism, hope and trust. Certainly, the human race is going through a difficult patch, and we often have a painful impression that the forces of evil, in many manifestations of social life, have got the upper hand. All too often honesty, justice and respect for human dignity have to mark time or seem to be on their last legs. And yet, we are called to overcome the world by our faith (cf John 5:4), since we belong to him who by his death and resurrection obtained for every one of us the victory over sin and death, and so has made us able to affirm humbly, serenely but certainly, that good will triumph over evil.

We belong to Christ and it is he who conquers in us. We must believe this deeply; we must live this certainty. If we do not, through the problems which are constantly arising those insidious beasts called discouragement at, tolerance of , and supine adaptation to the arrogance of evil will worm their way into our souls.

The subtlest temptation afflicting Christians today, and especially young people, is precisely that of giving up hope in Christ's affirmation of victory. The author of all guile, the Evil One, has long been fiercely committed to dowsing the light of this hope in each individual heart. It is no easy path - that of the Christian soldier. But we must follow it, knowing that we possess an inner strength for transformation, communicated to us with the divine life that we have been given in Christ the Lord. BY your witness, you will make others understand that the highest of human values are taken up in a Christianity lived consistently, and that the Gospel faith not only offers a new vision of humanity and the world, but more important still, makes it possible to bring this renewal about.

Encounter with God in Jesus Christ in the Church - Pope John Paul II

Encounter with God in Jesus Christ in the Church

Opinions, private points of view and speculations no longer suffice for anyone weighing up their effect on the course of human life, and whose respect for humanity is awake. They certainly do not satisfy anyone who is conscious of being able to arrive by means of theological responses at the first cause of truth. God has manifested his word to us. We cannot find it and grasp it unaided by the power of our intellect alone, however much may be conceded to our diligence in illuminating the credibility of this word and how it corresponds to our questions and to out various forms of human knowledge. It is in the inner logic of Revelation that the defence and interpretation of this word require the special gift of the Spirit. It follows, then, that the study of Catholic theology must always be subject to a willingness to listen to the binding testimony of the Church and to accept the decisions of those who, in their capacity as pastors of the Church, are responsible before God for protecting the deposit of faith.

Without the church, the word of God would not have been handed down and preserved; one cannot want God's word without the Church. Intellectual comprehension of the faith must of course be integrated with another aspect: the faith, besides being known, must be lived. In the New Testament itself a faith based uniquely on knowing would be rejected as a perversion. For example, according to the Letter of St James, the demonic forces know the One God but, since they do not accept this knowledge with their inner nature, all that remains for them is to tremble before this God. For them punishment not salvation is in store (Cf James 2:19)
When God addresses his word to us, he does not tell us some fact about things or other people; he does not communicate something - he communicates himself. Thus God's word demands a response, which ought to be given with our entire person. The reality of God eludes those who confine themselves to thinking of his word and of his truth only as objects of impartial research. On the contrary, the way to draw near to God as God is by worship alone. One of the great mystics, Meister Eckhart, used to urge his listeners ' to get rid of the imaged God'. If God remains purely and simply 'he', we remain alone and empty. god gives himself to us as 'you'. We only find him when we too say 'you'. It follows, as Eckhart used to say, that we ought to have God present 'in our heart, in our search and in our love'.

Learn to know Christ and make yourselves known to him! he knows each one of you individually. this is no knowledge giving rise to opposition and rebellion, a knowledge from which one needs to flee in order to safeguard one's own personal mystery. This is no knowledge composed of hypotheses which reduce human being to socio-utilitarin dimensions. His is a knowledge full of simple truth about human nature and, above all, full of love. Submit to being known by the Good Shepherd, his knowledge is simple and full of love. Be sure, he knows each of you better than you know yourselves. He knows because he has given his life for you (John 15:13) Allow him to find you. At times people, young people, lose their bearing in the world surrounding them, in the vast network of human affairs enveloping them. Allow Christ to find you. Let him know all about you, let him guide you. True, in order to follow someone, you must at the same time make demands on yourself; such is the law of friendship. If we wish to travel together, we shall have to give thought to the road we are taking. if it leads up into the mountains, we shall have to follow the signposts. If we have to climb a mountain, we must not leave the rope behind. And besides, we must keep in contact with our divine Friend whose name is Jesus Christ. We have to co-operate with him.

Worshippers at Malad church attacked (India)

Worshippers at Malad church attacked, 2 detained
TNN, Aug 2, 2010, 01.44am IST

MUMBAI: Eight persons allegedly ransacked St Emmanuel in Orlem, Malad (W) on Sunday evening. Joseph Dias, secretary, Catholic Secular Forum, said that the men, who were drunk, barged into the church when a prayer meeting was on.

The accused allegedly started molesting the women in the congregation. When the women objected, the accused beat up the worshippers.

Ponkumar Nadar, who sustained serious injuries, was taken to Bhagwati Hospital. The others were undergoing treatment at a private hospital.

The Malwani police has detained two persons. Abraham Mathai, vice-chairman, state minorities commission, said the police should carry out an impartial probe.

The crisis in Catholic Christian faith - Pope John Paul II

The crisis in Catholic Christian faith

Even among many Catholics who still identify themselves as such, there is a remarkable weakening of faith in God as a person, and consequently of faith in Christ as Son of God. They also fail to see the Church as a sacrament, an objective, not-to-be- manipulated gift from him. This is why, all too often, interior life or spirituality is equated with philanthropy and socio-political action in the cause of peace, justice, ecology and so forth, and why some people regard prayer, meditation and lectio divina as lacking particular importance.

Some lay people too, engaged in parochial, diocesan and national church structures, exhibit this secularized forma mentis, as also do some males and female religious who get more and more involved in social mission, which they often identify with their actual work as missionaries.

The publication of the new Cathecism of the Catholic Church cannot fail to reassure and strengthen those of the faithful who have lost their bearings in the theological fragment of these latter years, and to bring back to the genuine sources of the faith those who have gone astray after false prophets.

In point of fact, studying theology, being a believer and feeling onself to be an active member of the Church are three components which students sometimes find hard to integrate into their lives. We must not over dramatize this: to go through crisis can even be salutary and positive, inasmuch as it can make one's faith more mature and foster responsible Church membership. For this to happen, however, there must be careful pastoral support.

Rejecting the truth - Pope John Paul II

Rejecting the truth

The mystery of iniquity, the forsaking of God, has, according to the words of St. Paul's letter, a well- defined inner structure and dynamic sequence: ' the wicked one will appear, who raises himself above every so called God or object of worship to enthrone himself in God's sanctuary and flaunts the claim that he is God' (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4)
Here we find an inner structure of negation, of the uprooting of God from people's hearts and the forsaking of God by human society: and all this with the aim, as is commonly said, of a full 'humanization' of the human being - that is to say, of making the human person human in the full sense and , in a certain way, putting the human being in the place of God, thus 'deifying' humanity. this structure, of course, is very ancient; it has been known since the beginning of the world, from the first chapter of Genesis; I mean the temptation to confer the Creator's 'divinity' on human beings (made in God's image and likeness), to take God's place, with the 'divinization' of humanity against God or without God, as is clear from the atheistic statements of many of today's systems.
Those who reject the fundamental truth of things, who set themselves up as a yardstick for everything, and thus put themselves in God's place; who more or less consciously think they can do without God, the Creator of the world or without Christ, the Redeemer of the human race; who instead of seeking God run back to idols, will always turn their backs on the one supreme and fundamental truth.

Pope John Paul II - Faith and Reason

Faith and Reason

Between a reason which, in conformity with its own nature that comes to it from God, is directed to the truth and is accustomed to know what is true, and a faith which reinforces itself at the selfsame divine source of every truth, no basic conflict can arise. for rather, faith confirms the rights which are proper to natural reason. it presupposes them. For its acceptance presupposes that freedom which is proper only to a rational being. that said, it is nonetheless true that faith and science belong to two different orders of knowledge, which cannot be superimposed the one on the other. And here, furthermore, it becomes plain that reason cannot do everything of itself; it is finite. It has to be embodied in a multiplicity of partial types of knowledge and is expressed in a plurality of individual sciences. It can grasp the unity binding the world and truth to their origins only within partial modes of knowledge. In so far as they are sciences, even philosophy and theology are limited attempts that can only grasp the complex unity of truth in its diversity - that is, within a latticework of open and complementary kinds of knowledge.

The 'learned' and the 'clever' have worked out their own view of God and the world, and they are disinclined to change it. They believe that they know all there is to know about God , that they have the final answer, that they have nothing more to learn. And This is why they reject 'the good news', for its strikes them as quite alien and conflicting with the main tenets of their Weltanschauung. The Gospel message proposes certain paradoxical reversals which their 'common sense' cannot accept.

As it was in the day of Jesus, so it is today, and yet today in perhaps a very particular way. We live in a culture which subjects everything to critical analysis, and which does this while often regarding partial criteria as absolute. By their very nature these criteria are unsuitable for perceiving the world of realities and values which eludes verification by the senses.

Christ didn't ask us to give up our reason. How indeed could he, since it as he who gave it to us? What He does ask is that we should not give in to the Tempter's old suggestion that we can be 'like God' (cf Genesis 3:5)

Only those who accept their intellectual and moral limitations and recognize their need for salvation can make themselves once more open to faith and in faith encounter, in Christ, their redeemer.

The Galileo case: science and faith - Pope John Paul II

The Galileo case: science and faith

From the century of the Enlightenment down to our own today, the Galileo case has been a kind of myth in which the account of what happened has been very remote from the facts. Seen like this, the Galileo case was a symbol of the alleged rejection of scientific progress by the Church, or of 'dogmatic' obscurantism opposed to the free quest for truth. Culturally speaking, this myth has played a considerable role; it has helped to wed many scientist, acting in good faith, to the idea that the scientific spirit and its research ethic are incompatible with the Christian religion. A tragic mutual incomprehension has been construed as reflecting a constitutive opposition between science and faith. Clarifications afforded by recent historical studies allow us to state that this unhappy misunderstanding is now a thing of the past.

Galileo, who virtually invented the experimental method, had understood, through his brilliant physicist's intuition and by relying on various lines of reasoning, why only the sun could act as the centre of the world as it was then known, or as we should say, of the planetary system. The error of the theologians of the day in upholding the centrality of the earth was that of the thinking that our knowledge of the structure of the physical world is in some way imposed by the literal sense of Holy Scripture. But we should remember the famous quip attributed to Baronius: ' Spiritui Sancto mentem fuisse nos docere quomodo ad coelum eatur, non quomodo coelum gradiatur.' For the fact is, Scpriture is not concerned with the details of the physical world, knowledge of which is entrusted to human experience and reasoning. There are two fields of knowledge: that which has its source in Revelation, and that which reason can discover by its own efforts. To this last belong the experimental sciences and philosophy. The distinction between the two fields of knowledge must not be understood as opposition. The two sectors are not at all aligned to one another, but have points in contact. The methodologies proper to each allow different aspect of reality to be brought to light.

I am Happy to take as the starting point for my reflection one of the bronze inscriptions unveiled here today: " Science and faith are both gifts of God". This synthesizing statement not only precludes science and faith from regarding each other with mutual suspicion, but points out the deeper reason summoning them to establish a constructive and cordial relationship: God, the common foundation of both... In God therefore, despite their different paths, science and faith find their unifying principle.

If human life incurs enormous dangers today, this is not because of the truth discovered by scientific research; rather, it is due to the deadly application of technology. ' As in the time of spears and swords, so in the age of missiles,' the Holy Father said, quoting another inscription in the Centro Majorana: 'First to perish by these weapons if the human heart."

The tragedy of atheism - Pope John Paul II

Today, in the world, and especially in our Western world, we realize the need 'to rebuild', in its essential components, a civilization truly worthy of human beings. Economic inequalities which still subsist and which will gradually get worse, are symptomatic of deeper needs impinging on the spiritual sphere.

Materialistic ideologies on the one hand and moral permissiveness on the other have led many people to believe that it is possible to build a new and better society while excluding God and eliminating and reference to transcendental values. However, experience shows us all to clearly that, without God, society is dehumanized and the human person is deprived of his or her greatest riches. The closer human beings are to the Creator and Redeemer, the more truly human the future of the world will be.

Christianity does not deaden human nature but exalts its noblest potentialities, placing them at the service of the authentic progress of the individual and the community. 'In Christ, true man as well as true God, we can discover the full truth about ourselves and the purpose of our existence' (Redemptor hominis 11)

I urge you to preserve intact your faith in Jesus the Saviour, who died and rose again for us. Listen carefully to his Gospel, which the Church continues preaching to you with unchanging fidelity to what has been taught from the beginning. Bring up your children to obey the commandments, teaching them to ask God for the courage they will need to defy the dominant opinion, when this is in opposition to the Gospel. Do not be afraid to swim against the tide.

Today as never before the world has need of the newness of the Gospel, so as not to drown in the overwhelming conformism of mass civilization.

Some people claim to be seekers; others think of themselves as non-believers, or perhaps they are unable to believe or they are indifferent to religion. Others again reject a God whose face has been misrepresented to them. Others yet again, who are blinded by the outbursts of the 'philosophies of suspicion' which present religion as illusion or alienation, are sometimes tempted to construct a humanism without God.

I beg all of these people, in all fairness, at least to leave their windows open to God. Otherwise they are in danger of walking past the man in the street who is Christ, of cutting themselves off by the attitudes of revolt and violence, and of being satisfied with sighs, impotence and resignation. Sooner or later, a world without God is built against the human being.

Faith - by Pope John Paul II

The Difficulty of believing today

As we are well aware, contemporary civilization is permeated with different currents - not only Christian ones but alto anti-Christian, non-Christian, non religious and anti-religious ones. And sometimes these latter currents seem to dominate the thinking of contemporary society. This situation needs commitment if it is to be overcome: the commitment of all Christians who are aware of what it means to be a Christian. Christ says that his Father too has a 'culture', a culture in the deepest sense of the word: that culture which is the true perfection of the human spirit, its completeness in the natural, human sense and in the supernatural sense too.

It isn't easy to be authentic Christians in the context of modern society, with the strands of renascent paganism running through it. But it wasn't easy yesterday either, when circumstances were different. It is harder still to create a wider social environment inspired by the great Gospel Values. But we must strive to do this, putting our trust in the creative power that flows from the grace of the Risen Christ.

There are no types of society that can claim to be free of negative elements. Even roses have thorns.

Act of Consecration to the Most Precious Blood

Blood of Jesus, inebriate me! O Jesus, my Beloved Savior, ever present in the Tabernacle, to be the strength, the joy and the food of souls, I come to consecrate myself to Thy Precious Blood, and to pledge Thee my sincere love and fidelity. Pierced with sorrow at the remembrance of Thy sufferings, the contemplation of the Cross, and the thought of the outrages and contempt lavished by ungrateful souls upon Thy dear Blood, I long, O my Jesus, to bring joy to Thy Heart, and to make Thee forget my sins, and those of the whole world, by consecrating my body and soul to Thy service. I desire, my Jesus, to live henceforth, only by Thy Blood and for Thy Blood. I now choose It as my greatest treasure and the dearest object of my love.

O merciful Redeemer, deign to regard me as a perpetual adorer of Thy Most Precious Blood, and be pleased to accept my prayers, my deeds and my sacrifices, as so many acts of reparation and love.

Heavenly Wine, giver of purity and strength, pour down upon my soul. Make of my heart a living chalice from which grace shall constantly flow on those that love Thee, and especially on poor sinners that offend Thee. Teach me to honor Thee and to make Thee honored by others. Give me power to draw to Thee cold and hardened hearts, that they may feel how infinitely Thy consolations surpass those of the world.

O Blood of my Crucified Savior, detach me from the world, and the spirit of the world. Make me love suffering and sacrifice, after the example of St. Catherine of Sienna, who loved Thee so much [and whom I choose again today as my special patroness].

O Precious Blood, be my strength amid the trials and struggles of exile. Grant that at the hour of death I may be able to bless Thee for having been the comfort and the sanctification of my soul, before becoming, in Heaven, the everlasting object of my love and praise.

Saints of God, who owe thy happiness to the Blood of Jesus; Angelic spirits, who sing Its glory and power, august Virgin, who to It owest the privileges of thine Immaculate Conception and Divine Maternity, help me to pay to the Precious Blood of my Redeemer a perpetual homage of adoration, reparation and thanksgiving. Amen.