Year of Faith

The faithful need to examine their lives to find the "riches" that prevent them from getting close to Jesus, like the young man who refuses to give his possessions to the poor in order to follow Christ. One of those riches is the culture of economic well-being ...
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"Remain steadfast in the journey of faith, with firm hope in the Lord. This is the secret of our journey! He gives us the courage to swim against the tide. To go against the current; this is good for the heart, but we need courage to swim against the tide. Jesus gives us this courage! There are no difficulties, trials or misunderstandings to fear, provided we remain united to God as branches to the vine, provided we do not lose our friendship with him, provided we make ever more room for him in our lives. This is especially so whenever we feel poor, weak and sinful, because God grants strength to our weakness, riches to our poverty, conversion and forgiveness to our sinfulness. The Lord is so rich in mercy: every time, if we go to him, he forgives us. We Christians were not chosen by the Lord for little things; push onwards toward the highest principles. Stake your lives on noble ideals! The Holy Spirit is truly transforming us, and through us he also wants to transform the world in which we live."

~Pope Francis
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/homilies/2013/documents/papa-francesco_20130428_omelia-cresime_en.html

"Draw always from Christ, the inexhaustible wellspring; strengthen your faith by attending to your spiritual formation, to personal and communitarian prayer, and to the liturgy. Advance with determination along the path of holiness; do not rest content with a mediocre Christian life! Love the Church! Let yourselves be guided by her! In your parishes, in your dioceses, be a true “lung” of faith and Christian life, a breath of fresh air!"

~Pope Francis
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/homilies/2013/documents/papa-francesco_20130505_omelia-confraternite_en.html

"The Virgin Mary teaches us what it means to live in the Holy Spirit and what it means to accept the news of God in our life. She conceived Jesus by the work of the Holy Spirit, and every Christian, each one of us, is called to accept the Word of God, to accept Jesus inside of us and then to bring him to everyone. Mary invoked the Holy Spirit with the Apostles in the Upper Room: we too, every time that we come together in prayer, are sustained by the spiritual presence of the Mother of Jesus, in order to receive the gift of the Spirit and to have the strength to witness to Jesus Risen."

~Pope Francis
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/angelus/2013/documents/papa-francesco_regina-coeli_20130428_en.html

"Impart to everyone the word of God which you have received with joy. Remember your mothers, your grandmothers, your catechists, who gave you the word of God, the faith ... the gift of faith! They transmitted to you this gift of faith. Meditating on the law of the Lord, see that you believe what you read, that you teach what you believe, and that you practise what you teach. Remember too that the word of God is not your property: it is the word of God. And the Church is the custodian of the word of God." <a href= "http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/homilies/2013/documents/papa-francesco_20130421_omelia-ordinazione-presbiterale_en.html" target=" blank" >Highlight Link</a>

~Pope Francis

"Faith is born from listening, and is strengthened by proclamation. The proclamation made by Peter and the Apostles does not merely consist of words: fidelity to Christ affects their whole lives. We should all ask ourselves: How do I bear witness to Christ through my faith? Do I have the courage of Peter and the other Apostles, to think, to choose and to live as a Christian, obedient to God? To be sure, the testimony of faith comes in very many forms, just as in a great fresco, there is a variety of colours and shades; yet they are all important, even those which do not stand out. In God’s great plan, every detail is important, even yours, even my humble little witness, even the hidden witness of those who live their faith with simplicity in everyday family relationships, work relationships, friendships. There are the saints of every day, the “hidden” saints, a sort of 'middle class of holiness.' Let us all remember this: one cannot proclaim the Gospel of Jesus without the tangible witness of one’s life. But all this is possible only if we recognize Jesus Christ, because it is he who has called us, he who has invited us to travel his path, he who has chosen us. Proclamation and witness are only possible if we are close to him."

~Pope Francis
<a href= "http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/homilies/2013/documents/papa-francesco_20130414_omelia-basilica-san-paolo_en.html" target=" blank" >HiIghlight Link</a>

"Dear young people, you have an important part in the feast of faith! (Palm Sunday) You bring us the joy of faith and you tell us that we must live the faith with a young heart, always, a young heart even at 70 or 80! Jesus has reawakened many hopes of the heart, above all in the humble people, the simple, poor, forgotten, those who do not count in the eyes of the world. He understood human misery, he manifested the face of God’s mercy and deigned to heal the body and soul....This is the first word that I want to say to you: joy! Never be sad men and women: a Christian can never be! Never give in to discouragement! Ours is not a joy that arises from possessing many things, rather it comes from having met a Person: Jesus, who is among us; it comes from knowing that with him we are never alone, even in difficult moments, even when the journey of life collides with problems and obstacles that seem insurmountable, and there are many! And it is in this moment that the enemy comes, the devil comes, many times disguised as an angel, and he speaks to us deceitfully. Do not listen to him! We follow Jesus! We accompany, we follow Jesus, but above all we know that he accompanies us and he carries us: here is where our joy lies, the hope that we, in this world of ours, must have. Do not let your hope be stolen! The hope that Jesus gives us."
~Pope Francis

http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/pope-francis-palm-sunday-homily

On the day of his installation, Pope Francis teaches us how St. Joseph, a man of faith, put his faith into action:
"How does Joseph respond to his calling to be the protector of Mary, Jesus and the Church? By being constantly attentive to God, open to the signs of God’s presence and receptive to God’s plans, and not simply to his own. This is what God asked of David, as we heard in the first reading. God does not want a house built by men, but faithfulness to his word, to his plan. It is God himself who builds the house, but from living stones sealed by his Spirit. Joseph is a “protector” because he is able to hear God’s voice and be guided by his will." ~Pope Francis

As we get to know Pope Francis, here is an excerpt from his first homily as our new Holy Father:

"We can build many things, but if we do not confess Jesus Christ, nothing will avail. We will become a pitiful NGO, but not the Church, the Bride of Christ. When one does not walk, one stalls. When one does not built on solid rocks, what happens? What happens is what happens to children on the beach when they make sandcastles: everything collapses, it is without consistency. When one does not profess Jesus Christ - I recall the phrase of Leon Bloy – “Whoever does not pray to God, prays to the devil.” When one does not profess Jesus Christ, one professes the worldliness of the devil.

The same Peter who confessed Jesus Christ, says, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. I will follow you, but let us not speak of the Cross. This has nothing to do with it.” He says, “I’ll follow you on other ways, that do not include the Cross.” When we walk without the Cross, when we build without the Cross, and when we profess Christ without the Cross, we are not disciples of the Lord. We are worldly, we are bishops, priests, cardinals, Popes, but not disciples of the Lord.

My hope for all of us is that the Holy Spirit, that the prayer of Our Lady, our Mother, might grant us this grace: to walk, to build, to profess Jesus Christ Crucified. So be it."

~Pope Francis
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