Vatican City, Jan 3, 2021 / 09:30 am (CNA).- Pope Francis warned Sunday against the temptation to ignore the suffering of others during the coronavirus pandemic and said that things will get better in the new year to the extent to which the needs of the weakest and most disadvantaged are prioritized.
“We don’t know what 2021 has in store for us, but what each of us and all of us together can do is to commit ourselves a little more to take care of each other and of creation, our common home,” the pope said in his Angelus address Jan. 3.
In the live video broadcast from the Apostolic Palace, the pope said that “things will get better to the extent that, with God’s help, we work together for the common good, putting the weakest and most disadvantaged at the center.”
The pope said that there is a temptation to take care only of one’s own interests during the pandemic and “to live hedonistically, that is, seeking only to satisfy our own pleasure.”
He added: “I read something in the newspapers that saddened me greatly: in one country, I forget which, more than 40 aircraft left, to enable people to flee from the lockdown and to enjoy the holidays.”
“But those people, good people, did they not think about those who stayed at home, about the economic problems faced by many people who have been floored by the lockdown, about the sick? They thought only about taking a holiday for their own pleasure. This pained me greatly.”
Pope Francis addressed a special greeting to “those who begin the new year with greater difficulties,” mentioning the sick and the unemployed.
“I like to think that when the Lord prays to the Father for us, He does not merely speak: He makes Him see the wounds of the flesh, He makes Him see the wounds He suffered for us,” he said.
“This is Jesus: with His flesh He is the intercessor, he wanted to bear even the signs of suffering.”
In a reflection on the first chapter of the Gospel of John, Pope Francis said that God became man to love us in our human frailty.
“Dear brother, dear sister, God became flesh to tell us, to tell you that He loves us … in our frailty, in your frailty; right there, where we are most ashamed, where you are most ashamed. This is bold,” he said.
“Indeed, the Gospel says that He came to dwell among us. He did not come to visit us, and then leave; He came to dwell with us, to stay with us. What, then, does He desire from us? He desires a great intimacy. He wants us to share with Him our joys and sufferings, desires and fears, hopes and sorrows, people and situations. Let us do this, with confidence: let us open our hearts to Him, let us tell Him everything.”
Pope Francis encouraged everyone to pause in silence before the nativity to “savor the tenderness of God who became near, who became flesh.”
The pope also expressed his closeness to families with young children and to those who are expecting, adding “a birth is always a promise of hope.”
“May the Holy Mother of God, in whom the Word became flesh, help us to welcome Jesus, who knocks on the door of our hearts to dwell with us,” Pope Francis said.
“Without fear, let us invite Him among us, into our homes, into our families. And also … let us invite Him into our frailties. Let us invite Him, so that He may see our wounds. He will come and life will change.”
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“Let us invite Jesus to see our wounds….”
An invitation to self-absorption by the Pontiff Francis, who orchestrated and presided over idolatry in Rome in 2019, and who restored the sociopath sex abuser McCarrick to forge the secret-accord-with-the-Communist-Party.
It is more appropriate to count the wounds that the Pontiff Francis has inflicted on Jesus’ Church.
True, but it’s also important to consider the harm that you are doing by repeatedly referring to McCarrick when the topic of an article is not even remotely related to that issue. Your obsession with McCarrick is deeply pathological.
A Communist anti-Christ government is responsible for releasing this pandemic on the world.
Anti-Christ governments around the world have plunged the working class into greater poverty through unfair lockdowns.
Anti-Christ governments around the world have forced closure of churches but allowed abortion clinics to remain open.
Anti-Christ governments around the world condemned and defunded police and allowed crime and riots to flourish.
Anti-Christ governments around the world are responsible for the increased number of suicides and crimes during lockdown.
Where, then, is the condemnation from our Church leadership of these countries, governments, and policies?
Has the Church become an enabler of anti-Christ governments, godless worldview, lawlessness, and even death through its refusal to boldly proclaim Jesus Christ as Supreme Ruler and the only solution to the growing human crisis?
Darkness can only exist to the degree that the Church hides the light of Christ.
‘Unbelievable’: House Democrat’s opening prayer ends with ‘amen and a-woman’
Republicans note ‘amen’ means ‘so be it,’ doesn’t refer to male gender
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/jan/3/house-democrats-open-117th-congress-prayer-ending-/
By Valerie Richardson – The Washington Times – Sunday, January 3, 2021
The 117th Congress kicked off with a fresh controversy Sunday when the Democrat delivering the opening prayer concluded by saying “amen,” and then added “a-woman.”
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, Missouri Democrat, ended his prayer “in the name of the monotheistic god,” then added what sounded like “Brahma,” before finishing with “and god known by many names by many different faiths. Amen and a-woman.”
Critics, led by Republican lawmakers, were quick to point out that “amen” means “so be it,” and does not refer to the male gender, while “a-woman” doesn’t mean anything.
“Amen is Latin for ‘so be it,’” tweeted Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, Pennsylvania Republican. “It’s not a gendered word. Unfortunately, facts are irrelevant to progressives. Unbelievable.”
According to Catholic.com, “Amen is a word that came to English from Latin, which got it from Greek, which got it from Aramaic, which got it from Hebrew (technically, Aramaic may have had it anyway, before it became the standard language of the Jewish people a few centuries before the time of Christ).”
“I guess the virtue signaling Democrats didn’t check the Herbrew [sic] etymology of the word ‘Amen’ to realize it has NOTHING to do with gender,” tweeted Rep. Lauren Boebert, Colorado Republican. “But don’t let facts get in the way of a good virtue signal. Also, didn’t those words just get banned?”
Appeal to care for our brother by Francis displays the very compassionate ‘side’ of our pontiff. Surely many are quick to acknowledge the other more humanist egalitarian side. Example, is Covid exposure more dangerous than scalpels inserted in the womb as the world’s greeting to new life? Is the Francis approach more Stoic than Christian? The Stoics who believed in an ethereal presence in all men motivating mutual concern, the earlier concept of Natural Law, later to be transformed by Aristotle as right reason, a purely natural moral dimension in Man. Finally the great Roman Jurist orator Cicero who developed natural law as a juridical doctrine, efficacious and consulted through many later centuries. Aquinas took the two concepts and rightly combined right reason inherently natural to Man as the divine signature on the human soul. Where did it all start? Observation. Aristotle began as a biologist closely studying motivation the essence of the soul. Turning to Man he observed common behavior patterns toward the good, right reason and the Natural Law. Aquinas defined it as those commonly held principles of action inherent in man. What are the very expressions of natural law are observable found universally consistent and codified. How then? The Natural Law Within [Aquinas] common to all men is prescient knowledge, realized in apprehension of the due end of acts. Common Law in America origin England [initially in the Reception Statute and later adopted as the rule of jurisprudence by most states following Independence] was the cultural, philosophical, religious, juridical, natural law current underlying England’s sense of right and wrong. Much of it stemming from previous Roman Catholicism, Cicero, and the Roman Codex. How then does the more enlightened understanding reveal itself during this global Covid dilemma? By getting our priorities right. Life, human right to work and live and to enjoy life, life itself including in the womb has that priority.
We live in the age of Good Samaritans. May their tribe increase.
“to take care of each other”
Is Francis aware that the phrase “take care of” is an euphemism for murder?
In “The Revenge of the Sith” Darth Vader “took care of” the separatist leaders – by murdering them.
It needn’t be mentioned, but MURDER IS WRONG.
Are you aware that “to take care of each other” also means “to take care of each other”? Seriously.
I would be interested to see “Franciscum” explain how his sell out of the Chinese Church falls under “taking care of each other” unless he is possibly referring to the the Chinese Communist government which “reportedly” giving their fellow traveler Pope 2 billion a year for his forward thinking “open mindedness” to all things communist. Perhaps he is so open minded that his brains fell out along the way.
We now have two Catholics at the highest offices in the United States. You will soon see how they put their Catholic upbringing and Catholic teaching to change the course of this country. A woman’s womb will still be the most unsafest place to be for an unborn child. How many more potential Catholics will be murdered at the hands of these 2? But the Catholic church leaders will continue to ignore the hypocrisy….PATHETIC!!