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speech to diplomats accredited to the holy see the bishop of rome spoke about how the church has presented the world with the perfect occasion the year long jubilee to deal together with the global emergencies facing us francis holy year of mercy has a geopolitical goal as well the church is offering the jubilee as a propitious time to defuse conflicts stop the scourge of war and address global emergencies together pope francis gave a concrete and direct description of this opportunity in his traditional beginning of the year speech to diplomatic representatives accredited to the holy see in his address he reiterated the complete readiness of the secretariat of state to cooperate with you in favouring constant dialogue between the apostolic see and the countries which you represent stressing i am certain that this jubilee year which was intentionally pre inaugurated in bangui in a country sorely tried by hunger poverty and conflict will be a favourable occasion for the cold indifference of so many hearts to be won over by the warmth of mercy that precious gift of god which turns fear into love and makes us artisans of peace in the bull of indiction of the extraordinary year of mercy misericordiae vultus pope francis made it clear that he did not wish to turn the holy year into a propitious time exclusively for faithful of catholics active in the faith he intended it as an opportunity for reconciliation for non christians too starting with jews and muslims a time that does not exclude the possibility of taking into account the dynamics of the jubilee in scrapping scores that need to be settled and in reconciliation between enemies right from the outset including when seeking solutions to the conflicts and international crises that are tormenting peoples and nations continue reading by vassallomalta posted in news jan 9 2016 the baptism of the lord c reading i isaiah 42 1 4 6 7 or 40 1 5 9 11 responsorial psalm 29 1 4 9 10 or 104 1b 2 3 4 24 25 27 30 reading ii acts 10 34 38 or titus 2 11 14 3 4 7 gospel luke 3 15 16 21 22 you are my beloved son with you i am well pleased gospel god s unconditional love recently i had lunch with a former student of mine a very idealistic young man who teaches religion in a catholic high school he shared with me about his struggles in trying to teach young people about god one of the major problems as he sees it is that his students idea of god invariably contains too much of the notion that god is a petty tyrant that god can easily be offended that god is threatened by our joys and successes and especially that somehow we have to earn god s love by being good he for his part tries to correct these notions by presenting a picture of god as a god whose essential countenance is that of blessing and not of frowning a god who is an extravagant unconditional lover the father of prodigal son who cannot be put off by human infidelity among other things he likes presenting julian of norwich s picture of god as sitting in heaven smiling completely relaxed his face looking like a marvelous symphony however when he tries to present this idea of god the response of his students is inevitably something to this effect then why be good if god loves us no matter what we do then why keep the commandments if we are not to be punished or rewarded for our efforts then why make sacrifices why indeed why be good and try to keep the commandments if god loves us anyway simply put we don t try to be good so that god loves and rewards us god loves us no matter what we do and heaven is never a reward for a good life are these glib statements no god s love as jesus assures us is always both unmerited and unconditional nothing we do can ever make god love us just as nothing we do can ever stop god from loving us god loves just as god does everything else perfectly god loves everything and everybody perfectly in fact part of christian belief a dogma in fact is that god s love is what keeps everything in existence if god stopped loving anything it would cease to be this as the american theologian michael hines is fond of pointing out raises an interesting question if god loves everything and everyone perfectly does god then also love satan indeed does god love satan as much as he loves jesus mother mary continue reading by vassallomalta posted in scripture in depth jan 8 2016 l osservatore romano accuses charlie hebdo of distorting faith the vatican newspaper speaks out against the cover of the french satirical weekly which marks the first anniversary of the attacks on its offices in paris the holy see has strongly criticised the illustration on the special issue of french satirical weekly charlie hebdo which depicts god carrying a machine gun vatican newspaper l osservatore romano said the image illustrates the sad paradox of a world that is becoming so sensitive to political correctness it is verging on the ridiculous the special issue marks a year since the attack by islamist radicals on the offices of charlie hebdo in paris l osservatore romano says the french daily s gesture dismissed and disrespects all believers faith in god whatever their credo this episode is nothing new because behind the deceitful flag of an uncompromising secularism the french weekly has once again forgotten what all religious leaders have been repeating for some time now rejecting violence in the name of religion using god to justify hatred constitutes real blasphemy as pope francis has said on so many occasions continue reading by vassallomalta posted in news jan 3 2016 russian orthodox leader expresses concern that montenegro may join nato the head of the russian orthodox church received serbia s justice minister in audience on december 28 and expressed concern that montenegro which became independent from serbia in 2006 may accept an invitation to join nato i wholeheartedly wish the serbian people god s help spiritual and physical fortitude and wisdom for preserving the sovereignty of our fraternal serbia said patriarch kirill of moscow we worry about the events in montenegro as we see that people are against the plans of joining russia today is a sovereign state in full measure and uses the sovereignty for its own defense and for defense of its friends he added by vassallomalta posted in news jan 2 2016 hilary clinton islamic state s killing of christians should be labeled genocide distancing herself from obama administration policy presidential candidate and former secretary of state hilary clinton said that she now believes that the islamic state s killing of christians in syria and iraq should be labeled a genocide the islamic state deliberately aimed at destroying not only the lives but wiping out the existence of christians and other religious minorities in the middle east in territory controlled by isis she said on december 29 according to a politico report by vassallomalta posted in news jan 2 2016 epiphany of the lord c reading i isaiah 60 1 6 responsorial psalm 72 1 2 7 8 10 11 12 13 reading ii ephesians 3 2 3a 5 6 gospel matthew 2 1 12 when king herod heard this he was greatly troubled gospel king herod and the wise men a christmas challenge the christmas story is surely one of the greatest stories ever told it chronicles a birth from which the world records time as before or after moreover it is written in a way that has inflamed the romantic imagination for 2000 years this hasn t always been for the good beyond spawning every kind of legend imaginable the story of christmas has in the christian imagination too often taken on a centrality not accorded to it in the gospels themselves this is not surprising given its richness inside its great narrative there are multiple mini narratives each of which comes laden with its own archetypal symbols one of these mini narratives rich in archetypal imagery is the story king herod and the wise men we see this in the gospel of matthew when he tells us how various people reacted to the announcement of jesus birth matthew sets up a powerful archetypal contrast blessing and curse between the reaction of the wise men who bring their gifts and place them at the feet of the new king and king herod who tries to kill him we are all familiar with this story since it has been much celebrated in song icon and legend jesus is born inside of a religious tradition judaism and his birth is announced to that faith community in a manner that befits religion namely by the angels by supernatural revelation but those outside of that faith tradition need another way to get to know of his birth and so his birth is announced to them though nature astrology through the stars the wise men see a special star appear in the sky and begin to follow it not knowing exactly to where or to what it will lead continue reading by vassallomalta posted in scripture in depth jan 1 2016 pope francis angelus appeal for peace pope francis renewed his calls for peace and goodwill throughout the earth on friday new year s day the solemnity of the mother of god and the world day of peace the holy father s appeal came at the angelus prayer with pilgrims and visitors gathered in st peter s square after mass in st peter s basilica today we celebrate the world day of peace whose theme is overcome indifference and win peace said pope francis that peace which god the father wants to sow in the world must be cultivated by us he continued not only it must also be conquered this involves a real struggle a spiritual battle that takes place in our hearts for the enemy of peace is not only war but also indifference which makes us think only of ourselves and creates barriers suspicions fears and closures of mind and heart pope francis went on to say we have thank god much information but sometimes we are so inundated with news that we are distracted from reality from the brother and sister who needs us let us begin to open our hearts awakening attention to the next this said pope francis is the way to win the peace after the traditional prayer of marian devotion pope francis returned the new year s greetings he received the evening before from the president of the italian republic sergio mattarella and offered thanks to all those involved in peace initiatives in rome throughout italy and in all the world continue reading by vassallomalta posted in angelus news jan 1 2016 pope s prayer intentions for january 2016 at the start of the new year pope francis will be praying that interreligious dialogue will produce fruits of peace the apostleship of prayer announced the intentions chosen by the pope for january 2016 his universal prayer intention is that sincere dialogue among men and women of different faiths may produce the fruits of peace and justice continue reading by vassallomalta posted in news jan 1 2016 image wishing you a prosperous new year by vassallomalta posted in news dec 31 2015 the pope s te deum for the end of the year rome needs to revive honesty and solidarity from st peter s basilica the pope denounces the grave uncertainties that have dominated the world scene over the past year and are symptoms of a lack of commitment to the common good in the te deum the traditional end of year hymn of thanksgiving pronounced in st peter s the pope invited all inhabitants of our city of rome to overcome the difficulties of the present he expressed the hope that a commitment to revive the fundamental values of service honesty and solidarity may allow the grave uncertainties that have dominated the world scene over the past year to be overcome these being symptoms of a lack of commitment to the common good how meaningful it is to be gathered together to give praise to the lord at the end of the year the church on so many occasions feels the joy and the duty of lifting up her song to god with these words of praise which ever since the 4th century have been an accompaniment to prayer during important moments of her earthly pilgrimage the joy of thanksgiving emanates from our prayer almost spontaneously in recognition of god s loving presence in the events that take place during the course of our history as is often the case though we feel that in prayer our voice alone is not enough it needs to be reinforced with the accompaniment of god s entire people which expresses its thanks in unison hence in the te deum we ask the angels the prophets and all creation for their help in giving praise to the lord in this hymn we retrace the history of salvation which includes and encapsulates as part of god s mysterious plan the various events that took place in our lives over the past year continue reading by vassallomalta posted in news dec 31 2015 mary mother of god reading i numbers 6 22 27 reading ii galatians 4 4 7 gospel luke 2 16 21 new year resolution with mary the name january comes from the roman god janus the god with two faces one looking to the past and the other looking to the future this is indeed a time to look back at the year that has just ended and to look forward to the new year ahead of us how did i spend this one year of my life that has just passed did i use it to advance my goals and objectives in life did i use it to enhance the purpose of my existence could i have done better last year in the way i invested my time between the demands of work family friends and society and the demands of my spiritual life what things did i achieve last year and what did i fail to achieve how can i consolidate the achievements of last year while reversing the failures and losses in this new year through soul searching questions like these we find that a review of the past year naturally leads to setting goals and resolutions for the new year there are people who tell you that there is no point making new year resolutions do not believe them we must set goals and make resolutions as a necessary conclusion to our review of the past year and we do need to review our lives from year to year because as socrates says the unexamined life is not worth living today s newspapers are full of individual and collective new year resolutions most of those however are not resolutions at all but only wishes what is the difference between a resolution and a wish a wish identifies a goal one wants to reach a resolution specifies the steps one will take to reach it a wish says this is where i want to be a resolution says this is the road i will take this is what i will do to get there the wishful person says i want to pass my exams this year and the resolved person says i will devote an extra hour to my studies everyday in order to pass my exams the wishful person says i will have more peace and love in my family this year and the resolved person says i will spend more time with my family at table instead of rushing off to the tv so that we get to know and understand ourselves better the wishful person says i will live a life of union with god this year and the resolved person says i will set aside this time everyday to pray and hear god s word the difference ...