“We are all children of one heavenly father, we belong to the same human family and we share a common destiny…
This brings a responsibility for each to work so that the world becomes a community of brothers (and sisters) who respect each other, accept each other in one’s diversity, and takes care of one another.”
Pope Francis New Years message in St. Peter’s Square
Dear Sisters and Friends,
“Mother of God is the first and most important title of Our Lady,” Pope Francis said in his homily on the Solemnity of the Mother of God January 1, 2014. “Mother of the Redeemer goes before us and continually strengthens us in faith, in our vocation and in our mission.” He called on us to entrust to Mary “our journey of faith, the desires of our heart, our needs and the needs of the whole world, especially of those who hunger and thirst for justice and peace.”
Pope Francis added: “by her example of humility and openness to God’s will,” she helps us to transmit our faith in a “joyful proclamation of the Gospel to all, without reservation. In this way, our mission will be fruitful, because it is modeled on the motherhood of Mary.” Through the most difficult and trying times, Mary’s “sorrowing heart was enlarged to make room for all men and women, whether good or bad,” the Pope said, and she communicates “her maternal affection to each and every person … a source of hope and true joy.”
Referenced in the National Catholic Register The same day in Fraternity, the Foundation and Pathway to
Peace, his International World Day of Peace message, Francis wrote, “In the heart of every man and woman, is the desire for a full life, including that irrepressible longing for fraternity which draws us to fellowship with others and enables us to see them not as enemies or rivals, but as brothers and sisters to be accepted and embraced. Fraternity is an essential human quality, for we are relational beings. A lively awareness of our relatedness helps us to look upon and to treat each person as a true sister or brother; without fraternity it is impossible to build a just society and a solid and lasting peace.”
Francis continues: “I appeal forcefully, to all those who sow violence and death by force of arms: in the person you today see simply as an enemy to be beaten, discover rather your brother or sister, and hold back your hand! Give up the way of arms and go out to meet the other in dialogue, pardon and reconciliation, in order to rebuild justice, trust, and hope around you! From this standpoint, it is clear that, for the world’s peoples, armed conflicts are always a deliberate negation of international harmony, and create profound divisions and deep wounds which require many years to heal.”
Good reminders for the beginning of a new year. Several attachments to this bulletin highlight how we “rebuild justice, trust, and hope” around us.
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