Tin

Sau cùng, Người tỏ mình ra cho chính Nhóm Mười Một đang khi các ông dùng bữa. Người khiển trách các ông không tin và cứng lòng, bởi lẽ các ông không chịu tin những kẻ đã được thấy Người sau khi Người trỗi dậy. Người nói với các ông: “Anh em hãy đi khắp tứ phương thiên hạ, loan báo Tin Mừng cho mọi loài thụ tạo.” (Mc 16,14-15)

Bằng một phong cách đơn sơ, khiêm tốn, vui tươi, gần gũi, tha thiết với người nghèo, ra khỏi lớp vỏ cứng để đến với mọi người, ĐTC Phanxicô đã là nguồn hứng khởi cho niềm tin thức dậy. Tất cả phát xuất từ một đời sống cầu nguyện, chiêm niệm sâu xa.

‘I could see this amazing transformation in his face’
The Bergoglio I knew
Isabel de Bertodano - 6 April 2013 http://www.thetablet.co.uk/

Isabel de Bertodano is a freelance journalist and a former Home News Editor of The Tablet.
Back in the 1990s, Guillermo Marcó, a priest in the diocese of Buenos Aires, was press officer for Bishop Jorge Mario Bergoglio. In his eight years at the future Pope’s side, the spokesman gained unique insights into the man he calls his friend, and whom he saw again briefly after his election

When Guillermo Marcó visited Pope Francis last month at the Vatican, he noticed a remarkable change in his old friend.
“In Buenos Aires, when I saw him before the conclave, he looked really tired. He was anticipating his retirement, preparing himself for that, not for taking on a new job,” said Fr Marcó. “Of course, we know that the Holy Spirit works through the conclave, but really I’ve now seen the effects of that because I know him so well,” said the Pope’s former press officer, who had five minutes with his old boss at the Vatican last month.

“I could see this amazing transformation in his face; he was glowing and happy and his eyes had this special light in them. He seemed to have an extra strength and without any doubt this is a change brought about by the force of God.”

...The new pope is accustomed to an austere lifestyle and although he has good friends he does not socialise. “He avoids going to eat dinner with people at their home. He’s always been a person whom I’d describe as monkish in his lifestyle. He’s always been quite a solitary person. He looks after his interior life; he gets up at about 5 a.m. to pray. So, at night, he eats an apple, drinks a cup of tea and goes to bed early.” He preferred to visit the poor of the city, something that became a feature of his tenure as archbishop – he is credited with doubling the number of priests visiting the poor barrios of the city.

...“He says you must go out to the fringes of life and see what is going on. You should not wait for the world to come to you,” said Fr Marcó. “He doesn’t see the poor as people he can help but rather as people from whom he can learn. He believes the poor are closer to God than the rest of us; they have a very personal experience of him.”

Kỳ diệu

Simon Phêrô xuống thuyền kéo lưới lên bờ. Lưới đầy toàn cá lớn; tất cả được một trăm năm mươi ba con. Dầu cá nhiều đến thế, nhưng lưới không rách.(Ga 21,11)

Phêrô được một mẻ cá lớn bất ngờ, một điều kỳ diệu. Kỳ diệu hơn nữa là được cận kề và được sự chăm sóc thân tình của Đấng Phục sinh. Trên đường loan báo Tin Mừng, nhờ Đấng Phục sinh, ông làm được bao điều kỳ diệu, trong đó có việc chữa người què...

Thursday in the Octave of Easter, Pope Francis noted how all of the readings speak of amazement and wonder: the crowds' amazement at Peter’s healing of the crippled man and the wonder of the disciples at the Risen Christ’s appearance to them.

"Wonder is a great grace, the grace that God gives us in our encounter with Jesus Christ. It is something that draws us outside of ourselves with joy ... it is not a mere enthusiasm" like that of sports fans "when their favorite team wins", but "it's something deeper". It is having an inner experience of meeting the Living Christ and thinking that it is not possible: "But the Lord helps us understand that is the reality. It is wonderful! "

Pope Francis continued, "of course we cannot live forever in [a state of] wonder. No, we really cannot. But it is the beginning. Then, this astonishment leaves an impression in the soul and spiritual consolation. It is the consolation of those who have encountered Jesus Christ”.

Pope Francis concluded: "First wonder, then spiritual consolation and finally, the last step: peace. Even in the most painful tests, a Christian never loses the peace and presence of Jesus. With a little 'courage' we can pray: 'Lord, grant me this grace which is the hallmark of our encounter with you: spiritual consolation and peace'. A peace that we cannot lose because it is ours, it is the Lord's true peace that cannot be bought or sold. It is a gift from God. This is why we ask for the grace of spiritual consolation and peace of mind, that starts with this joyful wonder of our encounter with Jesus Christ. So be it."

Xin được gặp Chúa là điều kỳ diệu nhất, dẫn đến niềm động viên, an ủi và bình an sâu thẳm.

Yêu mãi

Chúa Giêsu hỏi: "Bà kia, sao mà khóc, bà tìm ai?"
Tưởng là người giữ vườn, Maria thưa:
"Thưa ông, nếu ông đã mang xác Người đi,
thì xin cho tôi biết ông đã đặt Người ở đâu,
để tôi đến lấy xác Người".
Chúa Giêsu gọi: "Maria".
Quay mặt lại, bà thưa Người: "Rabboni!"
(nghĩa là "Lạy Thầy!").
Chúa Giêsu bảo bà:
"Đừng động đến Ta, vì Ta chưa về cùng Cha Ta
Nhưng hãy đi báo tin cho các anh em Ta hay và bảo họ rằng:
Ta về cùng Cha Ta, cũng là Cha các con;
về cùng Thiên Chúa Ta, cũng là Thiên Chúa các con".
(Ga 20,15-17)

Reflecting God's perfect love

God's love for us is everlasting.
That means that God's love for us existed before we were born and will exist after we have died.
It is an eternal love in which we are embraced.

Living a spiritual life calls us to claim that eternal love for ourselves
so that we can live our temporal loves
- for parents, brothers, sisters, teachers, friends, spouses, and all people who become part of our lives
- as reflections or refractions of God's eternal love.
No fathers or mothers can love their children perfectly.
No husbands or wives can love each other with unlimited love.
There is no human love that is not broken somewhere.

When our broken love is the only love we can have, we are easily thrown into despair,
but when we can live our broken love as a partial reflection of God's perfect, unconditional love,
we can forgive one another our limitations and enjoy together the love we have to offer.
(Nouwen G)

Có một tình yêu vĩnh cửu như thế:
tự hiến, phục sinh, kiếm tìm, gọi tên, gặp gỡ, nên một, biến đổi, thăng hoa từng ngày.
Xin cho con biết đón nhận và thể hiện một tình yêu như vậy với mọi người.

Dòng kênh thương xót

"Các bà đừng sợ. Hãy đi báo tin cho các anh em Ta phải trở về Galilêa, rồi ở đó họ sẽ gặp Ta." (Mt 28,10)

God’s mercy can make even the driest land become a garden, can restore life to dry bones (cf. Ez 37:1-14)

“Urbi et Orbi”

At noon, from the central loggia of the Vatican Basilica, the Holy Father Francis addressed the over 250,000 people overflowing St. Peter's Square and those who were following the celebration by radio or television. He delivered his Easter proclamation—“God’s mercy can make even the driest land become a garden!”—and made a strong appeal for peace throughout the world. He then imparted the “Urbi et Orbi” blessing.

"...Dear brothers and sisters, Christ died and rose once for all, and for everyone, but the power of the Resurrection, this passover from slavery to evil to the freedom of goodness, must be accomplished in every age, in our concrete existence, in our everyday lives.

"How many deserts, even today, do human beings need to cross!
Above all, the desert within, when we have no love for God or neighbour, when we fail to realize that we are guardians of all that the Creator has given us and continues to give us.
God’s mercy can make even the driest land become a garden, can restore life to dry bones (cf. Ez 37:1-14).

"So this is the invitation which I address to everyone:
Let us accept the grace of Christ’s Resurrection!
Let us be renewed by God’s mercy,
let us be loved by Jesus,
let us enable the power of his love to transform our lives too;
and let us become agents of this mercy, channels through which God can water the earth, protect all creation and make justice and peace flourish.

"And so we ask the risen Jesus, who turns death into life, to change hatred into love, vengeance into forgiveness, war into peace.
Yes, Christ is our peace, and through him we implore peace for all the world..."

Xin biến đổi con thành dòng kênh trong xanh của lòng Chúa thương xót, tưới mát những cuộc đời đang cằn khô.

Mới

Thấy hòn đá đã lăn ra khỏi mồ, nhưng bước vào, các bà không thấy xác Chúa Giêsu. Đang khi các bà còn ngơ ngác không hiểu việc đó, thì có hai người đứng gần các bà, y phục sáng chói. Các bà kinh hãi cắm mặt xuống đất (Lc 24,2-5)

HOMILY OF POPE FRANCIS THE EASTER VIGIL IN THE HOLY NIGHT ST PETER'S BASILICA
30 MARCH 2013

...Newness often makes us fearful, including the newness which God brings us, the newness which God asks of us. We are like the Apostles in the Gospel: often we would prefer to hold on to our own security, to stand in front of a tomb, to think about someone who has died, someone who ultimately lives on only as a memory, like the great historical figures from the past. We are afraid of God’s surprises; we are afraid of God’s surprises! He always surprises us!

Dear brothers and sisters, let us not be closed to the newness that God wants to bring into our lives! Are we often weary, disheartened and sad? Do we feel weighed down by our sins? Do we think that we won’t be able to cope? Let us not close our hearts, let us not lose confidence, let us never give up: there are no situations which God cannot change, there is no sin which he cannot forgive if only we open ourselves to him.

...Let the risen Jesus enter your life, welcome him as a friend, with trust: he is life! If up till now you have kept him at a distance, step forward. He will receive you with open arms.

...And the two men in dazzling clothes tell them something of crucial importance: “Remember what he told you when he was still in Galilee… And they remembered his words” (Lk 24:6,8). They are asked to remember their encounter with Jesus, to remember his words, his actions, his life; and it is precisely this loving remembrance of their experience with the Master that enables the women to master their fear and to bring the message of the Resurrection to the Apostles and all the others (cf. Lk 24:9).

...May he teach us each day not to look among the dead for the Living One!

Mới hơn, mới hơn cho tâm hồn con, khi con ngày càng tiến sâu vào mối quan hệ thắm thiết với Đấng Phục Sinh.

Nét đẹp thập giá

"Ở đó họ đóng đinh Người trên thập giá cùng với hai người khác nữa: mỗi người một bên, còn Chúa Giêsu thì ở giữa. Philatô cũng viết một tấm bảng và sai đóng trên thập giá. Bảng mang những hàng chữ này: "Giêsu, Nadarét, vua dân Do-thái". Nhiều người Do-thái đọc được bảng đó, vì nơi Chúa Giêsu chịu đóng đinh thì gần thành phố, mà bảng viết thì bằng tiếng Do-thái, Hy-lạp và La-tinh." (Ga 19,18-20)

Công trình tạo dựng của Thiên Chúa tuyệt đẹp. Công trình cứu độ của Ngài còn đẹp hơn gấp bội. Đó là nét đẹp của thập giá, tột đỉnh của tình yêu tự hiến.

"...The evangelization has a mystical origin; it is a gift that comes from the cross of Christ, from that open side, from that blood and from that water. The love of Christ, like that of the Trinity of which it is the historical manifestation, is "diffusivum sui", it tends to expand and reach all creatures, "especially those most needy of thy mercy." Christian evangelization is not a conquest, not propaganda; it is the gift of God to the world in his Son Jesus. It is to give the Head the joy of feeling life flow from his heart towards his body, to the point of vivivfying its most distant limbs.

We must do everything possible so that the Church may never look like that complicated and cluttered castle described by Kafka, and the message may come out of it as free and joyous as when the messenger began his run. We know what the impediments are that can restrain the messenger: dividing walls, starting with those that separate the various Christian churches from one another, the excess of bureaucracy, the residue of past ceremonials, laws and disputes, now only debris.

In Revelation, Jesus says that He stands at the door and knocks (Rev 3:20). Sometimes, as noted by our Pope Francis, he does not knock to enter, but knocks from within to go out. To reach out to the "existential suburbs of sin, suffering, injustice, religious ignorance and indifference, and of all forms of misery."As happens with certain old buildings. Over the centuries, to adapt to the needs of the moment, they become filled with partitions, staircases, rooms and closets. The time comes when we realize that all these adjustments no longer meet the current needs, but rather are an obstacle, so we must have the courage to knock them down and return the building to the simplicity and linearity of its origins. This was the mission that was received one day by a man who prayed before the Crucifix of San Damiano: "Go, Francis, and repair my Church".

"Who could ever be up to this task?" wondered aghast the Apostle before the superhuman task of being in the world "the fragrance of Christ"; and here is his reply, that still applies today: "We're not ourselves able to think something as if it came from us; our ability comes from God. He has made us to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; because the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life"(2 Cor 2:16; 3:5-6). May the Holy Spirit, in this moment in which a new time is opening for the Church, full of hope, reawaken in men who are at the window the expectancy of the message, and in the messengers the will to make it reach them, even at the cost of their life."

(http://www.news.va/en/news/vatican-passion-of-our-lord-sermon-full-text)