Dear Pauline Friends & Family,
The beautiful weather in New York City today is just one of the million reasons for us to celebrate Thanksgiving Day! Many thanks to God for the grateful pilgrims in the 1620's who started to recognize the bountiful harvest from Divine Providence.
With grateful heart, I also wish to share today's article (shown below) from the Vatican Information Service re the message of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to Italian Caritas. Our Supreme Pontiff is quite inspiring. His messages are dotted with actionable "gems".
May God send us the Holy Spirit to show us a way to act & play our individual & collective role/s so we can respond with courageous hearts & carry the light of the Church to those areas where we encounter darkness and may God empower us to "be a sign of Christ's charity" in our small ways. Amen.
VIS article:
QUOTE
POPE TO
ITALIAN CARITAS: BE A SIGN OF CHRIST'S CHARITY
VATICAN CITY,
24 NOV 2011 (VIS) - This morning in the Vatican, Benedict XVI received
participants in a meeting organised by Italian Caritas to celebrate its
fortieth anniversary. In his address, the Pope recalled how Caritas "has
an important role to play in educating communities, families and civil society,
where the Church is called to shed her light. This involves taking responsibility
for educating people to the good life of the Gospel, and that life is good only
if it includes the witness of charity".
"Never abandon this educational role, even when the journey becomes
difficult and your efforts seem to bear no fruit. Undertake your duties while
remaining faithful to the Church and respecting the identity of your
institutions, using the instruments that history has given you and those which
'the inventiveness of charity' - as Blessed John Paul II said - will suggest to
you in the future".
"A work of charity speaks of God, it announces a hope and induces us to
ask questions". Such works "are born of the faith. They are works of
the Church, expressions of her concern for those who suffer most. They are
educational acts because they help the poor to grow in dignity, Christian
communities to follow Christ and civil society to shoulder its obligations. Let
us recall the teaching of Vatican Council II: 'demands of justice [must] be
satisfied lest the giving of what is due in justice be represented as the
offering of a charitable gift'. The Church's humble and concrete service does
not seek to substitute, even less to assuage, collective and civil conscience,
but accompanies them with a spirit of sincere collaboration, and with due
concern for autonomy and subsidiarity".
"Charity requires an open mind", the Holy Father went on.
"Responding to need means not only giving bread to the hungry, but also
asking ourselves about the reasons for their hunger, using the gaze of Jesus
Who could see the profound truth of the people around Him. In this perspective,
our modern times are calling you to ask yourselves about the way you work for
charity. Our thoughts cannot but go to the vast world of migration. Natural
calamities and wars often create emergencies. The global economic crisis is a
another sign of the times which calls for the courage of fraternity. The gap
between the north and south of the world, and the wounded human dignity of so
many people, call for a charity able to expand in concentric circles from the
small economic systems to the great. Increasing poverty, the weakening of
families, and the uncertainty faced by the young all point to the risk of
diminishing hope.
"Humankind needs not only benefactors", the Pope added, "but
also humble practical people who, like Jesus, stand alongside their brothers
and sisters and share their fatigue. In a word, humanity is looking for signs
of hope. The source of our hope is in the Lord. This is why we need Caritas,
not to delegate it with the responsibility for charitable service, but for it
to be a sign of Christ's charity, a sign that brings hope".
AC/
VIS 20111124 (530)
UNQUOTE
Did you find the actionable "gems" in Pope Benedict XVI's message to Italian Caritas? Key: In the VIS article above, find out what Jesus would do today.
There are many "actors" in the world who play important roles to bring the Gospel and
there are a myriad of ways to bring hope to people in many nations.
The Pauline Family, founded by Blessed James Alberione, also strives to
bring the good life of the Gospel. See: Discover Hope with Daughters of St. Paul.
May God bestow abundant graces to the followers of Jesus Divine Master, Way, Truth and Life and may God be glorified by the humble works of Blessed James Alberione and the apostolate work of the 10 Pauline institutes he founded in Italy which have grown like a tree with branches in many nations around the world. Amen.
Jesus, Master, Way, Truth and Life, have mercy on us.
Mary, Queen of Apostles, pray for us.
St. Paul the Apostle, pray for us.
Blessed James Alberione, pray for us. (Feast Day: Nov. 26)
Venerable Mother Thecla Merlo, pray for us. (Feast Day: Jan. 22)
Blessed Timothy Giaccardo, pray for us. (Feast Day: Oct. 22)
Sr. Scholastica Rivata, Servant of God, pray for us. (13 March 1993)
Venerable Canon Francesco Chiesa, pray for us. (Proclaimed venerable: 11 Dec. 1987)
Venerable Maggiorino Vigolungo, pray for us. (Proclaimed venerable: 28 March 1988)
Venerable Fratel Andrea Maria Borello, pray for us. (Proclaimed venerable: 3 March 1990)
Wishing you all the best!
Respectfully,
Margie Skeels
Pauline Cooperator
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