Subject: VISnews130410
From: Vatican Information Service - Eng - txt
--Boundary_(ID_u4alS5TiEY01ai4afhuwMw)
Content-type: text/plain; CHARSETUS-ASCII
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT
body, html { font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;
color: #000000; }
.txt { font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; color:
#000000; }
VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE
YEAR XXIII - # 84
DATE 10-04-2013
Summary:
- POPE: BEING ADOPTED CHILDREN OF GOD IS GREATEST GIFT OF PASCHAL MYSTERY
- POPE'S NEARNESS TO VICTIMS OF EARTHQUAKE IN IRAN
- POPE GREETS HIS SOCCER TEAM
___________________________________________________________
POPE: BEING ADOPTED CHILDREN OF GOD IS GREATEST GIFT OF PASCHAL MYSTERY
Vatican City, 10 April 2013 (VIS) - The Holy Father dedicated his catechesis
of this Wednesday's general audience to the salvific importance of Jesus'
resurrection. After traversing St. Peter's Square in the open-top car,
greeting the thousands of
persons applauding his appearance, the Pope explained that the Christian faith
"is based upon Christ's death and resurrection just like a house is built on
its foundations. If those give way, the whole house topples. On the cross,
Jesus offers
himself, taking our sins upon himself and descending into the abyss of death,
defeating it by his resurrection, eliminating it and opening the way to be
reborn to new life."
"With Jesus' resurrection," he continued, "something entirely new occurs. We
are freed from the bondage of sin and become children of God. That is, we are
reborn to a new life. When does this happen for us? In the Sacrament of
Baptism.
In the past this was normally received through immersion. … The those
baptised would step out of the bath and put on the new garment, the white one.
They were born to a new life, immersing themselves in Christ's Death and
Resurrection. They had
become a child of God. St. Paul, in his Letter to the Romans, writes: 'you
received a spirit of adoption, through which we cry, "Abba, Father!"' It is
precisely the Holy Spirit that we have received in Baptism that teaches us,
that urges us
to say to God: 'Father', or better 'Abba', which means 'dad'. This is our God:
he is a dad to us. The Holy Spirit creates in us this new condition of being
children of God and this is the greatest gift we receive from Jesus' Pascha
l
Mystery. God treats us as children, understands us, forgives us, embraces us,
loves us, even when we make mistakes."
Nevertheless, this filial relationship with God "isn't like a treasure that we
keep in a corner of our lives but it must grow, must be nourished every day by
listening to the Word of God, by prayer, by participating in the Sacraments,
especially
those of Penance and the Eucharist, and by charity. We can live as children!
This is our dignity: we have the dignity of children. Let us act as true
children! This means that, every day, we have to allow Christ to transform us
... It means trying to
live as Christians, trying to follow him even if we see our limits and our
weaknesses. The temptation to leave God aside and put ourselves in the centre
is always at the door … That is why we must have the courage of faith
and not let ourselves
be led by the mentality that tells us: 'You don't need God. He's not important
for you,' and so on. It is just the opposite: only by living as children of
God, without being discouraged by our missteps or by our sins, feeling loved by
him
will our lives be new, inspired by serenity and joy. God is our strength! God
is our hope!"
"We have to be the first to have a strong hold on this hope and we have to be
its visible, clear, and bright sign for all. The Risen Lord is the hope that
never fails, that does not disappoint. Hope does not disappoint, the hope of
the Lord! How
many times in our lives do hopes fade? How many times are the expectations
that we hold in our hearts unrealized? Our hope as Christians is strong, sure,
strong in this land where God has called us to walk, and is open to eternity
because it is founded
in God who ... is always faithful to us. … Being a Christian cannot be
reduced to following commands but means being in Christ, thinking like him,
acting like him, loving like him. It means letting him take possession of our
lives and change
them, transform them, free them from the darkness of evil and sin."
"To anyone who asks for a reason for our hope, let us point to the Risen
Christ. Let us point him out with the proclamation of the Word, but especially
with our resurrected lives. Let us show the joy of being children of God; the
freedom that
living in Christ gives us, which is the true freedom that saves us from the
slavery of evil, sin, and death! Let us look to the heavenly Kingdom from
which we have new light and strength in our commitment and our daily efforts.
It is a precious service
that we must give to our world, which often cannot lift its gaze upward and is
unable to lift its gaze toward God."
At the end of the audience, the Pope left the dais to greet and hug those on
the sides of the Sagrato, including handicapped persons and newly weds, who
had attended the catechesis.
___________________________________________________________
POPE'S NEARNESS TO VICTIMS OF EARTHQUAKE IN IRAN
Vatican City, 10 April 2013 (VIS) - At the end of this morning's catechesis,
the Holy Father made an appeal for those affected by the powerful earthquake
in southern Iran, which has killed at least 37 people, injured hundreds more,
and caused
serious damage. "I pray for the victims," the Pope said, "and express my
nearness to those struck by this catastrophe. Let us pray for all our brothers
and sisters in Iran."
___________________________________________________________
POPE GREETS HIS SOCCER TEAM
Vatican City, 10 April 2013 (VIS) - Among those present at this morning's
general audience was a group from the St. Lawrence Athletic Club of Buenos
Aires, Argentina, of which Pope Francis has been member number 88235N since
2008. The Holy Father
gave a particularly warm greeting to "The Ravens", as the team's fans are
called, saying: "Ah, this is very important!". He also greeted the
Spanish-speaking pilgrims from Spain, Argentina, Mexico, and the other Latin
American
countries. At the same time he greeted the priests participating in a
continuing education course at the Pontifical Spanish College in Rome.
Addressing the English-speaking pilgrims, he offered "prayerful good wishes"
to the students of the NATO Defense College "that their service to
international peace and cooperation be always fruitful". Particularly
addressing the
groups of German students from Munster and Diessen, he thanked them for the
music that they provided for the audience.
In conclusion, he spoke to the Italian pilgrims among whom were a group of
employees from the IDI private clinic (Istituto Dermopatico dell'Immacolata,
the Dermopathic Institute of the Immaculate), which is experiencing a severe
labour crisis. "I
hope," the Pope said, "that a positive solution for such a difficult situation
can be found as soon as possible."
___________________________________________________________
Per ulteriori informazioni e per la ricerca di documenti consultare il
sito: www.wisnews.org e www.vatican.va
Il servizio del VIS viene inviato soltanto agli indirizzi di posta
elettronica che ne hanno fatto richiesta. Se per qualunque motivo
non si desidera continuare a riceverlo, si prega di visitare nostra pagina
dinizio:
http://212.77.1.245/news_services/press/vis/italinde.php
Copyright (VIS): Le notizie contenute nei servizi del Vatican
Information Service possono essere riprodotte parzialmente o totalmente
citando la fonte: V.I.S. - Vatican Information Service.
--Boundary_(ID_u4alS5TiEY01ai4afhuwMw)
Content-type: text/html; CHARSETUS-ASCII
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT
VISnews130410
VATICAN
INFORMATION SERVICE YEAR XXIII - # 84DATE 10-04-2013Summary: - POPE: BEING
ADOPTED CHILDREN OF GOD IS GREATEST GIFT OF
PASCHAL MYSTERY - POPE'S NEARNESS TO VICTIMS OF EARTHQUAKE IN IRAN - POPE
GREETS HIS SOCCER TEAM__________________________________________
________________
POPE: BEING ADOPTED CHILDREN OF GOD IS GREATEST GIFT OF PASCHAL MYSTERY
Vatican City, 10 April 2013 (VIS) - The Holy Father dedicated his catechesis
of this Wednesday's general audience to the salvific importance of Jesus'
resurrection. After traversing St. Peter's Square in the open-top car,
greeting the thousands
of persons applauding his appearance, the Pope explained that the Christian
faith "is based upon Christ's death and resurrection just like a house is
built on its foundations. If those give way, the whole house topples. On the
cross, Jesus offers
himself, taking our sins upon himself and descending into the abyss of death,
defeating it by his resurrection, eliminating it and opening the way to be
reborn to new life."
"With Jesus' resurrection," he continued, "something entirely new occurs. We
are freed from the bondage of sin and become children of God. That is, we are
reborn to a new life. When does this happen for us? In the Sacrament of
Baptism. In the past this was normally received through immersion. …
The those baptised would step out of the bath and put on the new garment, the
white one. They were born to a new life, immersing themselves in Christ's
Death and Resurrection.
They had become a child of God. St. Paul, in his Letter to the Romans, writes:
'you received a spirit of adoption, through which we cry, "Abba, Father!"' It
is precisely the Holy Spirit that we have received in Baptism that teaches us,
that
urges us to say to God: 'Father', or better 'Abba', which means 'dad'. This is
our God: he is a dad to us. The Holy Spirit creates in us this new condition
of being children of God and
this is the greatest gift we receive from Jesus' Paschal Mystery. God treats
us as children, understands us, forgives us, embraces us, loves us, even when
we make mistakes."
Nevertheless, this filial relationship with God "isn't like a treasure that
we keep in a corner of our lives but it must grow, must be nourished every day
by listening to the Word of God, by prayer, by participating in the Sacraments,
especially those of Penance and the Eucharist, and by charity. We can live as
children! This is our dignity: we have the dignity of children. Let us act as
true children! This means that, every day, we have to allow Christ to
transform us ... It means
trying to live as Christians, trying to follow him even if we see our limits
and our weaknesses. The temptation to leave God aside and put ourselves in the
centre is always at the door … That is why we must have the courage of
faith and not let
ourselves be led by the mentality that tells us: 'You don't need God. He's not
important for you,' and so on. It is just the opposite: only by living as
children of God, without being discouraged by our missteps or by
our sins, feeling loved by him will our lives be new, inspired by serenity and
joy. God is our strength! God is our hope!"
"We have to be the first to have a strong hold on this hope and we have to be
its visible, clear, and bright sign for all. The Risen Lord is the hope that
never fails, that does not disappoint. Hope does not disappoint, the hope of
the Lord!
How many times in our lives do hopes fade? How many times are the expectations
that we hold in our hearts unrealized? Our hope as Christians is strong, sure,
strong in this land where God has called us to walk, and is open to eternity
because it is
founded in God who ... is always faithful to us. … Being a Christian
cannot be reduced to following commands but means being in Christ, thinking
like him, acting like him, loving like him. It means letting him take
possession of our lives and
change them, transform them, free them from the darkness of evil and sin."
"To anyone who asks for a reason for our hope, let us point to the Risen
Christ. Let us point him out with the proclamation of the Word, but especially
with our resurrected lives. Let us show the joy of being children of God; the
freedom that
living in Christ gives us, which is the true freedom that saves us from the
slavery of evil, sin, and death! Let us look to the heavenly Kingdom from
which we have new light and strength in our commitment and our daily efforts.
It is a precious service
that we must give to our world, which often cannot lift its gaze upward and is
unable to lift its gaze toward God."
At the end of the audience, the Pope left the dais to greet and hug those on
the sides of the Sagrato, including handicapped persons and newly weds, who
had attended the catechesis.
___________________________________________________________
POPE'S NEARNESS TO VICTIMS OF EARTHQUAKE IN IRAN
Vatican City, 10 April 2013 (VIS) - At the end of this morning's catechesis,
the Holy Father made an appeal for those affected by the powerful earthquake
in southern Iran, which has killed at least 37 people, injured hundreds more,
and caused
serious damage. "I pray for the victims," the Pope said, "and express my
nearness to those struck by this catastrophe. Let us pray for all our brothers
and sisters in Iran."
___________________________________________________________
POPE GREETS HIS SOCCER TEAM
Vatican City, 10 April 2013 (VIS) - Among those present at this morning's
general audience was a group from the St. Lawrence Athletic Club of Buenos
Aires, Argentina, of which Pope Francis has been member number 88235N since
2008. The Holy
Father gave a particularly warm greeting to "The Ravens", as the team's fans
are called, saying: "Ah, this is very important!". He also greeted the
Spanish-speaking pilgrims from Spain, Argentina, Mexico, and the other Latin
American countries. At the same time he greeted the priests participating in a
continuing education course at the Pontifical Spanish College in Rome.
Addressing the English-speaking pilgrims, he offered "prayerful good wishes"
to the students of the NATO Defense College "that their service to
international peace and cooperation be always fruitful". Particularly
addressing
the groups of German students from Munster and Diessen, he thanked them for
the music that they provided for the audience.
In conclusion, he spoke to the Italian pilgrims among whom were a group of
employees from the IDI private clinic (Istituto Dermopatico dell'Immacolata,
the Dermopathic Institute of the Immaculate), which is experiencing a severe
labour crisis.
"I hope," the Pope said, "that a positive solution for such a difficult
situation can be found as soon as possible."
___________________________________________________________ Per ulteriori
informazioni e per la ricerca di documenti consultare il sito: www.wisnews.org e www.vatican.va Il servizio del VIS viene
inviato soltanto agli indirizzi di posta elettronica che ne hanno
fatto richiesta. Se per qualunque motivo non si desidera continuare a
riceverlo, si prega di visitare nostra pagina dinizio: http://212.77.1.245/news_services/press/vis/italinde.php
Copyright (VIS): Le notizie contenute nei servizi del Vatican Information
Service possono essere riprodotte parzialmente o totalmente citando la fonte:
V.I.S. - Vatican Information Service.
--Boundary_(ID_u4alS5TiEY01ai4afhuwMw)--
--- NetMgr/2 1.0y+
* Origin: NetMgr+ @ Sursum Corda! BBS Meridian MS USA (1:396/45)
