"O, Lord of Heaven and Earth, accept my prayer for the realisation of truth,   
   peace and justice in my country Palestine, the region, and the globe as a   
   whole. I beseech You, O Lord, on behalf of my people, the people of Palestine   
   ?-? Muslims, Christians and Samaritans - who are craving for a just peace,   
   dignified living, and liberty, I beseech you, O Lord, to make prosperous and   
   promising the future of our people, and freedom in our sovereign and   
   independent state; Grant, Oh Lord, our region and its people security, safety   
   and stability. Save our blessed city Jerusalem; the first Kiblah, the second   
   Holy Mosque, the third of the two Holy Mosques, and the city of blessings and   
   peace with all that surround it.   
    "Reconciliation and peace, O Lord, are our goal. God in His Holy Book has   
   addressed the faithful: 'Make peace among you'. Here we are, O God, inclined   
   to peace. Make firm our steps and crown our efforts and endeavours with   
   success. You are the promoter of virtue and preventer of vice, evil and   
   aggression. You say and you are the most truthful, 'And if they incline to   
   peace, incline thou also to it, and trust in Allah. Lo! He is the Hearer, the   
   Knower'. In the saying of Prophet Muhammad, '?Spread the peace among you'.?   
    "Today, we reiterate after Jesus Christ addressing Jerusalem?:? 'If only you   
   had known the path of peace this day?'. Also let us remember the words of   
   Saint John Paul II when he said?:? ?'If peace is achieved in Jerusalem, peace   
   will be witnessed in the whole world?"? Simultaneously, in our prayer today,   
   we repeatedly call after those who advocate peace:? ? ?'?Blessed are the   
   peace? ?makers',? and '?Call for the peace of Jerusalem?', as came in the Holy   
   Scriptures".   
    "Accordingly, we ask You, O Lord, for peace in the Holy Land, Palestine, and   
   Jerusalem together with its people. We call on you to make Palestine and   
   Jerusalem in particular a secure land for all the believers, and a place for   
   prayer and worship for the followers of the three monotheistic religions   
   Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and for all those wishing to visit it as it is   
   stated in the Holy Quran".   
    "O Lord, You are the peace and peace emanates from You. O God of Glory and   
   Majesty grant us security and safety, and alleviate the suffering of my people   
   in home town and diaspora. O Lord, bring comprehensive and just peace to our   
   country and region so that our people and the peoples of the Middle East and   
   the whole world would enjoy the fruit of peace, stability and coexistence. We   
   want peace for us and for our neighbours. We seek prosperity and peace of mind   
   for ourselves and for others alike. O Lord, answer our prayers and make   
   successful our endeavours for you are most just, most merciful, Lord of the   
   Worlds. Amen!"   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    THE HOLY SPIRIT IS THE LIVING MEMORY OF THE CHURCH   
    Vatican City, 8 June 2014 (VIS) - On the Solemnity of Pentecost, Pope Francis   
   presided at a Holy Mass in St. Peter's Basilica, concelebrated with the   
   cardinals, archbishops and bishops present in the city of Rome.   
    "Speaking to the Apostles at the Last Supper, Jesus said that, after leaving   
   this world, he would have sent them the gift from the Father, that is the Holy   
   Spirit. This promise was powerfully fulfilled on the day of Pentecost, when   
   the Holy Spirit descended onto the disciples gathered in the Cenacle", said   
   the Pope in his homily.   
    The Holy Spirit "teaches us: it is the inner Master. It guides us along the   
   right path, through the situations of life. ... More than a master of   
   doctrine", he observed, "the Spirit is a master of life. And knowledge is part   
   of life, but within the wider, harmonic horizon of Christian existence".   
    The Holy Spirit "reminds us, reminds us of all that Jesus said. It is the   
   living memory of the Church. And while it makes us remember, it enables us to   
   understand the words of the Lord. ... The Spirit of truth and charity that   
   recalls to us what Christ said, allows us to enter more fully into the meaning   
   of His words. ... In substance, the Spirit reminds us of the commandment to   
   love, and calls us to fulfil this".   
    "A Christian without memory is not a true Christian: he is halfway along the   
   road, he is a man or a woman imprisoned in the moment, who does not know how   
   to value his or he r history, who does not know how to read it or live it as a   
   history of salvation. Instead, with the help of the Holy Spirit, we are able   
   to interpret the inner inspirations and events of life in the light of Jesus'   
   words. And thus our knowledge of memory, the knowledge of the heart, that is a   
   gift from the Spirit, grows in us".   
    The Holy Spirit "makes us speak, with God and with men. There are no mute   
   Christians, those who are mute in the soul; no, there is no place for this. It   
   enables us to speak with God in prayer. ... It allows us to speak in the act   
   of faith. It helps us to speak with men in fraternal dialogue. It helps us to   
   speak with others recognising them as brothers and sisters".   
    "But there is more: the Holy Spirit also makes us speak to men in prophecy,   
   making us humble and docile 'channels' of the Word of God. Prophecy is made   
   with frankness, to show openly contradictions and injustice, but always with   
   meekness and constructive intent. Penetrated by the Spirit of love, we can be   
   signs and instruments of God Who loves, serves and gives life".   
    "The day of Pentecost,when the disciples were 'filled with the Holy Spirit',   
   was the baptism of the Church, who was born 'reaching out', 'going out' to   
   proclaim the Good News to all. The Mother Church, who goes out to serve and,   
   who recalls our other Mother, who went out promptly, to serve. The Mother   
   Church and the Mother Mary: both virgin, both mothers, and both women".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    REGINA COELI: A CHURCH CAPABLE OF SURPRISING   
    Vatican City, 8 June 2014 (VIS) - The event of Pentecost, which commemorates   
   the birth of the Church and its public manifestation, was the theme of the   
   Pope's meditation before praying the Regina Coeli today with thousands of   
   faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square.   
    In this event, Pope Francis observed, two characteristics draw our attention:   
   "a Church which surprises and a Church which disconcerts", since "a   
   fundamental element of Pentecost is surprise". Our God is the God of   
   surprises, we know. No-one expected anything more from the disciples: after   
   the death of Jesus they were an insignificant group, the defeated orphans of   
   their Master. Instead, an unexpected event occurred, that inspired wonder: the   
   people were unsettled as each heard the disciples speaking in his own   
   language, recounting God's great works. The Church that was born on Pentecost   
   is a community that inspires wonder as, with the strength that comes from God,   
   she proclaims a new message - the Resurrection of Christ - with a new   
   language, the universal language of love. ... The disciples are invested with   
   power from above and speak with courage; a few minutes earlier they were all   
   cowardly, whereas now they speak with courage and frankness, with the freedom   
   of the Holy Spirit".   
    "The Church is called always to be like this: able to surprise by proclaiming   
   to all that Jesus Christ has defeated death, that God's arms are always open,   
   that His patience is always there and awaits us to heal and forgive us.   
   Precisely for this mission, the resurrected Jesus gave His spirit to the   
   Church. But, be careful", the Pope warned. "If the Church is alive, she must   
   always surprise. To surprise is typical of the living Church. A Church that no   
   longer has the capacity to surprise is a weak, sick and dying church, that   
   must be brought into the emergency room and resuscitated as soon as possible!"   
    "Some, in Jerusalem, would have preferred it if Jesus' disciples, paralysed   
   by fear, had stayed closed away at home, so as not to create a disturbance.   
   Even nowadays, many would rather Christians were this way. Instead, the Risen   
   Lord sends them into the world: 'As the Father has sent me, so I send you'.   
   The Church of Pentecost is a Church who does not resign herself to being   
   innocuous, too 'diluted'. No, she does not resign herself to this! She does   
   not wish to be a decorative element. And a Church who does not hesitate to   
   reach out and to encounter people, to proclaim the message entrusted to her,   
   even if this message disturbs or upsets consciences, even if this message   
   perhaps brings problems, and even if, at times, it leads us to martyrdom".   
    The Church was born "one and universal, with a precise identity, but open, a   
   Church who embraces the world but does not capture it; who leaves it free but   
   embraces it like the colonnade of this Square: two arms that open to welcome,   
   but do not close to stifle. We Christians are free, and the Church wants us to   
   be free!"   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    THE POPE TELEPHONES PILGRIMS FROM MACERATA TO LORETO   
    Vatican City, 8 June 2014 (VIS) - Yesterday the participants in the 36th   
   pilgrimage on foot between the Italian towns of Macerata and Loreto received a   
   telephone call from Pope Francis, before celebrating the Eucharist, presided   
   at by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, in the Helvia Recina stadium   
   of Macerata.   
    The Holy Father urged the pilgrims to pray for the intercession of the   
   Madonna of Loreto for a good outcome to the prayer encounter for peace in the   
   Holy Land and Middle East convoked in the Vatican, and added that they should   
   not be afraid of a dreaming of a more just world; of asking, seeking and   
   deepening. Faith, he said, "is not an inheritance that we receive from others,   
   faith is not a product that we purchase, but rather an answer of love that we   
   give freely and build daily with patience, through successes and failures. Do   
   not be afraid to throw yourselves into God's arms. God will ask you nothing,   
   if not to bless it and give it back to you a hundred times over! Do not allow   
   yourself to be discouraged by losers or the fearful who would take your dream   
   away, who want to imprison you in their dark mentalities instead of letting   
   you fly in the light of hope! Please, do not fall into mediocrity, that   
   mediocrity that diminishes and makes everything grey. Life is not grey, life   
   is for putting at stake for great ideas and great things!"   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    SPORT IS A FORM OF EDUCATION   
    Vatican City, 7 June 2014 (VIS) - "Sport is a form of education" said Pope   
   Francis to the thousands of people who participated in the celebration of the   
   seventieth anniversary of the Centro Sportivo Italiana in St. Peter's Square   
   this afternoon.   
    "I see three roads for the young, for children. The road of education, the   
   road of sport, and the road of work: that is, that there are jobs for them at   
   the beginning of their young lives. If there are these three paths, I can   
   assure you that there will be no dependencies: no drugs, no alcohol. Why?   
   Because school takes you ahead, sport takes you ahead, work takes you ahead.   
   Do not forget this. To you, sportspeople, managers, men and women of politics:   
   education, sport and jobs!"   
    Francis went on to emphasise that sport must remain a game, as only in this   
   way is it good for the body and spirit. He added, "I urge you not only to   
   play, as you already do; put yourselves in play in life as you do in sport.   
   Put yourself in play in search of good, in the Church and in society, without   
   fear, with courage and enthusiasm. Enter into the game with others and with   
   God; do not be satisfied with a mediocre 'draw', but instead give the best of   
   yourself, spend your life for what it is really worth and for what will last   
   for ever. Do not be satisfied with merely drawing even: no, no! Go ahead,   
   always seek victory!"   
    "In sports clubs, one learns to welcome. Every athlete who wishes to join is   
   welcome, they welcome each other. I urge all managers and trainers to be,   
   first and foremost, welcoming people, able to keep the door open to give every   
   person, especially the least fortunate, an opportunity to express himself. ...   
   I also hope you may experience the pleasure, the beauty of playing as a team,   
   which is very important in life. No to individualism! ... Belonging to a   
   sports club means rejecting every form of selfishness and isolation, and it is   
   an opportunity to meet and be with others, to help each other, and to compete   
   with mutual esteem and to grow in fraternity".   
    The bishop of Rome also commented that many educators, priests and nuns have   
   also taken sport as a starting point to develop their vocation and that there   
   are many clubs which originate "in the shadow of the Church steeple". He   
   added, "If there is no sports group in the parish, something is missing. ...   
   Sport in the community can be an excellent missionary tool, where the Church   
   draws close to each person, helping him or her to improve and to encounter   
   Jesus Christ".   
    "I ask that all may participate, not only the best: everyone, with the   
   advantages and limits that each person has, indeed helping the disadvantaged,   
   like Jesus did. And I encourage you to continue your commitment to children in   
   the outskirts of the city, through sport: with a ball to play with, you may   
   also offer reasons for hope and trust".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    THE POPE RECEIVES THE PRESIDENT OF MEXICO   
    Vatican City, 7 June 2014 (VIS) - This morning the Holy Father Francis   
   received in audience the president of Mexico, Enrique Pena Nieto, who   
   subsequently met with Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, accompanied   
   by Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, secretary for Relations with States.   
      
   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)