from evil. The evil one is far more astute than we are, and he is able to   
   demolish in a moment what it took us years of patience to build up. Here we   
   need   
   to implore the grace to learn how to 'offset' (and it is an important habit to   
   acquire): to thwart evil without pulling up the good wheat, or presuming to   
   protect like supermen what the Lord alone can protect. All this helps us not to   
   let our guard down before the depths of iniquity, before the mockery of the   
   wicked. In these situations of weariness, the Lord says to us: 'Have courage! I   
   have overcome the world!'. The Word of God gives us strength.   
    "And finally - I say finally lest you be too wearied by this homily itself! -   
   there is also 'weariness of ourselves'. This may be the most dangerous   
   weariness   
   of all. That is because the other two kinds come from being exposed, from going   
   out of ourselves to anoint and to do battle (for our job is to care for   
   others).   
   But this third kind of weariness is more 'self-referential': it is   
   dissatisfaction with oneself, but not the dissatisfaction of someone who   
   directly confronts himself and serenely acknowledges his sinfulness and his   
   need   
   for God's mercy, His help; such people ask for help and then move forward. Here   
   we are speaking of a weariness associated with 'wanting yet not wanting',   
   having   
   given up everything but continuing to yearn for the fleshpots of Egypt, toying   
   with the illusion of being something different. I like to call this kind of   
   weariness 'flirting with spiritual worldliness'. When we are alone, we realise   
   how many areas of our life are steeped in this worldliness, so much so that we   
   may feel that it can never be completely washed away. This can be a dangerous   
   kind of weariness. The Book of Revelation shows us the reason for this   
   weariness: 'You have borne up for my sake and you have not grown weary. But I   
   have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first'. Only   
   love gives true rest. What is not loved becomes tiresome, and in time, brings   
   about a harmful weariness.   
    "The most profound and mysterious image of how the Lord deals with our   
   pastoral   
   tiredness is that, 'having loved his own, he loved them to the end': the scene   
   of his washing the feet of his disciples. I like to think of this as the   
   cleansing of discipleship. The Lord purifies the path of discipleship itself.   
   He   
   'gets involved' with us, becomes personally responsible for removing every   
   stain, all that grimy, worldly smog which clings to us from the journey we make   
   in his name.   
    "From our feet, we can tell how the rest of our body is doing. The way we   
   follow the Lord reveals how our heart is faring. The wounds on our feet, our   
   sprains and our weariness, are signs of how we have followed Him, of the paths   
   we have taken in seeking the lost sheep and in leading the flock to green   
   pastures and still waters. The Lord washes us and cleanses us of all the dirt   
   our feet have accumulated in following Him. This is something holy. Do not let   
   your feet remain dirty. Like battle wounds, the Lord kisses them and washes   
   away   
   the grime of our labours.   
    "Our discipleship itself is cleansed by Jesus, so that we can rightly feel   
   'joyful', 'fulfilled', 'free of fear and guilt', and impelled to go out 'even   
   to   
   the ends of the earth, to every periphery'. In this way we can bring the good   
   news to the most abandoned, knowing that 'He is with us always, even to the end   
   of the world'. And please, let us ask for the grace to learn how to be weary,   
   but weary in the best of ways!".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    The Pope washes the feet of twelve detainees in Rebibbia prison   
    Vatican City, 2 April 2015 (VIS) - This afternoon Pope Francis celebrated Holy   
   Mass "in Coena Domini" in Rome's Rebibbia penitentiary, where he arrived around   
   5.15 p.m. He greeted the authorities, staff and a group of detainees in the   
   prison courtyard. Shortly before 6 p.m., in the "Padre Nostro" church in the   
   New   
   Complex of Rebibbia, the Pope presided at the Holy Mass that begins the Easter   
   Triduum, during which he washed the feet of twelve detainees, six men and six   
   women from the nearby women's penitentiary.   
    In his improvised homily, the Pope remarked that on a Thursday like today,   
   Jesus was at the table with His disciples, celebrating the feast of the   
   Passover. "The Gospel reading we have just heard contains a phrase which is   
   precisely at the centre of what Jesus did for all of us: 'having loved his own   
   who were in the world, he loved them to the end'. Jesus loved us. Jesus loves   
   us. Without limits, always, to the end. ... And each one of us can say, 'He   
   gave   
   His life for me'. ... For everyone, name and surname. This is how His love is:   
   personal. Jesus' love never disappoints, as He never tires of loving, just as   
   He   
   never tires of forgiving, of embracing us. This is the first thing I wanted to   
   say to you: Jesus loved us, each one of us, unto the end".   
    "And then, he does what the disciples did not understand: washing their feet.   
   In that time, it was a custom, as when people arrived at a house their feet   
   were   
   dirty from the dust of the road. ... But the master of the house did not do   
   this.   
   It was a task for the slaves. And Jesus, like a slave, washes our feet, the   
   feet   
   of His disciples, and therefore says to Peter: 'What I am doing you do not   
   understand now, but afterwards you will understand'. So great is Jesus' love   
   that He made Himself into a slave to serve us, to heal us, to cleanse us".   
    "And today, in this Mass, the Church wishes for her priest to wash the feet of   
   twelve people, in memory of the Twelve Apostles. But in our hearts we must be   
   sure that the Lord, when He washes our feet, washes us entirely, He purifies   
   us,   
   He lets us feel His love once more. In the Bible there is a beautiful phrase,   
   from the prophet Isaiah: 'Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should   
   have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will   
   not   
   forget you'. This is what God's love for us is like".   
    "And today", he concluded, "I will wash the feet of twelve of you, but all of   
   you, all people, are in these brothers and sisters. You represent them. But I   
   too need to be washed by the Lord, and therefore pray during this Mass that the   
   Lord may wash away my impurities, so that I may become more of a slave than   
   you,   
   more of a slave in the service of the people, as Jesus was".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Good Friday: In Christ abandoned, we see all those abandoned in the world   
    Vatican City, 3 April 2015 (VIS) - At 9.15 p.m. today, Good Friday, at Rome's   
   ancient Colosseum, Pope Francis offered a meditation following the torch-lit   
   Via   
   Via Crucis in which thousands of faithful participate every year, accompanying   
   Christ's journey to the Cross. From the terrace of the Palatine Hill, the Holy   
   Father listened to the reflections that accompanied each of the fourteen   
   stations, all of which were united by the constant reference to the gift of   
   being protected by God's love, and in particular that of the crucified Jesus,   
   and the task of being, in turn, protectors of the whole of Creation, especially   
   the poorest and most marginalised. He reflected on the situation of men and   
   women who are persecuted and martyred for their faith or for working to promote   
   justice and peace, on the family, on the condition of life for women, on human   
   trafficking and violence against children in its various forms.   
    The cross was carried between the fourteen stations by the cardinal archbishop   
   of Rome, Agostino Vallini, a large family, another family with adopted   
   children,   
   two patients, citizens of Iraq, Syria, Nigeria, Egypt and China, women   
   religious   
   from secular institutes and of Our Lady of Piety in Latin America, and two   
   custodians of the Holy Land.   
    At the end of the Via Crucis, the Pope recited the following prayer:   
    "O Christ crucified and victorious, Your Way of the Cross is the summary of   
   Your life, the icon of Your obedience to the will of the Father,and the   
   realisation of Your infinite love for us sinners. It is the proof of Your   
   mission. It is the final fulfilment of the revelation and the history of   
   salvation. The weight of Your cross frees us from all of our burdens.   
    "In Your obedience to the will of the Father, we become aware of our rebellion   
   and disobedience. In You, sold, betrayed, crucified by Your own people and   
   those   
   dear to You, we see our own betrayals and our own usual infidelity. In Your   
   innocence, Immaculate Lamb, we see our guilt. In Your face, slapped, spat on   
   and   
   disfigured, we see the brutality of our sins. In the cruelty of Your passion,   
   we   
   see the cruelty of our heart and of our actions. In Your own feeling of   
   abandonment, we see those abandoned by their families, by society, by attention   
   and by solidarity. In Your body, sacrificed, ripped and torn, we see the body   
   of   
   our brothers who have been abandoned along the way, disfigured by our   
   negligence   
   and our indifference. In Your thirst Lord, we see the thirst of Your merciful   
   Father, who desired to embrace, forgive and save all of humanity. In You,   
   Divine   
   Love, we see even today, before our very eyes, and often with our silence and   
   complicity, our persecuted brothers and sisters, decapitated, crucified for   
   their faith in You.   
    "Imprint in our heart, Lord, sentiments of faith, hope and charity, of sorrow   
   for our sins, and lead us to repent for our sins that have crucified You. Lead   
   us to transform our conversion with words into a conversion of life and works.   
   Help us to preserve within us a living memory of Your disfigured face, so that   
   we may never forget the terrible price You paid to free us. Crucified Jesus,   
   strengthen in us a faith that does not collapse in the face of temptations;   
   awaken in us the hope that does get lost following the temptations of the   
   world.   
   Preserve in us the charity that is not fooled by the corruption of worldliness.   
   Teach us that the cross is the way to the resurrection. Teach us that Good   
   Friday is the way to the Easter of light. Teach us that God never forgets any   
   of   
   his children, and never tires of forgiving us and embracing us with His   
   infinite   
   mercy. But also teach us to never tire of asking Him for forgiveness and   
   believing in the boundless mercy of the Father".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Easter Vigil Mass: learn from the women how to enter into the Paschal mystery   
    Vatican City, 4 April 2015 (VIS) - The solemn Easter Vigil began this evening   
   at 8.30 in St. Peter's Basilica. Pope Francis presided over the rites which   
   began in the church atrium with a blessing of the new fire and the preparation   
   of the Paschal candle. After the procession to the altar with the lighted   
   candle   
   the celebration continued with the singing of the "Exsultet", and Liturgy of   
   the   
   Word. The Holy Father went on to administer the sacraments of Christian   
   initiation (Baptism, Confirmation and First Communion) to ten people from   
   Italy,   
   Portugal, Albania, Kenya and Cambodia.   
    Following the Gospel reading, the bishop of Rome pronounced a homily in which   
   he commented that the women were the first to enter into the empty tomb, and   
   urged those present to learn from these women, Jesus' disciples, never to lose   
   faith or hope.   
    "Tonight is a night of vigil", he said. "The Lord is not sleeping; the   
   Watchman   
   is watching over his people, to bring them out of slavery and to open before   
   them the way to freedom. The Lord is keeping watch and, by the power of His   
   love, He is bringing His people through the Red Sea. He is also bringing Jesus   
   through the abyss of death and the netherworld.   
    "This was a night of vigil for the disciples of Jesus, a night of sadness and   
   fear. The men remained locked in the Upper Room. Yet, the women went to the   
   tomb   
   at dawn on Sunday to anoint Jesus' body. Their hearts were overwhelmed and they   
   were asking themselves: 'How will we enter? Who will roll back the stone of the   
   tomb?" But here was the first sign of the great event: the large stone was   
   already rolled back and the tomb was open.   
    "'Entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed   
   in   
   a white robe'. The women were the first to see this great sign, the empty tomb;   
   and they were the first to enter. 'Entering the tomb'. It is good for us, on   
   this Vigil night, to reflect on the experience of the women, which also speaks   
   to us. For that is why we are here: to enter, to enter into the Mystery which   
   God has accomplished with his vigil of love. We cannot live Easter without   
   entering into the mystery. It is not something intellectual, something we only   
   know or read about. It is more, much more!   
    "'To enter into the mystery' means the ability to wonder, to contemplate; the   
   ability to listen to the silence and to hear the tiny whisper amid great   
   silence   
   by which God speaks to us. To enter into the mystery demands that we not be   
   afraid of reality: that we not be locked into ourselves, that we not flee from   
   what we fail to understand, that we not close our eyes to problems or deny   
   them,   
   that we not dismiss our questions. To enter into the mystery means going beyond   
   our own comfort zone, beyond the laziness and indifference which hold us back,   
   and going out in search of truth, beauty and love. It is seeking a deeper   
   meaning, an answer, and not an easy one, to the questions which challenge our   
   faith, our fidelity and our very existence.   
    "To enter into the mystery, we need humility, the lowliness to abase   
   ourselves,   
   to come down from the pedestal of our 'I' which is so proud, of our   
   presumption;   
   the humility not to take ourselves so seriously, recognising who we really are:   
      
   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)