not touch the heart! Our city needs this rebirth. And this commitment is so   
   important when we talk about educating children and young people, for which you   
   as parents are responsible".   
    "This evening I would like to reflect with you on a few simple words that   
   express the mystery of being parents. I do not know if I will manage to say all   
   I want to say, but I would at least like to speak about vocation, communion and   
   mission".   
    "The first word is mission. St. Paul wrote that all paternity derives from   
   God,   
   and we can also add all maternity. We are all sons and daughters, but becoming   
   a   
   father or mother is a calling from God! It is a calling from God: it is a   
   vocation. God is eternal love, which gives ceaselessly and calls us to   
   existence. It is a mystery that, however, Providence wished to entrust in   
   particular to man and woman, called upon to love each other entirely and   
   without   
   reserve, cooperating with God in this love and in transmitting life to their   
   children. The Lord has chosen you to love each other and to transmit life. Your   
   children, dear parents, need to discover, looking at your life, that loving   
   each   
   other is good. Never forget that your children are always watching you.   
   Children, before living in a house made of bricks, inhabit another house, even   
   more essential: they live in the mutual love of their parents".   
    "The second word, the second thought on which I would like to reflect is   
   communion. ... Being parents is based on the diversity of being male and   
   female,   
   as the Bible reminds us. This is the 'first' and most fundamental difference,   
   constitutive of the human being. It is a wealth. Differences are wealth. ... We   
   men learn to recognise, through the female figures we encounter in life, the   
   extraordinary beauty that women bear. And women follow a similar path, learning   
   from male figures that the man is different and has his own way of feeling,   
   understanding and living. And this communion in difference is very important   
   also in the education of children".   
    "It is very painful when a family lives in a state of tension that cannot be   
   resolved, when there is a fracture that cannot be healed. It is painful. When   
   there are the first signs of this, a father and a mother are duty bound, for   
   themselves and for their children, to ask for help, to seek support. ... And   
   even   
   when by now separation - we must also speak of this - seems inevitable, know   
   that the Church carries you in her heart. And that your educative task is not   
   interrupted: you are and will always be father and mother, that cannot live   
   together because there are wounds and problems. Please, always seek   
   understanding, collaboration, harmony for the good and the happiness of your   
   children".   
    "And the gift of marriage, which is so beautiful, also has a mission. A   
   mission   
   that is very important. You are collaborators of the Holy Spirit Who whispers   
   the words of Jesus! Be this way for your children. Be missionaries of your   
   children! They will learn from your words and your life that to follow the Lord   
   brings enthusiasm, the wish to give oneself to others, always to give hope,   
   even   
   when faced with difficulties and pain, because we are never alone, but always   
   with the Lord and with our brothers".   
    "I would not like to finish without offering a word to grandparents, who are   
   the wisdom of the people, who are the memory of the people, who are the wisdom   
   of the family. The grandparents who saved the faith in many countries where it   
   was forbidden to practice religion and took children to be secretly baptised;   
   and the grandparents who taught them how to pray".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Angelus: God entrusted his Word to the fruitfulness of "our earth"   
    Vatican City, 14 June 2015 (VIS) - The effectiveness of the Word of God and   
   the   
   needs of His Kingdom, which are the reasons for our hope and our efforts   
   throughout history were the theme of the Pope's reflection before today's   
   Sunday   
   Angelus. To the thousands of faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square, Francis   
   explained the two brief parables from the Gospel: the seed that grows in the   
   earth alone and the tiny mustard seed that becomes the largest plant.   
    "In the first parable, our attention is placed on the fact that the seed,   
   thrown on the ground, takes root and develops by itself, whether the farmer   
   sleeps or is awake. The farmer trusts in the inner strength of the seed itself   
   and of the fertility of the ground. In the language of the Gospel, the seed is   
   the symbol of the Word of God, Whose fruitfulness is recalled by this parable.   
   Just as the humble seed that develops in the ground, so the Word operates with   
   God's power in the heart of those who listen. God entrusted His Word to our   
   earth, that is, to each one of us with out concrete humanity".   
    The second parable uses the image of the mustard seed that, despite being the   
   smallest of the seeds, grows to become "the largest of plants". "Thus is the   
   Kingdom of God: a humanly small and apparently irrelevant reality. To become a   
   part of it, one must be poor of heart; not trusting in one's own abilities, but   
   rather in the power of God's love; not acting so as to be important in the eyes   
   of the world, but precious in the eyes of God, who prefers the simple and the   
   humble. When we live like this, the strength of Christ erupts through us and   
   transforms what is small and modest into a reality that leavens the entire mass   
   of the world and of history".   
    The teaching of these two parables, Francis underlined, is that the Kingdom of   
   God requires our collaboration, but it is above all the initiative and gift of   
   the Lord. "Our feeble work, seemingly small faced with the complexity of the   
   problems of the world, if embedded into that of God, no longer fears   
   difficulty.   
   The victory of the Lord is sure: His love will lead every seed of good present   
   on the earth to germinate and grow. It opens us up to trust and hope, despite   
   the tragedies, injustice and suffering we encounter. The seed of good and of   
   peace germinates and develops because it is ripened by the merciful love of   
   God".   
    "May the Holy Virgin, who received as 'fertile earth' the seed of the divine   
   Word, sustain us in this hope that never lets us down".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Pope Francis announces the publication of his encyclical   
    Vatican City, 14 June 2015 (VIS) - Following today's Angelus prayer, the Pope   
   announced that on Thursday 18 June, his encyclical "Laudato Sii: on the care of   
   our common home" will be published, and he invited all those present to   
   accompany the event "with renewed attention to situations of environmental   
   degradation, but also of recovery, in your territories. This encyclical is   
   addressed to all: let us pray that all receive its message and grow in   
   responsibility towards the common home that God has entrusted to us all".   
    On the World Blood Donor Day Francis thanked "the millions of people who   
   contribute ... to helping their brothers in difficulty", and he invited young   
   people to follow their example.   
    He also greeted the group present in St. Peter's Square that remembers all   
   missing persons, and assured them of his prayers. Likewise, he expressed his   
   closeness to "all those workers who defend the right to work with solidarity:   
   it   
   is a right to dignity!".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Francis praises the goodness and wisdom of the Scouts and Guides movement   
    Vatican City, 15 June 2015 (VIS) - Seventy five children and young people from   
   the Association of Italian Catholic Guides and Scouts (AGESCI) from all over   
   the   
   peninsula gathered in St. Peter's Square from the early hours of this morning   
   to   
   meet the Pope, who shortly after 11 a.m. toured the square to greet them,   
   warmly   
   embracing many.   
    "You are a valuable part of the Church in Italy", Francis said, praising "the   
   goodness and wisdom of the scouting method, based on great human values, on   
   contact with nature, religiosity and faith in God; a method that educates in   
   freedom and responsibility". "When asked, 'How does religion enter into   
   scouting?', your founder Lord Baden-Powell answered that is did not need to   
   'enter' since it was already a part of it. There is no religious 'side' of the   
   movement - or a non-religious one. The whole of it is based on religion, that   
   is, on the realisation and service of God".   
    Associations such as yours are a wealth for the Church, inspired by the Holy   
   Spirit to evangelise all environments and sectors. I am sure that AGESCI can   
   bring to the Church a new evangelical zeal and a new capacity for dialogue with   
   society. Take heed: capacity for dialogue! Make bridges in this society where   
   there is the tendency to build walls. Build bridges through dialogue. And this   
   can happen only on one condition: that the single groups do not lose contact   
   with the parish where they are based, but which in many cases do not attend as,   
   although they carry out their service there, they come from other areas".   
    The bishop of Rome, who spoke in a colloquial manner with those present, urged   
   them to aim at finding a way of integrating themselves into the pastoral   
   ministry of the particular Church, "establishing relationships of respect and   
   collaboration at all levels with your bishops, parish priests and other clergy,   
   with educators and members of other ecclesial associations present in the   
   parish   
   and in the same territory, and not settling for a 'decorative' presence on   
   Sundays or on other major occasions".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    The Pope to Italian magistrates: justice is not an abstract concept, it is   
   centred on the person   
      
   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)