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Am 6:1a, 4-7; 1Tm 6:11-16; Lk 16:19-31

What parable would make a man with three doctoral degrees (one in medicine, one in theology, one in philosophy), leave civilization with all its culture and amenities and depart for the jungles of darkest Africa to serve as a missionary doctor for 47 years? What parable could induce a man, who was recognized as one of the best concert organists in all Europe, to go to a place where there were no organs to play? What parable would so intensely motivate a man that he would give up a teaching position in Vienna, Austria to go to help people who were so deprived that they were still living in the superstitions of the dark ages, for all practical purposes? The man of course was Dr. Albert Schweitzer who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1952, and the single parable that so radically altered his life, according to him, was our text for this morning, the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, the beggar. That parable convinced Schweitzer that the rich, Europe, should share its riches with the poor, Africa, and that he should start the process.

Introduction: The main theme of this Sunday is the warning that the selfish and extravagant use of God’s blessings, like wealth, with no share going to the poor and the needy, is a serious sin deserving eternal punishment. Today’s readings stress the truth that wealth without active mercy for the poor is great wickedness. Amos, in the first reading, issues a powerful warning to those who seek wealth at the expense of the poor and who spend their time and their money only on themselves. He prophesies that those rich and self-indulgent people will be punished by God with exile because they don’t care for their poor and suffering brothers. The Psalm praises Yahweh, who cares for the poor. In the second reading, Paul admonishes us to "pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience and gentleness" – noble goals in an age of disillusionment – rather than riches. In today’s Gospel, Jesus gives us a warning, pointing to the destiny of the rich man who neglected his duty to show mercy to poor Lazarus. The rich man was punished, not for having riches, but for neglecting the Scriptures and what they taught.

First reading, Amos 6:1, 4-7: Amos’ message from the Lord God was couched in a series of oracles, words and woes, and visions. Today’s first reading (Amos 6:1a, 4-7),  is taken from the third woe (6:1-14), concerning self-indulgence, an excellent companion text for today’s Gospel. The prophet Amos laments the self-indulgence and fraternal indifference of the wealthy both in Zion (Southern Kingdom) and Samaria (Northern Kingdom, to which the Lord God had sent Amos as His prophet), who are “living a life of luxury, heedless of the misfortunes of others, of the ‘ruin of Joseph,’” notes the Navarre Bible. Because of this, the people of the Northern Kingdom will be conquered by the Assyrians and will go into exile first. They did so in 721 BC.  The collapse of Joseph is not Judah’s collapse. But by designating the Northern Kingdom “Joseph,” the Lord God, through Amos, calls attention to the patriarchal traditions Israel shares with Judah. What kind of brother satisfies expensive tastes while his younger brother suffers? The Lord God tells them that the  solidarity one expects of a brother cannot be found among Judah’s elite either; they, too, are people who prefer good food and drink to coming to the aid of other suffering members of the same family. Hence, the Lord God says that He will punish those rich and unsympathetic people of Judah with exile as well. The prophecy was fulfilled when the Southern Kingdom – Judah with Jerusalem as its capital- was razed to the ground in 587 BC by the army of Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar, and its elite rich were led to a humiliating and punishing exile in Babylon.

Second Reading, 1 Timothy 6:11-16: Timothy held a position in the church at Ephesus like that of the modern Bishop. He was relatively young and of mixed Jewish and Gentile parentage. In the letter, the senior apostle Paul gives the young bishop advice and encouragement. After warning  Timothy (6: 10) that "the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the Faith and pierced themselves with many pains," he reminds Timothy, the ordained priest and consecrated Bishop, of the Faith he had confessed at his Baptism, of his obligation to “pursue righteousness, devotion, faith love, patience and gentleness”  and of his ongoing call to bear witness to Christ as a loyal teacher and practicer of that Faith.  The message for us is that the generous sharing of our talents and resources is the necessary response of our Christian commitment.

Exegesis: Objectives: Jesus told this parable to condemn the Pharisees for their love of money and lack of mercy for the poor. He also used the parable to correct three misconceptions held and taught by the Sadducees: 1) Material prosperity in this life is God’s reward for moral uprightness, while poverty and illness are God’s punishment for sins. Hence, there is no need to help the poor and the sick for they have been cursed by God. 2) Since wealth is a sign of God’s blessing, the best way of thanking God is to enjoy it by leading a life of luxury and self-indulgence in dress, eating and drinking, of course, after giving God His portion as tithe. 3) The parable also addresses the false doctrine of the Sadducees denying the survival of the soul after death, and the consequent retribution our deeds and neglects in this life receive in the next. Jesus challenges these misconceptions through the parable and condemns the rich who ignore the poor they encounter.  The parable also offers an invitation to each one of us to be conscious of the sufferings of those around us and to share our blessings generously.

One-act-play: The parable is presented as a one act play with two scenes. The opening scene presents the luxurious life of the rich man in costly dress, enjoying five course meals every day, in contrast to the miserable life of the poor and sick beggar living in the street by the rich man’s front door, competing with stray dogs for the crumbs discarded from the rich man’s dining table. As the curtain goes up for the second scene, the situation is reversed. The beggar Lazarus is enjoying Heavenly bliss as a reward for his fidelity to God in his poverty and suffering, while the rich man is thrown down into the excruciating suffering of Hell as punishment for not doing his duty of showing mercy to the poor by sharing with the beggar at his door the mercies and blessings God has given him

Why punish the innocent? Naturally, we are tempted to ask the question, why was the rich man punished? He did not drive either the poor beggar or the stray dogs from in front of his door nor did he prevent either from sharing the discarded crumbs and leftovers from his table. The Fathers of the Church find three culpable omissions in the rich man in the parable. a) He neglected the poor beggar at his door by not helping him to treat his illness or giving him a small house to live in. b) He ignored the scrolls of Sacred Scriptures kept on his table reminding him of Yahweh’s commandment in the book of Leviticus (15: 7-11) “Don’t deny help to the poor. Be liberal in helping the widows and the homeless.” c) He led a life of luxury and self-indulgence totally ignoring the poor people around him, with Cain’s attitude: “Am I the guardian of my brother?” It is not wrong to be rich, but it is wrong not to share our blessings with our less fortunate brothers and sisters.

The lessons taught: This parable teaches important lessons: a) It reminds us that eventually all of us will experience God’s justice after our death (“particular judgment”), when we are asked to give an account of our lives. b) It points to the Law and the Prophets (the Sacred Scriptures), as ways to learn how to practice righteousness and sacrificial sharing. c) It looks ahead to our resurrection ("neither will they be convinced if someone rises from the dead"), and the reality that the people who heed nothing and die unrepentant will suffer for it. d) God permits injustices in this life, though not in the next. e) Perhaps the main lesson of this parable is that supreme self-love is total moral depravity, and making self-gratification one's supreme goal in life does not merely lead to sin – it is sin.

Life messages: 1) We are all rich enough to share our blessings with others.  God has blessed each one of us with wealth or health or special talents or social power or political influence or a combination of many blessings. The parable invites us to share what we have been given with others in various ways, instead of using everything exclusively for selfish gains.

2) We need to remember that sharing is the criterion of Last Judgment: Matthew (25: 31ff), tells us that all six questions to be asked of each one of us by Jesus when He comes in glory as our judge are based on how we have shared our blessings from Him  (food, drink, home, mercy and compassion), with others. Here is the message given by Pope St. John Paul II in Yankee Stadium, New York during his first visit to the U.S., October 2, 1979. "The parable of the rich man and Lazarus must always be present in our memory; it must form our conscience. Christ demands openness to our brothers and sisters in need – openness from the rich, the affluent, the economically advanced; openness to the poor, the underdeveloped and the disadvantaged. Christ demands an openness that is more than benign attention, more than token actions or halfhearted efforts that leave the poor as destitute as before or even more so. ...We cannot stand idly by, enjoying our own riches and freedom, if, in any place, the Lazarus of the 20th century stands at our doors.”

3) We need to treat the unborn as our brother/sister, Lazarus. The Lazarus of the 21st century is also our preborn brother and our preborn sister. These babies are brutally executed in their mother’s wombs. Their cries for a chance to live are rejected 125,000 times a day. (According to WHO, every year in the world there are an estimated 40-50 million abortions). This Lazarus is the person torn apart and thrown away by abortion. The rich man was condemned for not treating Lazarus as his brother. We also will be condemned for our selfishness if we do not treat the preborn as our brother and sister. "Who am I to interfere with a woman's choice to abort?" I am a brother, a sister of that child in the womb! I am a human being who has enough decency to stand up and say "NO!" when I see another human being about to be killed. I am a person gifted with enough wisdom to realize that injustice to one human being is injustice to every human being, and that my own life is only as safe as the life of the preborn child. Finally, I am a follower of the One who said, "Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers, you do to me."

4) Our choices here determine the kind of eternity we will have. It has been put this way: "Where we go hereafter depends on what we go after, here." Where we will arrive depends on what road we travel. We get what we choose, what we live for. We are shaping our moral character to fit in one of two places.

The famous Greek law-giver Solon once went on a vacation to the town of Lydia, now in Turkey. It boasted the richest king in the world, named Croesus. Solon, the great philosopher, - quite detached from all possessions of this world - decided to visit the man who seemed to find all his happiness in wealth. As soon as he got to the place, Croesus decided to show his vaults. "What do you think of that?" he demanded triumphantly. But Solon kept silent and so the king went on, "Who do you think is the happiest man in the world? The philosopher thought for a moment, and then named two obscure Greeks whose names Croesus had never heard before. The king was angered because he had been cheated out of a compliment, so he asked sharply for an explanation. Solon answered, "No man can be considered really happy whose heart is wedded to material things. They pass and their owner becomes a widow. To widows belongs grief. Nor can the man himself who passes away, and can take none of his gold with him. Again it is only grief." (Frank Michalic in 1000 Stories You Can Use)

(Source: Homilies of Fr. Anthony Kadavil)

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(Vatican Radio) Indian writer and activist Sudheendra Kulkarni is one of the estimated 450 religious representatives of various faiths participating in the World Day of Prayer for Peace in Assisi where he participated in the panel discussion entitled “Terrorism Denies God”. 

Kulkarni, who is of  Hindu faith, heads  the Observer Research Foundation,  an independent think tank, based in India. He is particularly concerned with interfaith dialogue, specifically India/Pakistan dialogue for peace and cooperation. 

He told Vatican Radio’s Christopher Altieri that the message of the World Day of Prayer for Peace is more relevant today than ever:

Listen: 

Sudheendra Kulkarni discusses the significance of his participation in the World Day of Prayer for Peace event in Assisi: “The message of Assisi is universal. It is not only for Assisi, it is not only for Italy, nor is it only for the Christian world. The greatest saint of mankind, one of the greatest saints, St. Francis was from Assisi and we in India respect St. Francis and the interfaith conference that was organized for the first time 30 years ago. It was a landmark in interfaith harmony around the world and we are gathering 30 years later, therefore it is very important for us in India”. 

Kulkarni notes that although he was not in attendance at the first World Day of Prayer for Peace in 1986, he has heard about it. He says that “the message is even more relevant for the world today”.

Reflecting upon the progress that has been made since the first World Day of Prayer for Peace in 1986, Kulkarni said, “What it has achieved is that since 1986 there is a far greater awareness in the world that in our globalization era all the countries, all the cultures, and all the religious communities should live together. This awareness is much stronger today than it was in 1986 because as you know 1986 was still the era of the two conflicting power blocks. The Cold War era: the Cold War is over but in the era of globalization all religions have to dialogue with each other and learn to live in peace and harmony with each other”.

Although there has been a significant amount of progress since the first event, Kulkarni acknowledges that there is still work to be done. 

“There are many problems and some new problems and we have to learn from each other. We have to learn to live with each other by respecting our differences” he says.

Kulkarni further discusses the Cold War and the drive to remove religious impulses in mankind: “I would think that this impulse is much weaker today because the ideology of godlessness, the ideology that tried to take humanity away from religion and away from God has failed, it has collapsed. Of course that does not mean that the entire world is now back on the part of true religious conduct, that is not true. We have a long way to go, but if we understand religion in the true sense of the term and the core message of all religions is the same, I represent Hinduism, I come from India, we respect and we accept all religions as true and as equal. Now this understanding that we have to learn together in a world which has become small, which has shrunk into a village, a global village that we have to live together. There is no other way. This awareness, in my opinion, is much stronger today than 30 years ago”.

Kulkarni discusses his experiences with Pope Francis and his expectations for the Pope in Assisi: “Pope Francis is at one level the head of the Catholic Church in the world, but at another level he is the moral conscience keeper of the world. His message is for the entire humanity. Today he is one of those rare voices in the world, which is reminding us that we have to change this world. We have to change this world in a way that the poor are respected, the poor have justice, and the poor can live in a secure world. Second, he is one of those great global leaders who are speaking very spiritedly for the protection of ecology. He is in fact known as a green Pope and we in India respect him for this, and will be very happy to see Pope Francis visiting India at his earliest opportunity”.

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On Tuesday afternoon the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby delivered a meditation during an ecumenical prayer ceremony with representatives of other Christian denominations in the Lower Basilica of St. Francis on the final day of the World Day of Prayer for Peace gathering in Assisi.

 The Archbishop told those present including Pope Francis and the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew that, " God offers wealth that is real and will bring satisfaction. He calls for us to listen, to eat, to come, to trust".

Drawing inspiration from the Book of Isaiah he said, "...when we receive mercy and peace we become the bearers of mercy (and) peace." 

Concluding his meditation Archbishop Welby underlined that, "we are called to be Christ's voice to the hopeless, calling, "come, to the waters" in a world of drought and despair, giving away with lavish generosity what we have received in grace-filled mercy."

Below is the full text of Archbishop Welby's Meditation

MEDITATION

We are those who live in a world which struggles to distinguish between what something costs and what it is worth. So powerful is this trend that we face Christ and seek to put a price on grace. He responds with infinite love and mercy and with a command that seems irrational when we first hear it. He says to us, who think ourselves rich, that we are to receive freely from him.

The reason for his offer is that, in God's economy, we are the poorest of the poor, poorer than ever because we think ourselves rich. Our money and wealth is like the toy money in a children's game: it may buy goods in our human economies which seem so powerful, but in the economy of God it is worthless. We are only truly rich when we accept mercy from God, through Christ our Saviour.

Our imaginary economy, which we treat as real,  not only deceives us into spending our worthless money on things that do not satisfy, but it drains our energies in the pursuit of illusions.

Look around us at Europe today and hear the truth of the words God speaks to us. The greatest wealth in European history has ended in the tragedies of debt and slavery. Our economies that can spend so much are merely sandy foundations. Despite it all, we find dissatisfaction and despair: in the breakdown of families; in hunger and inequality; in turning to extremists. Riddled with fear, resentment and anger, we seek ever more desperately, fearing the stranger, not knowing where to find courage.

Yet God calls to us in mercy, to each of us and all of us together. He offers wealth that is real and will bring satisfaction. He calls for us to listen, to eat, to come, to trust.

We are to listen. How do we hear God? So often in the mouths of the most helpless and the poorest. Jean Vanier of L'Arche tells us that those with great disabilities speak powerfully of hope, of purpose and of love to those who think they are strong.

He calls us to eat. We eat above all in the Eucharist, in sharing the body and blood of Christ, so that we feast. To eat with God is to have more than enough so that we become people of generosity, of abundance that overflows.

He calls us to come. One of our great poets, George Herbert starts a poem about the mercy of Christ, "love bade me welcome; yet my soul drew back ..." We draw back because we do not believe that mercy, that love so freely given, is for us. Our sins cry out, but Christ cries louder "come ..."

And we are called to trust. To trust that God’s mercy in Christ is enough. To trust that when we listen, eat and come we will be nourished as he promises. It is a calling constantly in need of renewal. We need to be reminded daily of our poverty in spirit, to thirst for the riches of God’s mercy. We are all to drink daily of that mercy in order to overcome our sin and anger, and to bear mercy to others.

Isaiah ends this passage with a great picture of all nations coming to the one, to the people, the church, the nations that have listened, eaten, come and trusted. They are drawn because the illusion of wealth is replaced by the reality of peace and love. Because when we receive mercy and peace we become the bearers of mercy peace.

That is where we end, as those who carry mercy from God through Christ to all humanity in actions that reveal mercy. Sant’Egidio’s work in Mozambique and around the world is a sign of what is possible when Christ’s mercy flows through us. We are to be those who enable others to be merciful to those with whom they are in conflict. We are called to be Christ's voice to the hopeless, calling, "come, to the waters" in a world of drought and despair, giving away with lavish generosity what we have received in grace-filled mercy.

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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has warned humanity against “the deafening silence of indifference and selfishness” before the cry of those who live under the threat of bombs and plead for peace.

Pope Francis’ meditation was delivered during an ecumenical prayer ceremony with representatives of other Christian denominations in the Lower Basilica of St. Francis during the closing of the World Day of Prayer for Peace in Assisi.

The Pope spoke of the ‘thirst’ of Jesus in which we can “hear the voice of the suffering, the hidden cry of the little innocent ones to whom the light of this world is denied, the sorrowful plea of the poor and those most in need of peace.  The victims of war, which sullies people with hate and the earth with arms, plead for peace; our brothers and sisters, who live under the threat of bombs and are forced to leave their homes into the unknown, stripped of everything, plead for peace”.

And before concluding with a prayer for full communion between all Christians, he said that like Jesus, the victims of war are “frequently given the bitter vinegar of rejection.  Who listens to them?  Who bothers responding to them?  Far too often they encounter the deafening silence of indifference, the selfishness of those annoyed at being pestered, the coldness of those who silence their cry for help with the same ease with which television channels are changed.

Please find below the full text of Pope Francis’ Meditation during the Ecumenical prayer ceremony:

Meditation of His Holiness Pope Francis
Lower Basilica of Saint Francis, Assisi
Tuesday, 20 September 2016

Gathered before Jesus crucified, we hear his words ring out also for us: “I thirst” (Jn 19:28).  Thirst, more than hunger, is the greatest need of humanity, and also its greatest suffering. Let us contemplate then the mystery of Almighty God, who in his mercy became poor among men.   
What does the Lord thirst for? Certainly for water, that element essential for life. But above all for love, that element no less essential for living. He thirsts to give us the living waters of his love, but also to receive our love.  The prophet Jeremiah expressed God’s appreciation of our love: “I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride” (Jer 2:2). But he also gave voice to divine suffering, when ungrateful man abandoned love – it seems as if the Lord is also speaking these words today – “they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns, that can hold no water” (v. 13).  It is the tragedy of the “withered heart”, of love not requited, a tragedy that unfolds again in the Gospel, when in response to Jesus’ thirst man offers him vinegar, spoiled wine.  As the psalmist prophetically lamented: “For my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink” (Ps 69:21).

“Love is not loved”: this reality, according to some accounts, is what upset Saint Francis of Assisi.  For love of the suffering Lord, he was not ashamed to cry out and grieve loudly (cf. Fonti Francescane, no. 1413).  This same reality must be in our hearts as we contemplate Christ Crucified, he who thirsts for love.  Mother Teresa of Calcutta desired that in the chapel of every community of her sisters the words “I thirst” would be written next to the crucifix.  Her response was to quench Jesus’ thirst for love on the Cross through service to the poorest of the poor.  The Lord’s thirst is indeed quenched by our compassionate love; he is consoled when, in his name, we bend down to another’s suffering.  On the day of judgment they will be called “blessed” who gave drink to those who were thirsty, who offered true gestures of love to those in need: “As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me” (Mt 25:40).

Jesus’ words challenge us, they seek a place in our heart and a response that involves our whole life.  In his “I thirst” we can hear the voice of the suffering, the hidden cry of the little innocent ones to whom the light of this world is denied, the sorrowful plea of the poor and those most in need of peace.  The victims of war, which sullies people with hate and the earth with arms, plead for peace; our brothers and sisters, who live under the threat of bombs and are forced to leave their homes into the unknown, stripped of everything, plead for peace.  They are all brothers and sisters of the Crucified One, the little ones of his Kingdom, the wounded and parched members of his body.  They thirst.  But they are frequently given, like Jesus, the bitter vinegar of rejection.  Who listens to them?  Who bothers responding to them?  Far too often they encounter the deafening silence of indifference, the selfishness of those annoyed at being pestered, the coldness of those who silence their cry for help with the same ease with which television channels are changed.

Before Christ Crucified, “the power and wisdom of God” (1 Cor 1:24), we Christians are called to contemplate the mystery of Love not loved and to pour out mercy upon the world.  On the cross, the tree of life, evil was transformed into good; we too, as disciples of the Crucified One, are called to be “trees of life” that absorb the contamination of indifference and restore the pure air of love to the world.  From the side of Christ on the Cross water flowed, that symbol of the Spirit who gives life (cf. Jn 19:34); so that from us, his faithful, compassion may flow forth for all who thirst today. 
Like Mary by the Cross, may the Lord grant us to be united to him and close to those who suffer.  Drawing near to those living as crucified, and strengthened by the love of Jesus Crucified and Risen, may our harmony and communion deepen even more.  “For he is our peace” (Eph 2:14), he who came to preach peace to those near and far (cf. v. 17).  May he keep us all in his love and unite us, so that we may be “one” (Jn 17:21) as he desires. 

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(Vatican Radio) Among those participating in the Assisi Meeting of world religious leaders for the World Day of Prayer for Peace was Bartholomew I, the Archbishop of Constantinople and Ecumenical Patriarch.

In his remarks, the Patriarch said peace “needs a few cornerstones to uphold it even when it is endangered.”

“There can be no peace without mutual respect and acknowledgment,” – Patriarch Bartholomew said – “There can be no peace without justice, there can be no peace without fruitful cooperation among all the peoples in the world.”

He also said peace comes from “mutual knowledge and cooperation”, and spoke of the role the leaders gathered in Assisi need to have in this process.

“As Faiths, as Humanist Cultures, as Human Beings, today we must revive all this, in a new way, through new gestures,” said Patriarch Bartholomew.

“We need to be able to ask ourselves where we may have been wrong, or where we have not been careful enough; because fundamentalisms have risen, threatening not only dialogue with others, but even dialogue within our own selves, our very own consciences. We have to be able to isolate them, to purify them, in the light of our faiths, to transform them into richness for all,” he said.

The full text of Patriarch Bartholomew’s address is below

Bartholomew I, the Archbishop of Constantinople and Ecumenical Patriarch

Your Holiness.

Eminences, Excellencies,

Distinguished Representatives of Religions and Cultures,

Authorities,

Brothers and Sisters,

By gathering us all together, this International Meeting has given us the chance to look into each other’s eyes, to speak honestly, to listen to each other, to enjoy each other’s riches, and, essentially, to be “Friends”. And in this friendship, true unconditional love for each other, our thirst for peace is quenched. It is quenched, because peace is free, profound, and rooted in the heart of every human being, who for believers are made in the image and likeness of God, and for cultures and for humanist thinkers are part of the same human family.

Indeed, we have not only commemorated an extraordinary event held by our predecessors thirty years ago. We have also renewed our commitment to peace with a new spirit, in Friendship, through courageous gestures, opening up new paths to dialogue and cooperation between Cultures and the great Religious Families of the world.

However, Peace needs a few cornerstones to uphold it even when it is endangered.

There can be no peace without mutual respect and acknowledgment. There can be no peace without justice, there can be no peace without fruitful cooperation among all the peoples in the world.

In these years, we can again see ethnic, religious, and cultural majorities sense their respective minorities as alien bodies, dangerous for their integrity, as something to be marginalized, expelled, and sometimes, unfortunately, annihilated. We witness minorities that close themselves in their own ghettos out of fear of disappearance, fearful of comparisons, too often turning to violence. This is discouraging, it causes mass migration, and it creates problems in welcoming, solidarity, and humanity.

But peace also needs justice.

Justice is a world economy renewed, that cares for the needs of the poorest; it is paying attention to our planet’s situation, safeguarding its natural environment, which is the work of God for believers, but also a Common Home for everyone. It also means to safeguard the cultural, religious, and artistic traditions of every people of the earth. It means being capable of solidarity, not as mere assistance, but feeling the need, the pain, the joy of the other as if it were our own. Justice is consistency with what we profess and believe in, while being capable of dialogue with the other, capable to see the riches of the other, capable of not overpowering the other, of not feeling above or below our neighbour. Justice is making it possible for everybody to keep living in his or her own forefathers’ land, in peace and love, for everybody to return to his or her own home for the growth of human society.

Therefore, peace comes from mutual knowledge and cooperation. As Faiths, as Humanist Cultures, as Human Beings, today we must revive all this, in a new way, through new gestures.

However, as we return to our homes, we believe that every Religious Family, every Culture – in this precise moment in history – must look within itself; we believe, while respectful of every religious or humanist belief, that self-critic and self-analysis are necessary. We need to be able to ask ourselves where we may have been wrong, or where we have not been careful enough; because fundamentalisms have risen, threatening not only dialogue with others, but even dialogue within our own selves, our very own consciences. We have to be able to isolate them, to purify them, in the light of our faiths, to transform them into richness for all.

If we are able to do so, then dialogue will become real and vital, because cooperation will not be subjugation, but a chance to intervene together in history, the chance to write its fates, together. We have the obligation to commit ourselves together for the preservation of every Human Being from his or her conception to natural end, respectful of every stage of his or her life. We must commit ourselves for the preservation of our Common Home and all that is in it. Because, in creating it, God did not want to have one plant, one animal, one single person, one planet, one star. He wanted many of them, all different, each with its own specificity and peculiarity, interconnected in a communion of purpose and love. This is the richness we need to proclaim, safeguard, and live together.

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Vatican City, Sep 20, 2016 / 06:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Vatican holds a special seminar series each year for new bishops to help them learn their new role.

Among these new bishops was Bishop Ruben Tierrablanca Gonzalez, the vicar apostolic of Istanbul.

For him, the seminar had a singular focus. It “teaches all of us bishops to look at the Church in its entirety,” he told CNA.
 
“The seminar mostly focuses on one, reiterated issue: we must understand that the Church is simply one,” Bishop Tierrablanca recounted. “We, the bishops of local Churches, are not called to merely focus only on our local Churches, while not taking care of other situations. We are called to look at the entire Church.”

A Franciscan originally hailing from Mexico, Bishop Tierrablanca has lived in Istanbul since 2003. He was appointed apostolic vicar for Istanbul in April.

He came to Rome for the annual seminar for new bishops Sept. 10-18.

The annual gathering of newly appointed bishops in Rome is “a meeting to reconfirm our union with Rome, and to understand that the Church is always the Church, no matter where local communities are,” the bishop explained.
 
The schedule of the seminar was quite tight: three meetings per day, plus an audience with Pope Francis Sept. 16.
 
The seminar series for new bishops first began in 2001. It aims to provide all the new bishops guidelines and tools to better fulfill the requirements of their new position.
 
“We were informed about the current situation of the Church, we were given indications about how to work. We are provided guidelines in theology and liturgy and we are taught about how to live and administer a diocese and how to be in relation with the clergy and the people of God,” Bishop Tierrablanca said.
 
He then added that because the Roman Curia is undergoing reform and renewal, bishops must be aware of how things are changing.

“It is not just a matter of how much we are renewing the structure (of the Church). Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State, celebrated a Mass for us and said in his homily that the real reform is a spiritual one.”
 
Concerning the Curia reform, the new bishops were informed about the services of the dicasteries and how they are being re-shaped.

“As bishops, we often merely refer to the Congregation of Bishops, or to the Congregation for the Eastern Church, or to the Evangelization of People, that are the dicasteries to which we are subject. But we don’t think about other dicasteries, though they are very important.”
 
For example, he found an important resource in the new Secretariat for Communications.

“When we want to communicate something, we often use the channel of the parish bulletin, but we do not reach a great audience.” He explained bishops can use the secretariat “to give more visibility to our work, which is the work of the Church in the world.”
 
Among the pastoral training includes help for bishops on how to spread the gospel with joy.
 
Bishop Tierrablanca cited the joyous themes of the titles of Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortations Evangelii gaudium and Amoris laetitia.

“Emphasis is put on the fact that the message must give joy,” he said. “That means that every bishop or shepherd is called to express how joyful the Gospel is, and in this way we get closer to people.”
 
He said that this is particular important in Turkey, where Christians are a minority and where churches are not allowed to be visible on the streets.
 
“It is important to get in touch with another person in a friendly and open way, and live a transparent life. Thanks to this testimony of life, you can get closer to those who are not Christians,” Bishop Tierrablanca said.
 
In the end, the gathering of bishops reinforced the bond between local bishops and the Pope.
 
“Sometimes we think that being with Rome is a straitjacket that you cannot get rid of. But Rome presides over all the Churches with charity. We are always the Church, and we always recognize ourselves as a unique Church,” Bishop Tierrablanca concluded.

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Phoenix, Ariz., Sep 20, 2016 / 06:50 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Catholics should be consistent in public life and need to make protecting innocent life a serious political priority, Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted of Phoenix has said in the latest edition of his booklet on the duties of Catholic voters and politicians.

The booklet “Catholics in the Public Square,” now in its fourth edition, makes a distinction between support for intrinsically evil issues and support for different methods of achieving policy.

“For example, Catholics may never legitimately promote or vote for any law that attacks innocent human life,” Bishop Olmsted said, latter adding “being right on all the other issues can never justify a wrong choice on this most serious matter.”

The guide reiterated the need to examine one’s conscience and the need for Catholic politicians to oppose laws that allow or promote abortions.

“If a politician is actively supporting and furthering the culture of death, he is not only causing scandal; he is sinning. Similarly, when a politician performs actions (like voting) that allow for abortions and even promote abortions, or that mandate the distribution of contraceptives by pharmacists and others, that politician is materially cooperating in grave sin,” the bishop’s booklet continued.

These politicians must make a sincere confession before receiving Holy Communion, he said. Because the harm they have done was public, they should also publicly make amends.

“Catholics should always be respectful of the human dignity of others, including people of different faiths, or no faith at all,” Bishop Olmsted said. “Having said that, however, Catholics should not be afraid to embrace their identity or to put their faith into practice in public life. In fact, each of the faithful has a call to evangelization and to share the good news of Christ with the rest of the world.”

The booklet, released Sept. 17, features a new foreword by Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of Los Angeles and updated material from Pope Francis. The new material includes excerpts from the Pope’s recent encyclical “Laudato Si” and his speeches during his trip to the United States.

“Bishop Olmsted wrote this booklet to better form Catholic lay people about their faith and responsibilities to their communities,” Robert DeFrancesco, communications director for the Diocese of Phoenix, told CNA Sept. 19. “According to Bishop Olmsted, it is important for Catholics to reflect on their role in public life, because we are called to live our faith all of the time wherever we are and whatever we are doing, not just at Mass on Sundays.”

Bishop Olmsted said that Catholics are specially called “to contribute to the common good, to defend the dignity of every human person, and to live as faithful citizens.”

“It only makes sense that if Catholics are supposed to live their faith in all of their daily activities that they should also take their faith into account while voting,” he added.

A Catholic’s preparations to vote must include proper formation of conscience, followed by research of important issues and candidates that will appear on the ballot.

Archbishop Gomez’s foreword to the booklet also reflected on Catholics in the public arena.

“This book is a kind of ‘question and answer catechism’ on some of the deepest issues of faith and public life,” he said. The archbishop described the booklet as “a must-read for all of us who are trying to engage the culture and to proclaim the Church’s beautiful vision for human life and human society.”

“The Church needs clear and courageous teaching and witness to confront the idols of a secularized, post-Christian America,” Archbishop Gomez said.

Bishop Olmsted suggested that some Catholics have been “frightened into silence and even confused by charges that they are imposing their morality on others.”

 “Of course, if one’s faith does not impact on one’s whole life, including one’s political and social responsibilities, then it is not authentic faith; it is a sham, a counterfeit,” he countered.

“A democratic society needs the active participation of all its citizens, people of faith included,” he added. “This is not an imposition on other’s morality. It is acting with integrity… The active engagement of Catholics in democratic processes is good for society and it is responsible citizenship.”

Archbishop Gomez said that Catholic social teaching provides “a vision of the world as it could be and as it should be. The world as God created it to be.”

“The Catholic vision is spiritual not political. Catholics belong first of all the ‘city of God.’ But we have a duty to build up the ‘city of man,’ to correct injustices and seek a world that reflects God’s desires for His children — what Jesus called the kingdom of God and the Apostles called the new heaven and new earth,” the archbishop said.

The fourth edition booklet, published by St. Benedict Press, is available in an eBook version at Amazon and at the webpage http://dphx.org/catholics-in-the-public-square/. Its production was supported by a contribution from the national Knights of Columbus. The booklet is being distributed to the parishes of the Phoenix diocese.

The booklet’s first edition was released in 2006.

 

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IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring

By Junno Arocho Esteves

ASSISI, Italy (CNS) -- Churches that are not reconciled with one another weaken the experience of mercy that unites believers to God and with each other, Anglican Archbishop Justin Welby of Canterbury said.

By not reconciling with one other, "our worship is diminished and our capacity to grow close together with God is reduced," he said Sept. 20 in Assisi during a discussion on ecumenism.

"The failure of ecumenism imprisons mercy and prevents its liberation and its power with one another," he said.

Speaking before Pope Francis arrived in Assisi for an interreligious peace meeting, Archbishop Welby joined other Christian leaders exploring how love, charity and mercy help foster peace and unity among Christian denominations.

Mercy is the "engine of reconciliation," Archbishop Welby said, and it is "the source of our capacity for the evangelization of the world in which we live."

"Mercy begins with the mercy that each of us experiences in the sacrament of reconciliation; the knowledge that we ourselves are accepted," he said.

Suffering and martyrdom, the archbishop added, also unite Christians and are a visible sign of ecumenism for the world.

"If we do not suffer together, we do not know the meaning of the ecumenism of mercy," he said. "When they kill us, they do not ask if we are Anglican, Presbyterian, Catholic or Orthodox; we are one in Christ for them. So why are we divided when they are not killing us?"

Echoing Jesus' prayer "that they may be one so that the world may know that I come from the Father," Archbishop Welby said that the evangelization of the world "depends on that ecumenism of mercy."

While they may have theological differences, he said, Christians must learn to "disagree well" and "learn to love one another with good disagreement."

Evangelization depends on the visible sign of love and unity. If not, churches will be unable "to carry out Jesus' command to go out into the world," he said.

"It depends on the world seeing visibly that we belong to one another and that we love one another," Archbishop Welby said. "Without that, we have nothing to say to a world that is incapable of resolving its own differences."

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By Carol Glatz

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Humanity should feel ashamed it can wage war, kill the innocent, bomb cities and prevent food and medicine from reaching survivors, Pope Francis said.

"There is no god of war," he said.

Violence and division are the work of the devil who "wants to kill everyone," and that is why people need to come together and pray for peace, united in the conviction that "God is a God of peace," he said Sept. 20, a world day of prayer for peace.

Just a few hours before heading to an interreligious gathering in the Italian town of Assisi, Pope Francis dedicated his homily to peace during morning Mass in the chapel of his residence. The pope and some 450 religious leaders from around the world were marking the 30th anniversary of the first interreligious meeting and prayer for peace organized by St. John Paul II in 1986.

Men and women representing the world's religions were going to Assisi, "not to put on a show, but simply to pray and pray for peace," Pope Francis said in his morning homily.

The world is at war and suffering, and no one can remain indifferent to that, he said, quoting the last verse of the day's first reading from the Book of Proverbs: "He who shuts his ear to the cry of the poor will himself also call and not be heard."

"If we today shut our ear to the cry of these people who suffer being bombed, who suffer exploitation by arms traffickers, it could be that when it's our turn no one will respond to us," he said.

Perhaps "we don't see" war personally or "we get frightened" by an act of terrorism, he said. But none of that can compare to what is happening in some parts of the world "where day and night, the bombs fall and fall ... killing children, the elderly, men and women."

War, in fact, really isn't that far away at all, he added. "War touches everyone" because "war begins in the heart."

The pope prayed that God would "give us peace in our heart, eliminate every urge for avarice, greediness, conflict." He prayed that people's hearts would be the hearts of men and women of peace and that they would be able to see beyond religious differences "because we are all children of God."

While he and the leaders were praying in Assisi, he asked that everyone pray and "feel shame. Shame for this: that human beings, our brothers and sisters, are capable of doing this," of killing and wounding others and carrying out bombing campaigns that prevent the delivery of needed food and medicine. Think of the children and elderly, he said, who are "starving and ill."

The Assisi peace day, he said, is a day of prayer, penance and "weeping for peace," a day to hear the cry of the poor, which opens the heart to mercy and love, and "saves us from self-centeredness."

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