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Vatican City, May 16, 2017 / 01:28 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Only God can give true peace amid tribulations, Pope Francis said in his May 16 homily at his Casa Santa Marta residence in the Vatican.

“A peace without a cross is not the peace of Jesus,” the Pope said. “The world teaches us the way to anesthetized peace: it anesthetizes us from seeing another reality of life: the Cross.”

“This is why Paul says that one must enter into the Kingdom of Heaven on the road with many tribulations,” he added. “The peace that the world offers us is a peace without tribulations.”

The world offers an artificial peace that is reduced to mere tranquility, he said. This kind of peace is “only concerned about one’s affairs and one’s security” – but it is ultimately ineffective, because “tribulations are there, whether pain, illness or death.”

“But the peace that Jesus gives is a gift: it is a gift of the Holy Spirit; and this peace lasts through tribulations and beyond.”

According to Vatican Radio, Pope Francis in his homily focused on Jesus’ words at the Last Supper, as recounted in the Gospel of John: “I leave you peace, my peace I give you.”

The Pope said it is not possible to obtain peace amid tribulation though human effort.

Instead, God’s peace is “a gift that keeps us going.”

“God’s peace is real peace, that enters the reality of life, that does not deny life; that is life. There is suffering, there are the sick people, there are many bad things, there are wars ... but that peace within, which is a gift, is not lost, but goes ahead bearing the Cross and suffering,” he continued. “Peace without the Cross is not the peace of Jesus: it is a peace that can be bought. But it does not last; it comes to an end.”

Pope Francis said that when he gets angry, he loses peace. When his heart is troubled, “it is because I am not open to the peace of Jesus,” because he is unable to “bear life as it comes, with its crosses and sorrows that accompany it.”

Concluding his homily, the pontiff cited St. Augustine’s words: “The life of the Christian is a journey between the persecutions of the world and the consolations of God.”

The Pope prayed: “May the Lord make us understand well what this peace is which He gives us with the Holy Spirit.”

 

 

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IMAGE: CNS photo/Andy Rain, EPA

By Simon Caldwell

MANCHESTER, England (CNS) -- The bishops of England and Wales have put the post-Brexit future of the United Kingdom at the top of a list of priority issues for Catholic voters to consider before the June 8 general election.

In a two-page letter published May 15, the bishops reminded Catholics of their duty to vote and advised voters to question politicians seeking their support on a range of 10 key issues.

The consideration at the top of the list was titled "leaving the European Union," and voters were asked to determine the attitude of candidates to the future status of EU citizens who live in the U.K.

The bishops also invited voters to ask candidates what issues "should be the top priority when forming new international partnerships," adding that "human and workers' rights, the environment, and the development of the world's poorest countries" must be considered.

In their preamble, the bishops said the election "takes place at a pivotal moment in the life of our nations as we prepare to leave the European Union," following the outcome of the June 2016 referendum on EU membership.

"To a great extent, the outcome of this election will determine the approach taken on how this is achieved, the priorities we pursue and the values we wish to treasure as our own in the U.K. and as partners with countries around the world," the bishops said. "It will determine how we can heal divisions in our society, care for the vulnerable, how our public services are run and whether we can remain a united kingdom."

The second question on the list deals with euthanasia and assisted suicide, with Catholics urged to ask candidates if they would uphold a 2015 House of Commons vote against a bill to permit doctor-assisted death.

Abortion is not explicitly mentioned, but the bishops suggested that Catholics asked their candidates if they would "support measures to promote the intrinsic value of life at every stage."

The bishops also asked voters to press candidates about their policies on prison reform in face of "unprecedented levels of violence and suicide."

They highlighted the need for a fair migration system and the expansion of schemes to find homes for refugees to the U.K., as a commitment to protect persecuted minorities overseas, "including Christian minorities."

The letter also makes modern slavery and poverty relief both at home and abroad issues of concern.

In the face of aggressive secularism that has led to attacks against state-funded Catholic education, voters should question candidates if they supported the rights of parents to choose Catholic schools for their children, the bishops suggested.

The eight Scottish bishops also released the text of a pre-election letter to Catholics May 15, asking voters to focus principally on issues touching on the sanctity of human life; marriage and the family; poverty; political asylum; and religious freedom.

In the letter, which will be read out in churches May 20-21, the bishops included sections on the arms trade and nuclear weapons and on threats to free speech.

Politics, the bishops said, needed a new direction "where dialogue is respectful and where different points of view, including those of a religious nature, are tolerated."

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IMAGE: CNS photo/Ashleigh Buyers, Catholic Herald

By Mary Stachyra Lopez

FREDERICKSBURG, Va. (CNS) -- Before Mahnaz left Afghanistan with her husband and four sons, she carefully packed beautiful black, red and white curtains in the few suitcases she could bring along to her new life in a country 7,000 miles away.

They would be something familiar from her native land once she was surrounded by strangers whose language she didn't speak. But to her dismay, the curtains didn't fit the windows of her new home in Fredericksburg when she arrived a few months ago.

"The curtains were special to me because I thought I might not be able to find them here," Mahnaz said, speaking in Dari through an interpreter.

In Afghanistan, she could have easily made new curtains on one of the three sewing machines she owned -- one a gift from her mother, another from her mother-in-law, and the third a wedding present. So when Mahnaz heard that the Catholic Charities Office of Migration and Refugee Services in the Diocese of Arlington had distributed donated sewing machines to 14 women and one man last year, she hoped for one of her own.

At the end of April, Mahnaz and nine other women studying English at the Fredericksburg office of Catholic Charities received sewing machines. Now they can sew for themselves and sew items to sell at craft fairs.

Many of the women, whose names have been changed for security reasons, are in the United States on special immigrant visas for the families of Afghan interpreters whose lives were in danger because they served the U.S. embassy or military.

Pequitte Schwerin, a parishioner of St. Francis of Assisi Church in Triangle and a volunteer with the Ignatian Volunteer Corps, came up with the idea in July 2015. Parishioners at St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception Church in Fredericksburg and St. Francis of Assisi donated many of the machines after Schwerin placed ads in church bulletins.

"I've been a sewer since I was 8 or 9," Schwerin told the Arlington Catholic Herald, the diocesan newspaper. "My mom taught me, and I know a lot of these ladies come with a lot of creative talent."

She hoped the machines would help the women, most of whom have never worked outside the home, supplement their income and build their self-esteem.

"I really believe in these women and I want them to feel good about the beautiful things they make," Schwerin said.

Unlike Mahnaz, the majority of women are used to sewing by hand, not on a machine. After one basic lesson, the first group taught themselves enough to sew clothes -- without patterns. The lone man in the group found a job as a tailor, while the women formed a group, Love 2 Sew, and began selling makeup bags, purses, duvet covers and quilts at farmer's markets.

"We knew these women had these skills, but we had no idea to what extent," said Laurel Collins, associate director of the Fredericksburg office.

The second group of women gathered April 27 for a basic lesson on the machines. It was a challenging process because some of the machines did not have manuals. Mahnaz, working with an antique black Singer machine, wound thread around a hook and then looped it around downward into a smaller loop. Fariba, a mother of seven, worked on a more modern machine that made a gentle whirring noise.

After some time spent turning knobs and pushing buttons, she took a break. She said she was planning to make "a thousand things ' for myself and kids as well." She'll start out with pillow and mattress covers.

As for Mahnaz, "I need to make curtains for my home."

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Stachyra Lopez is social media coordinator for the Arlington Catholic Herald, newspaper of the Diocese of Arlington

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IMAGE: CNS photo/Francis Wong

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HONG KONG (CNS) -- Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, secretary-general of the Synod of Bishops, encouraged young Catholics in Hong Kong to get involved in preparation for the next Synod of Bishops, which will discuss young people.

Ucanews.com reported that during a 90-minute dialogue held May 13 with a group of mostly young Catholics, Cardinal Baldisseri explained how the church is preparing the October 2018 synod, which has the theme, "Young people, faith and vocational discernment."

Cardinal Baldisseri added that the theme "referred to all young people on the earth, not just Catholics and Christians."

He encouraged Hong Kong Catholics not to ignore the "opportunity to be involved" in the synod and to keep a look out "at the general secretariat website for a questionnaire, which you can fill out online."

University student Philomena Poon and some other participants told ucanews.com they are interested in expressing their views.

"In the past, we got pontifical writings on issues such as family, marriage and love, but this time it is about young people, and we also get a cardinal coming here to meet us. It shows the church pays heed to us, which gives us motivation to get involved," said Poon.

At the meeting, Cardinal Baldisseri's first event after his arrival in Hong Kong, he took questions from students, a seminarian, a young family, a disabled person, a refugee and others.

Young people asked for advice on how to resist the trend of being against or without the church; the key elements to make one's vocation mature; how to fulfill "everyday discernment" in family relationships, work and children's education.

Citing Pope Francis' remarks on the "culture of the ephemeral," which stressed enjoying the moment, the cardinal asked the youth "to be revolutionaries" and have the courage to swim against the tides.

When a worker from the youth ministry asked him how adults could deal with same-sex attraction in young people, the cardinal stressed the importance of accompaniment and helping young people with "day-to-day discernment."

Cardinal Baldisseri was making his first seven-day visit to two Chinese communities in East Asia. Besides meeting with young people, he delivered a talk on family May 14 as part of the diocesan program for the Year of Family 2017. He also was scheduled to attend a conference on family in Taiwan and meet with youth there.

There are no figures on the number of youth among Hong Kong's 389,000 Catholics. Government statistics for 2016 show 25 percent of the city's population of 7.3 million is between 16-34 years of age, ucanews.com reported.

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