Pope to Religious, no to gossip, embrace joy
 |
| Pope Francis greets religious at the Holy Rosary Church, Dhaka.- AFP |
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on the last day of his visit to
Bangladesh addressed priests, religious, consecrated Men and Women,
and seminarians at the Holy Rosary Church in Dhaka, telling them to
avoid gossip and embrace a spirit joy.
Listen to our report:
The scene was the Holy Rosary Church in
Dhaka; the audience was pews fulls of priests, religious, consecrated men and
women, and seminarians who had all come to hear the Pope’s speak. The Holy
Father did just that; putting his prepared remarks aside, he told those
gathered that he wanted to speak to them from the heart.
Drawing inspiration from scripture, Pope Francis quoted from
the prophet Isaiah with the phrase, "in those days, from the house of
Israel will be born a small shoot, it will grow and grow, and with the Spirit
of God, will generate the spirit of wisdom, intelligence, science, knowledge.”
Taking this image, the Pope explained that God is the sower
and we are the plant that he causes to grow.
Then the Holy Father asked, “how can we water this seed?
Indeed, he continued how do we take care of the vocation we have received? The
answer, Pope Francis said was “human tenderness”, adding that if this is
missing in our communities, in our priests, and in our parishes, the bud
will remain small, will not grow and in the end will wilt.
Vocation and discernment
The Pope said, in response to a question, that in order to
discern if one’s vocation is growing in a healthy way, it was important to
pray.
Division and Gossip
During his off the cuff remarks, Pope Francis warned against
division in religious communities and again reiterated the detrimental effect
of gossip which he likened to terrorism.
He went on to suggest that, “when you want to talk bad about
a person, bite your tongue: the worst thing that can happen, he said, is that
you hurt yourself but you will not hurt another brother or another sister.”
Finally, the Pope urged those present “to keep a
spirit of joy”, saying without joy we cannot serve God.
(Lydia O'Kane)
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét