Sixteenth Sunday 22nd July 2012
What I did in my Summer Holidays
(by Pope Benedict XVI, aged 85 and a quarter)
According to Vatican news sources, the Holy Father is spending his holiday in Castel Gandolfo, overlooking Lake Albano, reading a wide selection of books, listening to music, playing the piano and enjoying the natural environment. However, he is also being kept abreast of the situation in the world, continues to pray the Angelus in public on occasions and will be carrying out a few engagements – for example, he celebrated Mass in Frascati last weekend.
This weekend marks the beginning of the holiday season for many of the families in our parish. I sincerely hope that like Christ and His apostles you will have a chance to recharge your batteries but in the midst of our well-earned rest we should not allow ourselves to become immune to the plight of so many of our fellow human beings.
Were today not our patronal feast of St Mary Magdalen, the readings would have spoken much about the role of shepherds. It is easy to think of them only as priests and on that front things are looking good. The Archdiocese of Tuam (my father’s home diocese) had its first priestly ordinations in six years recently, the Archdiocese of Southwark has double the number of candidates for the priesthood it had ten years ago and within the next 12 months or so we will have eight new priests in Westminster. On a personal level, the little village where I go for my summer break has two aspirants for the priesthood – Ricardo and Daniello – who both exude a deep love for the God and the Church even at the tender age of 17!
Yet at the same time, a recent survey in Italy found that 10% of young people feel called to the priesthood or religious life but abandon the idea after only a few months. Indeed, 29% felt called soon after a religious experience such as a retreat or a visit to a monastery. The reason for the lack of persistence in the thought of vocation was laid at the door of their piers when seven out of ten stated that their friends had no desire to consecrate their lives to Christ in any way at all and therefore they could not countenance giving up their freedom of will or being lonely.
All of us in the Church have a responsibility for the lost as Pope Benedict said in a recent homily. He stated, “The pastor must be inspired by Christ's holy zeal: for him it is not a matter of indifference that so many people are living in the desert. And there are so many kinds of desert. There is the desert of poverty, the desert of hunger and thirst, the desert of abandonment, of loneliness of destroyed love.
"There is the desert of God's darkness, the emptiness of souls no longer aware of their dignity or the goal of human life. The external deserts in the world are growing, because the internal deserts have become so vast. Therefore the earth's treasures no longer serve to build God's garden for all to live in, but they have been made to serve the powers of exploitation and destruction.
"The Church as a whole and all her Pastors, like Christ, must set out to lead people out of the desert, towards the place of life, towards friendship with the Son of God, towards the One who gives us life, and life in abundance."
So enjoy your holidays but keep your eyes and your heart open for those who are without a shepherd and are a little lost in life.
Fr Kevin
(by Pope Benedict XVI, aged 85 and a quarter)
According to Vatican news sources, the Holy Father is spending his holiday in Castel Gandolfo, overlooking Lake Albano, reading a wide selection of books, listening to music, playing the piano and enjoying the natural environment. However, he is also being kept abreast of the situation in the world, continues to pray the Angelus in public on occasions and will be carrying out a few engagements – for example, he celebrated Mass in Frascati last weekend.
This weekend marks the beginning of the holiday season for many of the families in our parish. I sincerely hope that like Christ and His apostles you will have a chance to recharge your batteries but in the midst of our well-earned rest we should not allow ourselves to become immune to the plight of so many of our fellow human beings.
Were today not our patronal feast of St Mary Magdalen, the readings would have spoken much about the role of shepherds. It is easy to think of them only as priests and on that front things are looking good. The Archdiocese of Tuam (my father’s home diocese) had its first priestly ordinations in six years recently, the Archdiocese of Southwark has double the number of candidates for the priesthood it had ten years ago and within the next 12 months or so we will have eight new priests in Westminster. On a personal level, the little village where I go for my summer break has two aspirants for the priesthood – Ricardo and Daniello – who both exude a deep love for the God and the Church even at the tender age of 17!
Yet at the same time, a recent survey in Italy found that 10% of young people feel called to the priesthood or religious life but abandon the idea after only a few months. Indeed, 29% felt called soon after a religious experience such as a retreat or a visit to a monastery. The reason for the lack of persistence in the thought of vocation was laid at the door of their piers when seven out of ten stated that their friends had no desire to consecrate their lives to Christ in any way at all and therefore they could not countenance giving up their freedom of will or being lonely.
All of us in the Church have a responsibility for the lost as Pope Benedict said in a recent homily. He stated, “The pastor must be inspired by Christ's holy zeal: for him it is not a matter of indifference that so many people are living in the desert. And there are so many kinds of desert. There is the desert of poverty, the desert of hunger and thirst, the desert of abandonment, of loneliness of destroyed love.
"There is the desert of God's darkness, the emptiness of souls no longer aware of their dignity or the goal of human life. The external deserts in the world are growing, because the internal deserts have become so vast. Therefore the earth's treasures no longer serve to build God's garden for all to live in, but they have been made to serve the powers of exploitation and destruction.
"The Church as a whole and all her Pastors, like Christ, must set out to lead people out of the desert, towards the place of life, towards friendship with the Son of God, towards the One who gives us life, and life in abundance."
So enjoy your holidays but keep your eyes and your heart open for those who are without a shepherd and are a little lost in life.
Fr Kevin
posted by Sinead Reekie at 12:38 pm