Catholic Fire

The Church remains faithful if she keeps her eyes fixed on Jesus, but she becomes lukewarm and mediocre if she seeks comfort in worldly things. That was Pope Francis’ message on Monday as he reflected on the Gospel reading at Mass in the Casa Santa Marta… Pope Francis noted that the reading from St Luke’s Gospel tells the story of the widow who puts her two coins in the temple treasury box, while other wealthy worshipers make a great show of the money they're putting in. Jesus says that “this poor widow put in more than all the rest” because the others were giving away money from their surplus wealth, while she, in her poverty, “has offered her whole livelihood”. In the Bible, Pope Francis said, the widow is the woman who is alone, who has no husband to look after her, who has to manage on her own, who survives on charity. The widow in this Gospel passage, he said, was “a widow who had placed her trust only in the Lord”. I like to look at the widows in the Gospel, he said, as...

Vatican City, 11 December 2013 (VIS) – The Pope dedicated his final catechesis on the Creed to its last article: “I believe in life everlasting”, focusing in particular on the final judgement. “When we think of Christ's return and of His final judgement, which will show, up to the very last consequences, the good that each person will have done or omitted to do during his or her earthly life, we realise that we find ourselves before a mystery that overwhelms us, that we cannot even imagine. A mystery that almost instinctively arouses in us a sense of fear, and perhaps even trepidation. However, if we reflect closely on this fact, it cannot but enlarge the heart of a Christian, and constitutes a great reason for consolation and trust”. Pope Francis explained that “in this respect, the witness of the first Christian communities is very interesting, since their celebrations and prayers were generally accompanied by the exclamation 'Maranatha', an acclamation made up of...