The goal of my grandmother’s Hadassah chapter, in line with that of Hadassah’s international movement, was to raise money for hospitals and healthcare in Israel.
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“Are you Jewish?” YES! In so many ways. YES!
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Pope Francis addresses the faithful during the Angelus address in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024 / Credit: Vatican Media
Vatican City, Oct 13, 2024 / 11:12 am (CNA).
Happiness is not found in material things, but in God himself who shows us the joy found in making our lives a gift for others, Pope Francis said in his Sunday Angelus address.
“Let us remember this: true wealth is not the goods of this world. True wealth is being loved by God and learning to love like Him,” Francis said on Oct. 13.
Speaking from the window of the Apostolic Palace, the pope reflected on how many people “carry in our hearts an irrepressible need for happiness and for a life full of meaning.”
“However,” he added, “we can fall into the illusion of thinking that the answer is found in the possession of material things and earthly securities.”
“Jesus wants to bring us back to the truth of our desires and to make us discover that, in reality, the goodness we yearn for is God Himself, His love for us and the eternal life that He and He alone can give us.”
The pope offered this reflection in response to the Sunday Gospel reading from chapter ten of the Gospel of Mark, which will be read aloud in every Roman Catholic church around the world at Mass this Sunday.
The Gospel tells the story of a rich man who knelt before Jesus and asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Pope Francis noted that although this man “has many riches, he is dissatisfied. He feels restlessness inside. He is searching for a fuller life.”
“As the sick and the possessed often do, [the rich man] throws himself at the Master's feet; he is rich, yet in need of healing,” the pope said. “Jesus looks at him with love, and then proposes a ‘therapy’ — sell everything he has, give it to the poor, and follow Him.” The Gospel recounts that the rich man went away sad because he had many possessions.
Jesus was trying to help the man realize that “true wealth is being looked at with love by the Lord – this is great wealth,” Pope Francis explained.
“And loving each other by making our lives a gift for others,” he added.
“Selling everything to give it to the poor means stripping ourselves of … our false securities, paying attention to those in need and sharing our possessions — not just things, but what we are – our talents, our friendship, our time, and so on,” he said.
Pope Francis encouraged people to pray for the intercession of the Virgin Mary “to help us discover the treasure of life in Jesus.”
Appeal for peace
After praying the Angelus prayer in Latin and offering his blessing to the crowd gathered in St. Peter’s Square, the pope renewed his call for an immediate ceasefire in the Middle East, urging all parties to halt violence and seek peace through dialogue.
“I am close to all the populations involved, in Palestine, Israel and Lebanon, where I ask that the United Nations peacekeeping forces be respected,” he said.
The pope offered prayers for victims of the conflict, displaced persons, and the hostages, calling for their swift release. He condemned the cycle of hatred and revenge fueling the violence, describing war as “an illusion” and “a defeat for everyone, especially for those who believe they are invincible.”
“Stop, please!” he urged, emphasizing that war will “never bring peace” nor “security."
Pope Francis broadened his appeal to include other regions facing violence, including Ukraine, where he called for an end to air attacks on civilians and the protection of those most vulnerable as the weather turns cold, “so that the Ukrainians are not left to freeze to death.”
He also spoke about the escalating violence in Haiti, where citizens are fleeing their homes due to gang violence, and he urged the international community to support peace and reconciliation efforts in the country.
“Let us never forget our Haitian brothers and sisters,” the pope said, praying for an end to violence and a defense of the dignity and rights of all.
The pope also highlighted a global prayer initiative scheduled for Oct. 18, organized by the Aid to the Church in Need foundation, which asks one million children to recite the rosary for peace.
Noting that this Sunday marks the anniversary of the last apparition of Our Lady of Fatima, Pope Francis entrusted to the intercession of the Virgin Mary “tormented Ukraine, Myanmar, Sudan and the other populations suffering from the war and every form of violence and misery.”
As I keep reminding myself, inner peace is like a fragile child that needs to be protected and nurtured. Obviously, despite my reminders, I forget to do it myself. Oh,...
The post Forgiving Others — and Myself — While I’m Dying appeared first on BahaiTeachings.org.
Father John Nepil of the Archdiocese of Denver celebrates Mass on top of Wetterhorn Peak in the San Juan Mountains in Colorado. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Father John Nepil
Denver, Colo., Oct 13, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).
The state of Colorado is home to 54 “14ers” — mountain peaks that are at least 14,000 feet above sea level. The difficulty of these summits ranges from easy to what many would consider dangerous. Many Coloradoans have completed at least one 14er, but Father John Nepil, the vice rector and a professor of theology at St. John Vianney Theological Seminary in the Archdiocese of Denver, is one of the few who can say he has summited all 54 peaks — not once but twice.
Nepil hiked his first 14er when he was in seventh grade and hated it. However, soon after, “something awoke in me and I fell in love, and I’ve been climbing them ever since,” he told CNA in an interview.
When Nepil was in his 20s he completed all 54 14ers for the first time. Last year, on the feast of the Guardian Angels, atop Mount of the Holy Cross, he completed the 54 for a second time — this time as a priest and with the celebration of Mass at the top of each peak.
The first Mass he celebrated at the top of a 14er was a week after his ordination in May 2011. Now, after 13 years, he can say he has celebrated Mass on every 14er in the state.
“Saying Mass on the summit of 14ers is probably the greatest gift and privilege of my whole life,” he said. “I don’t think there’s anything I’ve desired more that’s awoken my interior depths more profoundly. It’s just absolutely truly the summit of my priestly life.”
“Then of course being a priest and being a shepherd and a guide spiritually,” he added, “helping people physically climb to the heights and doing that in such a way as to lead them to the spiritual heights in Christ — that to me is what has made priestly life so deeply meaningful and impactful.”
Another aspect Nepil touched on was how taking individuals on hikes serves as an opportunity for fellowship and evangelization.
Nepil shared that when he was a newly ordained priest, he was assigned as the chaplain at the University of Colorado in Boulder. He realized very quickly that there were “a lot of great students there but a lot of their friends didn’t feel comfortable coming to Mass and didn’t want anything to do with church.”
He decided to start an outdoor club called Aquinas Alpine and began to take people on “adventures in the mountains, and that’s really where it became a ministerial life,” he said.
“You just hang out with people on the mountains and all the questions start to naturally come and the relationships form. It’s just an amazing atmosphere for facilitating communion but also for conversion.”
In his work now in the seminary, Nepil shared how he constantly encourages the men “to do hard things together.”
“Our world is built right now to eliminate discomfort, and that’s actually bad for our humanity,” he said. “As humans, we need to live with intention. We need to be challenged. Muscles need to be broken down so they can be rebuilt. It’s the same with relationships — that if we just kind of float on the surface and live comfortably we’re actually never growing and relationships aren’t being strengthened.”
“So we have to actively go into the backcountry and embrace a kind of preindustrial, non-technological life in order to recover our humanity, and when we do that together, it authenticates our relationships and deepens them in the reality of who we are as created beings.”
As for what individuals who go on hikes with him are taking away from the experience, he said he hopes it’s that they have a “qualitatively different experience of relationship.”
“As things slow down, things crystallize, perception is heightened, and that awakens spiritual questions and hopefully it begins to form a spiritual vision to interpret reality,” he said. “We’re made to interpret. Things are meaningful … but we only find true happiness and wholeness as persons when we interpret being and the experiences in our life as meaningful, and I think that the conditions of being in creation on a backcountry adventure really facilitates that in a deep way.”
Dallas Jenkins, creator, writer, and director of “The Chosen,” at ChosenCon 2024 in Orlando, Florida. / Credit: EWTN News screenshot/Francesca Pollio Fenton/CNA
CNA Staff, Oct 13, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).
When fans of the hit series “The Chosen” gathered at the Orlando World Center Marriott in Orlando, Florida, for the second annual “ChosenCon” in late September, CNA spoke with the creator and several of the cast members on the teal carpet about the future of the show and what fans can expect from Season 5, which focuses on the events of Holy Week.
Dallas Jenkins, the show’s creator, director, and writer, told CNA that Season 5 is “sad at times; it’s actually heartbreaking at times because we know we’re getting closer and closer to the cross … We’re going to get to see some iconic moments from Scripture, but we’re also going to, I believe, be drawn closer to who Jesus was because of his suffering.”
Ryan Swanson, one of the writers of “The Chosen,” added that Season 5 is “truly going to feel like a different kind of series. After Season 4’s dread and doom and foreshadowing, this is when the wick is lit.”
When asked how the writers prepare to portray the important and historical events of Holy Week, Swanson emphasized the importance of relying on Scripture and pointed out that “as much as 30% of the Scriptures is about this week.”
“We get a huge assist from the Bible because there’s no other part of it that’s written as chronologically and as clearly as to the events of the week in time as this week. So all of that stuff is laid out for us,” he said. “I think our challenge becomes how do we tell it in a new way, especially to the initiate.”
“What we’re trying to do is we’re trying to tell the story honestly, factually, historically, but also to give it that ‘Chosen’ twist of what were these moments like for people who would’ve been there,” Swanson explained.
Knowing what lies ahead for her character and the impactful moments she is a part of, Elizabeth Tabish, the actress who portrays Mary Magdalene, shared that she has “tried to not think about that too much.”
“It’s daunting and I really want to do it well and honor that moment in the Gospels. So, I think I’m a little nervous,” she said. “In terms of preparation, I think I’m just going to pray a lot about it.”
Another character who will also be experiencing suffering in Season 5 is Mother Mary, portrayed by Vanessa Benavente.
“I still struggle to find exactly how she must’ve gone through this,” Benavente told CNA.
“She knows that her son has to fulfill his mission, but at the same time it’s her son. It’s that thing where you as a mother you have to learn how to let go of your children, but in this case, you know you’re letting him go do something that is to meet his end,” she shared.
“With my 2024 brain, being a mother myself, it’s so humongous, it’s so big, and I always go down to her faith must’ve been just as big, because it’s literally every mother’s nightmare what she will be going through in the next couple of seasons.”
As for Season 5 of “The Chosen,” an official release date has not yet been announced but fans can expect it to be released in 2025.
You can read more about the announcements made at ChosenCon regarding new projects here.
Host Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush talks with Dr. Matthew D. Taylor, author of the new book "The Violent Take It By Force: The Christian Movement That Is Threatening Our Democracy."
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