Thursday, July 28, 2016

Papal Notes - "ALL CORNERS OF THE WORLD"

 ....and all the world wondered after the beast.
Revelation 13:3
"According to official estimates, some 500,000 people attended the July 28 Mass with Pope Francis outside the Jasna Góra monastery, where the famous image of Our Lady of Częstochowa is housed.Participants at a youth jamboree Francis is attending this week in Krakow swayed and clapped Thursday evening as they moved to bouncy rhythms
while Francis took in the show from a canopied platform.
Participants twirled flags from their homelands, including from Africa and South America, as the Argentine pope listened to greetings in many languages. One woman belted out a U.S. gospel music number.
Among the joyful was Alyson Radford, 27, of Steubenville, Ohio. She says “I feel so blessed to be where the pope is.”
Pope Francis has been greeted during the official inauguration of World Youth Day, a global Catholic celebration taking place in Krakow, Poland, with messages by young people in different languages and dance and musical performances.
As Francis sat on a stage in his white robe, he watched a dance performance below by youth in traditional colorful Polish costumes as well as tango, a tradition in his native Argentina.
Next came a procession of various national flags representing all corners of the world.
Pope Francis has taken a ride with disabled young people through the heart of Krakow in an electric tram — underlining his mission to fight climate change.....
Poland’s former president and Solidarity founder Lech Walesa, a devout Catholic, says a late
invitation prevented him from attending the Mass celebrated by Pope Francis at the nation’s holiest shrine of Jasna Gora.
Francis centered his homily for the Mass on the readings, starting with Paul's letter to the Galatians.
This reading speaks of Jesus coming at the “fullness of time” which, the Pope said, was “a gift of grace: God filled our time out of the abundance of his mercy. Out of sheer love he inaugurated the fullness of time.”The pontiff noted the particular significance of God entering into history by being “born of a woman.”
Pope Francis indicated to the image of Our Lady of Częstochowa, and reflected on Mary as a sign of “the fullness of time.”
In her, we find complete conformity to the Lord,” he said, adding that there is a “Marian thread” woven into history with the “divine thread.”
If there is any human glory, any merit of our own in the fullness of time, it is she,” he said. Mary is that space, preserved free from sin, where God chose to mirror himself.”She is the stairway God took to descend and draw near to us. She is the clearest sign of the fullness of time.”
WashingtonPost