At the General Audience the Pope speaks of the unity of the Church and makes two appeals. Help refugee families. Life must be defended in all its dimensions and at every stage

At the General Audience the Pope speaks of the unity of the Church and makes two appeals.

Help refugee families.

Life must be defended in all its dimensions and at every stage

Dear Brothers and Sisters, good morning!
Today I am pausing to reflect on another expression by which the Second Vatican Council indicates the nature of the Church: body; the Council says that the Church is the Body of Christ (cf. Lumen Gentium, n. 7).
I would like to start with a text from the Acts of the Apostles that we know well: the conversion of Saul, who will then be called Paul, one of the greatest evangelizers (cf. Acts 9:4-5). Saul is a persecutor of Christians, but while he is travelling along the road to the city of Damascus, suddenly a light enfolds him, he falls to the earth and hears a voice saying to him: “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”. He asks: “Who are you, Oh Lord?”, and the voice responds: “I am Jesus whom you persecuted” (v. 3-5). This experience of St Paul speaks to us of how profound the union between us Christians and Christ really is. When Jesus ascended into heaven he did not leave us orphans, but through the gift of the Holy Spirit our union with him became even more intense. The Second Vatican Council says that “by communicating his Spirit, Christ mystically constitutes as his body those brothers of his who are called together from every nation” (Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium, n. 7)
The image of the body helps us to understand this profound bond Church-Christ, that St Paul developed in a particular way in his First Letter to Corinthians (cf. Chapter 12). First of all, the body reminds of a living reality. The Church is not a welfare, a cultural or a political association but a living body, that walks and acts in history. And this body has a head, Jesus, who guides, feeds and supports it. This is a point that I would like to emphasize: if one separates the head from the rest of the body, the whole person cannot survive. It is like this in the Church: we must stay connected in an ever deeper way with Jesus. But not only that: just as it is important that the body receive vital lymph so that it may live, so must we allow Jesus to work in us, let his Word guide us, his presence in the Eucharist feed us, give us life, let his love give strength to our love for neighbour. And this for always! Always, always! Dear brothers and sisters, let us stay united to Jesus, let us trust in him, let us orient our life according to his Gospel, let us be nourished by daily prayer, by listening to the Word of God, by sharing in the Sacraments.
And here I come to a second aspect of the Church as the Body of Christ. St Paul says that as the limbs of the human body, diverse and many, form a single body, so we who have been baptized through the one Spirit into the one body (cf. 1 Cor 12:12-13). In the Church thus, there is variety, diversity of roles and functions; there is no flat uniformity, but a wealth of gifts that the Holy Spirit distributes. Yet, there is communion and unity: everyone relates to one another and come together to form a single living body, deeply tied to Christ. Let us remember this well: to be part of the Church means to be united to Christ and receive from him the divine life that makes us live as Christians; it means to stay united to the Pope and to the Bishops who are instruments of unity and communion; and it also means to learn to overcome personal ambition and division, to understand each other better, to harmonize the variety and the richness of each person; in a word to love God more and people who are beside us, in the family, in the parish, in associations. Body and limbs, in order to live, must be united! Unity is superior to conflict, always! Conflicts if not resolved, separate us from each other, separate us from God. Conflict can help us to grow, but it can also divide us. Let us not go down the path of division, of struggle among ourselves! All united, all united in our differences, but united, always: this is the way of Jesus. Unity is superior to conflict. Unity is a grace that we must ask the Lord for that he may liberate us from the temptation of division, of war between ourselves, selfishness, of gossip. How much evil gossip does, how much evil! Never gossip about others, never! So much damage to the Church comes from division among Christians, being factional, narrow interests. Division among us, but also division among communities: Evangelical Christians, Orthodox Christians, Catholic Christians, why are we divided? We must try to bring unity. I will tell you something: today, before leaving home, I was for 40 minutes, more or less, a half hour, with an evangelical pastor and we prayed together and sought unity. Because we have to pray together as Catholics and also with other Christians, pray that the Lord give us the gift of unity, unity among us. But how will we have unity among Christians if we are not capable of it among ourselves, as Catholics? Or in our families? So many families are fight and are divided! Seek unity, the unity that makes us Church. Unity comes from Jesus Christ. He sends the Holy Spirit to us to create unity.
Dear brothers and sisters, let us ask God: help us to be members of the Body of the Church, every more deeply united to Christ; help us not to cause the Body of the Church to suffer through our conflicts, our divisions, our selfishness. Help us to be living limbs tied one to the other by that singular force, love, that the Holy Spirit may change our hearts (cf. Rom 5:5).


Special groups:


I offer an affectionate greeting to all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors present at today’s Audience, including those from England, Scotland, Slovakia, Sweden, South Africa, Papua New Guinea, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, the West Indies and the United States. May your stay in the Eternal City confirm you in love for our Lord and for his Body which is the Church. God bless you all!
I address a special thought to the young people, to the sick and to newlyweds.
I thank you for your presence at this encounter. I ask you to pray for me and for my service to the Church, and I hope for each one of you abundant graces, that you may be reinforced in your generous fidelity to the call of the Lord.


Appeal:


 Tomorrow the World Day for Refugees will be celebrated. This year we are asked to consider in particular the situation refugee families, often forced from their homes and homeland suddenly, losing all their possessions and security in order to escape violence, persecution or grave discrimination because of the religion they profess, the ethnic group they belong to or their political ideas.
In addition to the dangers of migration, these families often risk being broken up and, in the countries that receive them, they must come to terms with cultures and societies different from their own.  We cannot be insensitive to the families and to all our brothers and sisters who are refugees; we are called to help them, opening ourselves to understanding and hospitality. May people and institutions that help them never be lacking anywhere in the world; their faces reflect the face of Christ!

Last Sunday, during this Year of Faith, we celebrated the God who is Life and the source of life, Christ who gives us the gift of divine life, and the Holy Spirit who keeps us in our vital relationship as true children of God. I would like once more to invite everyone to witness to the “Gospel of Life”, to promote and defend life in all its dimensions and at every stage. The Christian is the person who says “yes” to life, who says “yes” to God, the Living One.




fuente: http://www.osservatoreromano.va/portal/dt?JSPTabContainer.setSelected=JSPTabContainer%2FDetail&last=false=&path=/news/vaticano/2013/140q13-All-udienza-generale-il-Papa-parla-dell-uni.html&title=Help%20refugee%20families&locale=en