Learning to be Quick to Listen

Singer-songwriter Audrey Assad seeks to bring a message of Pope Francis about building bridges to the music business. "Paul is a pontifex, a builder of bridges," the Pope Francis said at a Mass May 8. "He doesn't want to become a builder of walls. ... This is the attitude of Paul in Athens: Build a bridge to their heart, in order then to take another step and announce Jesus Christ. As a musician, a unique way I live that out, being Catholic in an industry full of evangelicals and Protestants," Assad said, is to "establish bridges ... (to) be Catholic in the presence of people (who have) never encountered a Catholic before." A New Jersey native, Assad grew up in a Christian Plymouth Brethren home and never encountered a Catholic until she was 21. Then she met a high school student who changed her life. A Catholic involved in LifeTeen ministries, he knew his faith really well, and he "asked me questions that challenged my faith," Assad recalled...

The Holy Spirit made it possible for everyone to hear the apostles in their own language on Pentecost, uniting people who were divided, Pope Francis said, calling on Christians to witness to the faith in a way that reconciles and is forgiving. "We should all ask ourselves: ‘how do I let myself be guided by the Holy Spirit so that my witness of faith is one of unity and communion? Do I bring the message of reconciliation and love that is the Gospel to the places where I live?’” the Pope recently said. The descent of the Holy Spirit undid “the dispersion of peoples and the confusion of tongues” that began with the Tower of Babel, the Pope noted, explaining that the men of the time acted with “arrogance and pride” in wanting to build the tower on their “own strength, and without God.” Pope Francis address to the crowd of around 50,000 pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square was dedicated to examining the phrase from the Creed, “We believe in One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.” The talk...

Why are we so obsessed with knowing everything? If we hear a little bit of gossip, we clamor to find out more. The advertising world knows this. That is why they release dribbles of information to pique our interest and keep us wanting more. It is also what drives many people to constantly question when Jesus Christ will return to earth. People present themselves as "prophets" to proclaim that they know when the world will end. They tell us that Jesus is coming on a certain date. But the scriptures are very clear on this matter. Jesus himself tells us in Acts of the Apostles 1:6-8, So when they had come together, they asked him, "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Sama'ria and to the end of the ...

Uncertainty over what constitutes coercive “proselytism,” which is barred by military policy, has led to concern and criticism of recent statements by the U.S. Department of Defense. “Service members can share their faith (evangelize), but must not force unwanted, intrusive attempts to convert others of any faith or no faith to one's beliefs (proselytization),” Defense Department spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Nathan Christensen said May 2. Military commanders take action on complaints of religious harassment “based on the gravity of occurrence on a case by case basis,” he said in a statement. Christensen said the Defense Department works to ensure that service members are free to practice their religion “in a manner that is respectful of other individuals’ rights to follow their own belief systems; and in ways that are conducive to good order and discipline.” The statement comes amid concerns regarding reports claiming that Defense Department policy would put Christians at risk of facing cou...

Dialogue doesn't work with the devil; the only defense is the word of God, humility and meekness, especially in response to his works of hatred and persecution, Pope Francis said. "Humility and meekness: These are the weapons that the prince of the world, the spirit of the world does not tolerate, because he makes proposals for worldly power, proposals of vanity, proposals for riches," he said in his daily morning Mass homily. The pope celebrated Mass in the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae, where he lives, with members of the Swiss Guard, including their commander, Col. Daniel Anrig. In his homily, the pope talked about the origin of hatred and how Jesus told his disciples of the spite and persecution awaiting them, as told in the day's reading from chapter 15 of the Gospel according to St. John. "Remember the word I spoke to you, 'No slave is greater than his master.' If they persecute me, they will also persecute you," he cited from the Gospel.

The biggest threat to the church is worldliness, Pope Francis said in his daily morning Mass homily. A worldly church becomes weak, and while people of faith can look after the church, only God "can look evil in the eye and overpower it," he said April 30. The pope celebrated the Mass with members of the Vatican's investment agency in the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae, where he lives. The day's reading from the Gospel of St. John recounts Jesus telling his disciples, "I will no longer speak much with you, for the ruler of the world is coming;" but Satan "has no power over me." The pope said, "If we don't want the prince of this world to take the church in his hands, we have to entrust her to the only one who can defeat the prince of this world. Entrusting the church to the Lord is a prayer that makes the church grow" and is an act of faith because "we can do nothing. All of us are poor servants of the church," he said.