When the church has a problem to solve or a big decision to make, the Holy Spirit works by helping people discuss the issues openly and frankly, not by fomenting gossip and backroom deals, Pope Francis said. "In a church where people always argue and there are factions, and brothers and sisters betray each other, the Spirit is not there," he said in his homily May 8. The pope dedicated his morning Mass in the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae to Our Lady of Lujan, patroness of his native Argentina, whose feast was celebrated that day. "The Spirit is the one who brings something new, who moves the situation forward, who creates new areas, who creates the wisdom that Jesus promised" and who creates "harmonious unity among everyone," he said, according to Vatican Radio. The pope talked about the day's first reading from the Acts of the Apostles in which the First Council of Jerusalem met to solve a dispute concerning whether Gentiles converting to Christianity had to observe all the laws of Moses as the Jewish Christians did. "How do they solve the problem?" the pope asked.
Born during the turbulent era of the French Revolution, Saint Jeanne Jugan rose above hardship and a lack of formal schooling to become a profound vessel of Christ’s mercy. After losing her father at a young age and working through her youth as a kitchen maid and nurse, her life radically changed one freezing night when she encountered a blind, paralyzed elderly woman with nowhere to go. Jeanne carried the woman back to her own home, placed her in her own bed, and began a lifelong mission of radical hospitality. This act of profound love blossomed into the Little Sisters of the Poor , a thriving community dedicated to sheltering and honoring the destitute elderly. Despite later facing heavy trials—including being unjustly sidelined and stripped of her leadership by a controlling chaplain—Jeanne accepted her obscurity and exile with a joyful spirit, resting her complete trust in God's hidden providence until her death in 1879. In our daily lives, Saint Jeanne Jugan invites us to lo...