Christianity

True faith.

Holy Mass(1h40mn) : Opening of the XVI General Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops
« Let us start from the gaze of Jesus, which is a blessing and welcoming gaze. »
« Despite facing rejection, the Christ does not allow Himself “to be imprisoned by disappointment,” but instead looks to the Father, remaining “serene even in the storm,” the Pope said.
He explained that Jesus invites us to be a Church that contemplates God’s action and discern the present ; “a Church that does not face today’s challenges and problems with a divisive and contentious spirit but, on the contrary, turns its eyes to God who is communion and, with awe and humility, blesses and adores Him, recognizing Him as its only Lord.” »

(personal thought, perhaps that :)
We could all technically say that our words are words of God, yet only the perfect words are truly God's words.
We could all technically say that we're daughters/sons of God, yet only perfect beings are the true daughters/sons of God.

Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 137:1-6
By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept at the memory of Zion.
On the poplars there we had hung up our harps.
For there our gaolers had asked us to sing them a song, our captors to make merry, 'Sing us one of the songs of Zion.'
How could we sing a song of Yahweh on alien soil?
If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand wither!
May my tongue remain stuck to my palate if I do not keep you in mind, if I do not count Jerusalem the greatest of my joys.

Gospel, Luke 9:57-62
As they travelled along they met a man on the road who said to him, 'I will follow you wherever you go.'
Jesus answered, 'Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head.'
Another to whom he said, 'Follow me,' replied, 'Let me go and bury my father first.'
But he answered, 'Leave the dead to bury their dead; your duty is to go and spread the news of the kingdom of God.'
Another said, 'I will follow you, sir, but first let me go and say good -- bye to my people at home.'
Jesus said to him, 'Once the hand is laid on the plough, no one who looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.'

The surah of the day being even more interesting than the gospel of the day, and since we're praising the same Creator :
Qur'an, An-Nur("The Light"), Surah 24:41-44
Do you not see that Allah is glorified by all those in the heavens and the earth, even the birds as they soar ? Each instinctively knows their manner of prayer and glorification. And Allah has perfect knowledge of all they do.
To Allah alone belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth. And to Allah is the final return.
Do you not see that Allah gently drives the clouds, then joins them together, piling them up into masses, from which you see raindrops come forth ? And He sends down from the sky mountains of clouds loaded with hail, pouring it on whoever He wills and averting it from whoever He wills. The flash of the clouds’ lightning nearly takes away eyesight.
Allah alternates the day and night. Surely in this is a lesson for people of insight.

Saint of the day : St. Francis of Assisi, Founder of the Franciscan Order, Patron of Italy

The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has published Pope Francis' response to "dubia" (questions; literally "doubts") presented by five Cardinals. The questions concerning the interpretation of Divine Revelation, the blessing of same-sex unions, synodality as a constitutive dimension of the Church, the priestly ordination of women, and repentance as a necessary condition for sacramental absolution.
Here are the answers

Saint of the day : St Candida, Martyr on the via Portuense : One of the many roman martyrs. No particulars have survived.

Qur'an, Al-Hajj(, the Pilgrimage), Surah 22:34-41
For every nation, We have appointed a rite so that they might mention Allah’s Name over the livestock He has provided them. Your God is the One God, so submit to Him. And give good news to the humble — those whose hearts tremble with awe when Allah is mentioned, and who are patient through whatever visits them, and who maintain the prayer and spend out of what We have provided them.
We have appointed for you the [sacrificial] camels as part of Allah’s sacraments. There is good for you in them. So mention the Name of Allah over them as they stand. And when they have fallen on their flanks, eat from them, and feed the self-contained needy and the mendicant. (...) It is not their flesh or blood that reaches Allah; rather, it is your piety that reaches Him. Thus has He disposed them for your benefit so that you may magnify Allah for His guiding you. And give good news to the virtuous.
(...) Those who, if We granted them power in the land, will maintain the prayer, give the zakat, bid what is right and forbid what is wrong.

From the Gospel according to Matthew Mt 18:1-5.10

The disciples approached Jesus and said, "Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?"
He called a child over, placed it in their midst, and said, "Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven.
Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.
And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me.

"See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father."

General audience, 18 March 2015

We are all sons and daughters. And this always brings us back to the fact that we did not give ourselves life but that we received it. The great gift of life is the first gift that we received.
(...) simply by their presence, [children] remind us that each and every one of us is a son or daughter.

But there are so many gifts, so many riches that children bring to humanity. I shall mention only a few.

They bring their way of seeing reality, with a trusting and pure gaze. A child has spontaneous trust in his father and mother; he has spontaneous trust in God, in Jesus, in Our Lady.
At the same time, his interior gaze is pure, not yet tainted by malice, by duplicity, by the “incrustations” of life which harden the heart. We know that children are also marked by original sin, that they are selfish, but they preserve purity, and interior simplicity. But children are not diplomats : they say what they feel, say what they see, directly. (…)
Children — in their interior simplicity — bring with them the capacity to receive and give tenderness. Tenderness is having a heart “of flesh” and not “of stone”, as the Bible says (cf. Ezekiel 36:26). Tenderness is also poetry : it is “feeling” things and events, not treating them as mere objects, only to use them, because they are useful. (...)

For all these reasons, Jesus invited his disciples to “become like children”, because “the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like them” (cf. Mt 18:3 ; Mk 10:14).

Saint of the day : Sts Guardian Angels.

This talk is long but great. Fr. Freeman has great material on understanding and dealing with shame and often offers poignant anti-modern critiques. In this video he focuses on what it means to be human, the illusion of control and being tolerant. Seriously worth a watch (or listen!)

For the skeptics, I encourage you to watch the video in it's entirety before downvoting or criticizing.

I listen to this video when I need a reminder true repentance.

I think this video is relevant given the recent negative post about Orthodoxy. I love this channel because it's honest. In this case it's honest about how the church isn't free from the flaws of humanity and how converts can be driven by non-Christian motives.