Jordyn Glover, a senior at Holy Cross High School, helped Mary, Mother of God Parish design this billboard which has been put up at the intersection of North Main Avenue and Providence Road in Scranton. The billboard, which reads, “Families Need a Stable Background,” is an invitation to the community to return to church this Christmas. (Photo/Eric Deabill)
SCRANTON – With thousands of drivers passing by it each day, a Scranton parish hopes a new billboard will remind them of the importance of Christmas.
Mary, Mother of God Parish has put up the billboard at the intersection of North Main Avenue and Providence Road in North Scranton, aiming to catch their eye and invite them to church.
“We have to work very hard to come up with new and creative ways to get the message out, to get the invitation public. We put campaign-style signs all over North Scranton in visible places which said, ‘Shopping for a church this Christmas’ with our very visible, massive church that most people recognize if they live in the city of Scranton. The billboard was the next step up,” Father Cyril Edwards, pastor, said.
The billboard features the words “Families Need a Stable Background.”
It features a drawing of the parish along with the manger scene in front.
Father Edwards asked Advanced Placement Art students at Holy Cross High School in Dunmore for help in designing the billboard.
Senior Jordyn Glover responded.
“I just always loved to draw, even with chalk, simply on a sidewalk, even with a rock,” Glover explained. “I just wanted to showcase Jesus and Mary.”
With the billboard in place, Father Edwards is hoping it has an impact.
“In a day where the Advent season is lost to secular shopping, if we’re not reaching the family, we’re wasting our time. If it’s not about the stable, then we’re just shopping for presents. It has to be about celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ,” Father Edwards explained.
Glover was excited the first time she saw her billboard on full display.
“It was really amazing,” she said. “I just like driving by it now. It’s really amazing that something I did is out there.”
Father Edwards says if the billboard helps to bring one person back to church – or even make Jesus present in the minds of people – the effort will have all been worth it.
“The church exists to evangelize,” he noted. “If it just catches a few eyes, oh yeah, I need to get going back to church … it is worth it.”
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Parishioners of Saint John the Baptist Church in Larksville take pride in the dough they use to make their popular pierogies. (Photos/Dan Gallagher)
LARKSVILLE – For parishioners at Saint John the Baptist Parish, it is all about the “pinch.” The perfect “pierogi pinch” that is.
Beginning on Oct. 25 – and continuing every Monday morning through Dec. 6 – dozens of parishioners gathered in the basement of their church to prepare all of the delicious dumplings that were to be sold for the parish’s annual Advent Pierogi Sale.
“Pierogi are kind of synonymous with Christmas, just like the Christmas tree and the manger,” Rev. Gerald J. Gurka, pastor, Saint John the Baptist Parish, said.
With their fingers deep in dough, each volunteer explained why they loved coming together to make the thousands of pierogies necessary.
Volunteers work hard to pinch each pierogi to make sure it doesn’t leak when it is cooked.
“Everybody loves to be together. It really is a mission of love. We get to share our good pierogies with people all around the valley,” parishioner Rose Feddock said.
For many in the room, making pierogies is also a beloved family tradition.
“I think it’s passed on from generations. Their parents or great-grandparents, they all made the pierogies,” she added.
The pierogi pinching party always brings back personal memories for Father Gurka. He believes the beloved tradition helps to unite the past and present.
“My mother would always make pierogies on the Sunday before Christmas so you have those wonderful memories and I think pierogies bring back those wonderful memories to people with their loved ones that are no longer here,” he said.
The basement of Saint John the Baptist Church in Larksville was busy recently on Monday mornings as volunteers came together to make pierogies for the parish’s annual Advent pierogi sale.
Bob Lewis, longtime volunteer, said the pierogi pinching parties have become a well-oiled operation.
“We all have a specialty here. Everyone knows their job and it just goes really smooth,” Lewis explained.
But – what is the secret to the perfect pierogi? What makes people come back year after year to Saint John the Baptist Church? Is it the dough, the filling, or the perfect pinch?
Unfortunately, the volunteers won’t tell.
“That’s a secret. The ingredients are a secret and only Father Jerry knows!” Lewis joked.
What is known is one of the benefits of the pierogi pinching parties. All ages are involved, including many young people.
Josephine Krzak and her sister, Virginia, were eager to help this year.
“My grandparents are here and it’s fun,” Josephine explained. “It’s not work, like chores or anything, it’s being with friends.”
The young women helped wherever they were needed, from passing out supplies to bringing the pinched pierogies over to be cooked.
Father Gurka is thankful to all of the parishioners who volunteer their time to help the parish. Each Monday, some arrive as early as 3:30 a.m. to get the stoves and supplies ready.
“That’s a lot of sacrifice and a lot of love for parish and I think they extend that love to the tables of the people when they take the pierogis home with them,” Father Gurka ended by saying.
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Following the release of the Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report in August 2018, Bishop Joseph C. Bambera made a promise that he would be open and transparent in the way that the Diocese of Scranton handles occurrences of child sexual abuse. That commitment remains true.
In August 2018, the Diocese published on its website a list of all clergy, staff and volunteers who had been credibly accused of child sexual abuse. Since that time, additional names have been added to the online list as necessary, with public notification.
The Diocese was recently notified by the Franciscan Friars, Holy Name Province, that the name of a friar who had previously been stationed in ministry within the Diocese was being included on its listing against whom credible sexual abuse/misconduct claims have been made. As a result of this information, the
Diocese of Scranton has also decided to add the following name to its original list of credibly accused individuals:
MEMBERS OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS
Hennessy, Placid (OFM)
If you are aware of additional allegations of wrongdoing or any information that should be included on this list, please contact our Victim Assistance Coordinator, Mary Beth Pacuska at (570) 862-7551 or Father Gerald W. Shantillo, V.G., S.T.L., Vicar General, at (570) 207-2269. If you have suffered abuse by clergy or anyone working on behalf of the Diocese, you are encouraged to immediately contact law enforcement and/or Mary Beth Pacuska.
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A group of dancers in the procession to Saint Nicholas Church make their way through the streets of Wilkes-Barre. (Photos/Mike Melisky)
WILKES-BARRE – Masses and special processions were held throughout the Diocese of Scranton on Dec. 12 to celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
More than 300 people took to the streets of Wilkes-Barre for a procession that started on Old River Road and ended up at Saint Nicholas Parish on South Washington Street. Throughout the entire procession, a statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe was hoisted high on a rose-covered platform as the faithful danced, sang and threw rose petals in her honor.
Andrea Perez, who is originally from Mexico, calls the procession a beloved tradition.
“The Virgin Mary is the mother of Jesus and that is why we love her,” she explained. “We are from Mexico and she appeared in Mexico.”
Hundreds of people celebrate the 1 p.m. Mass at Saint John Neumann Parish in South Scranton for the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
The annual Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe commemorates the appearance of the Virgin Mary to a Mexican Indian peasant – now venerated as Saint Juan Diego – in December 1531 in Tepeyac, near present-day Mexico City. The Blessed Mother’s appearance is believed to have resulted in millions of conversions to Catholicism, and her message of hope continues to inspire those of Hispanic descent.
“For us, this is one of the biggest events,” Gilberto Vasquez, parishioner of Saint Nicholas Church, said. “She is the mother of Jesus and our mother too!”
The procession featured every age group. Yasmin Guzman, a young adult herself, says she has been participating since she was little.
“We do this all together as a family tradition and it’s been going on from generation to generation,” Guzman said.
Bishop Joseph C. Bambera blesses the statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe at Saint Nicholas Church.
Father Fidel Ticona of Saint Nicholas Parish was not surprised by the large crowd that turned out for the procession or the 5 p.m. Mass that followed with the Most Reverend Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton.
“Our Blessed Mother holds a special place in our hearts, especially among the Hispanic community. She is our intercessor. She is our friend. She is our mother who walks with us, who understands our joys and also our needs and sufferings,” he said.
In addition to the Mass at Saint Nicholas Parish, Bishop Bambera also celebrated Mass for the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe – which took place on the Third Sunday in Advent – at Saint John Neumann Parish in Scranton.
Long before sunrise, beginning at 3 a.m., parishioners of Saint John Neumann Parish also held a procession from the Cathedral of Saint Peter to Saint John Neumann Parish. The bishop joined the faithful for a Mass at 1 p.m.
“We gather today in joy and gratitude to celebrate many things: our cultural roots, our traditions, but most especially our faith – a faith that reminds us all that with faith in God, all things are possible,” Bishop Bambera noted in his homily.
Bishop Bambera also shared words from Pope Francis, in which he said, “because she is the handmaid of the Lord, she became a servant of her brothers.”
“It would be well for us to learn from her example and to reflect upon our relationship with Jesus and the simple gifts that he comes to bring: the gift of life, the gift of each new day, the gift of faith and peace at our center and the gift of joy, born from our service of our brothers and sisters,” the bishop said.
Our Lady of Guadalupe celebrations also took place at Saint Matthew Parish in East Stroudsburg, Annunciation Parish in Hazleton, Holy Name of Jesus Parish in West Hazleton, Sacred Hearts of Jesus & Mary Parish in Jermyn, Saint Joachim Parish in Meshoppen and Saint Boniface Parish in Williamsport.
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HANOVER TOWNSHIP —The new year will bring with it a new addition to the landscape of Catholic cemeteries covered by the umbrella of care offered by the Diocese of Scranton.
As of New Year’s Day, Jan. 1, 2022, the historic Saint Mary’s Cemetery in Hanover Township will be among those under the direction and management of the central office of Scranton Diocesan Cemeteries, which is supervised by Dominic Rinaldi.
Diocesan cemeteries are classified as such due to the number of their annual interments — and the full-time staff required to manage them — being deemed too great for a single parish to maintain.
According to Rinaldi, the transition of Saint Mary’s from a parish to Diocesan cemetery was necessitated by last summer’s linkage of the Wilkes-Barre parishes of Our Lady of Fatima and Saint Nicholas.
The city parish communities, which are in close proximity of each other, are now under the pastorship of Father Joseph Verespy, who assumed the pastorate of Our Lady of Fatima Parish, with its worship site of Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception Church, as he continues to serve as pastor of Saint Nicholas Parish.
“Saint Mary’s Cemetery has for decades been a place of prayer, loving remembrance and hope in the promise of resurrection and eternal life,” Father Verespy commented, regarding the cemetery’s new designation. “While the operation of the cemetery will be carried out under the direction of the Diocese of Scranton, faithful can be assured that Saint Mary’s will continue to be tended to with the same care and reverence as always.”
Rinaldi stated that his office was notified of the cemetery’s transition in July, at which time it was determined that Saint Mary’s would join the five other active Diocesan cemeteries of Cathedral in Scranton; Saint Catherine’s in Moscow; Holy Cross in Old Forge; Mount Olivet in Wyoming; and Calvary in Drums.
“Since then, an analysis was conducted with employees regarding policy, procedure, software and capital needs,” Rinaldi said, further commenting that area funeral directors were apprised of the change in the cemetery’s status on Nov. 1.
While there are still some operational and personnel issues that need to be resolved, the Diocese of Scranton is committed to making the transition as smooth as possible for the families, employees, parish communities and all other stakeholders.
The director of Diocesan cemeteries indicated that there are currently seven full-time employees at Saint Mary’s Cemetery, which will increase the total number of full-time Diocesan cemetery staff members to 29.
“With the addition of Saint Mary’s to the Diocesan cemeteries, it will bring the total of interments at these cemeteries to more than 2,000 annually,” Rinaldi explained.
Established in 1881, Saint Mary’s Cemetery is located on Main Street in Hanover Township on 110 acres of land, with its graves and other interment sites currently serving as the final resting place for approximately 90,000 deceased.
Second only to Cathedral Cemetery as the largest in the Scranton Diocese, Saint Mary’s conducts some 500 interments annually.
Also noted is that Resurrection Cemetery in Montoursville, Lycoming County, transitioned from a Diocesan to parish cemetery on Sept. 1 and is currently under the direction of Father Glenn McCreary, V.E., pastor of Resurrection Parish in Muncy.
As Director of Diocesan Catholic Cemeteries, Dominic Rinaldi can be contacted at the Diocese of Scranton Chancery Administration Building, 300 Wyoming Ave., Scranton, PA 18503, or by phone at (570) 558-4310.
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Through the intercession of “Virgen de Guadalupe,” plans for the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe are proceeding with the hopes of providing as much celebration as possible amid the continuing COVID-19 pandemic.
Particularly in the areas of large Latino populations in the Diocese of Scranton, the annual observance commemorates the appearance of the Virgin Mary to a Mexican Indian peasant — now venerated as Saint Juan Diego — in December 1531 in Tepeyac, near present-day Mexico City.
The Blessed Mother’s appearance is believed to have resulted in millions of conversions to Catholicism, and her message of hope continues to inspire those of Hispanic descent.
In 1946, Pope Pius XII declared Our Lady of Guadalupe as Patroness of the Americas.
The Our Lady of Guadalupe feast on Dec. 12 will culminate a host of celebrations being planned throughout the Diocese, especially in those parishes made up of significant Hispanic/Latino communities.
December 12
2:00 p.m. Mass with a reception following Mass
Annunciation Parish
Hazleton
December 3 – 11
6:30 p.m. Rosary
7:00 p.m. Mass
December 12
12:00 p.m. Mass
Holy Name of Jesus Parish
Hazleton
December 12
12:00 p.m. Mass
Sacred Hearts of Jesus & Mary Parish, Jermyn
December 12
12:00 p.m. Mass with a reception following Mass
Saint Joachim Parish
Meshoppen
December 12
3:00 p.m. Mass with a reception following Mass
Saint John Neumann Parish, Scranton
December 3-11
6:30 p.m. Novena
December 12
3:00 a.m. procession from the Cathedral of Saint Peter to Saint John Neumann Parish.
4:30 a.m. – 6:30 a.m. –
Mañanitas with Mariachi
6:30 a.m. Mass with Mariachi
1:00 p.m. Mass with Bishop Joseph C. Bambera with a reception after Mass
(Chinelo Danza at Mass and at the Gym)
Saint Nicholas Parish
Wilkes-Barre
December 11
6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. Vigil
(Prayer and Danza)
December 12
5:00 a.m. Mañanitas
3:00 p.m. procession beginning at 368 Old River Road, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18702
5:00 p.m. Mass with Bishop Joseph C. Bambera with a reception after Mass
Saint Boniface Parish
Williamsport
December 12
4:30 p.m. Mass with a reception following Mass
Parroquia San Mateo
East Stroudsburg
Novena
Sábados 7 PM en la Iglesia
Diciembre 12
2:00 p.m. Misa
Recepción después de Misa
Parroquia Anunciación
Hazleton
Diciembre 3 – 11
6:30 p.m. Rosario
7:00 p.m. Misa
Diciembre 12
12:00 p.m. Misa
Parroquia Santo Nombre de Jesús, Hazleton
Diciembre 12
12:00 p.m. Misa
Parroquia Sagrado Corazón de Jesús y Maria, Jermyn
Diciembre 12
12:00 p.m. Misa
Recepción después de Misa
Parroquia San Joaquín, Meshoppen
Diciembre 12
3:00 p.m. Misa
Recepción después de Misa
Parroquia San Juan Neumann, Scranton
Diciembre 3-11
Novena 6:30 PM
Diciembre 12
3:00 a.m. Procesión desde la Catedral de San Pedro hasta la Iglesia San Juan Neumann
4:30 a.m. – 6:30 a.m. Mañanitas con Mariachi
6:30 a.m. Misa con Mariachi
1:00 a.m. Misa con el Obispo Bambera
Recepción después de Misa en el Gimnasio (Baile de Chinelos en misa y en el gimnasio)
Parroquia San Nicolás, Wilkes-Barre
Diciembre 11
6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. Vigilia (Oración y Danza)
Diciembre 12
5:00 a.m. Mañanitas (Almuerzo después de las Mañanitas)
3:00 p.m. Procesión comenzando en 368 Old River Road Wilkes Barre, PA 18702
5:00 p.m. Misa
Recepción después de Misa
Parroquia San Bonifacio, Williamsport
Diciembre 12
4:30 p.m. Misa
Recepción después de Misa
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A likeness of St. Joseph is seen in stained glass at Caldwell Chapel on the campus of The Catholic University of America in Washington May 25, 2021. (CNS photo/Tyler Orsburn)
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis closed the Year of St. Joseph with a private visit to a community in Rome that helps people experiencing marginalization, crisis or substance abuse.
“Do not be afraid of reality, of the truth, of our misery,” he told volunteers and the people they assist at the Good Samaritan home Dec. 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception. “Don’t be afraid because Jesus likes reality as it is, undisguised; the Lord does not like people who cover their soul, their heart with makeup.”
The Good Samaritan fraternity or home is part of the worldwide “Comunità Cenacolo,” which was founded in 1983 by Italian Sister Elvira Petrozzi to offer “God’s tenderness to the cry of desperation of so many young people who were lost, deceived and disappointed,” and had been seeking “the true meaning of life in the false light of the world,” according to the community’s mission statement.
Dozens of guests and members of the community welcomed the pope, who listened to the experiences several of them shared and watched a segment of a film on the life St. Joseph, which was produced by young people living at two fraternities in Medjugorje.
Among those welcoming the pope were the two children of Andrea and Antonia Giorgetti, who both recovered from drug dependencies and now run the Good Samaritan fraternity, reflecting the fact that a number of young people who find help at the fraternities go on to assist others.
The pope encouraged all the residents to “have the courage to tell others, ‘there is a better way.'”
Pope Francis also visited and blessed the fraternity’s new chapel, built by residents out of discarded wooden beams, travertine marble and other materials reclaimed from dumpsters and landfills.
Building something new and wonderful out of things that have been thrown away “is a concrete example of what we do here,” Father Stefano Aragno told Vatican News Dec. 8.
The pope led the prayer dedicated to St. Joseph to conclude the special year with those present.
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A composite photo shows damage to a statue of Our Lady of Fatima that stands with the three shepherd children near the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington Dec. 8, 2021. The hands and nose of the statue of Mary were cut off and the cross on her crown was broken off. Shrine officials said that around 10:45 p.m. Dec. 5, the perpetrator got to the statue by climbing a locked fence that surrounds a rosary walk and garden that includes the statue. (CNS composite; photos by Tyler Orsburn)
WASHINGTON (CNS) – Days ahead of a major Marian feast day in the Catholic Church, a marble statue of Our Lady of Fatima near the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington was vandalized, with Mary’s hands and nose cut off, her face scratched and the cross on her crown broken off.
On Dec. 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, a spokesman at the national shrine told Catholic News Service that around 10:45 p.m. Dec. 5, the perpetrator got to the statue by climbing a locked fence that surrounds a rosary walk and garden that includes the statue.
Video footage showed a masked person doing the damage, which was discovered the next morning. Police were investigating the vandalism.
“Though we are deeply pained by this incident, we pray for the perpetrator through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary under her title of Our Lady of Fatima,” Msgr. Walter Rossi, rector of the national shrine, said in a statement.
The Fatima statue and the garden around it were completed in 2017, the 100th anniversary of Mary’s appearances to three shepherd children in a field near Fatima, Portugal, with her message that eucharistic prayer, recitation of the rosary and penance would save souls and bring peace to the world.
One on side of the national shrine’s garden is the white Carrara marble sculpture of Our Lady of Fatima with the three child-visionaries at her feet, Lucia dos Santos and Jacinta and Francisco Marto. On the opposite side is the crucified Christ, sculpted from the same kind of marble.
A paved walkway, symbolic of the thread connecting a rosary’s beads, circles through and around the garden, taking visitors past groupings of colorful mosaics that illustrate the 20 mysteries of the rosary.
On Sept. 23, 2017, Bishop Frank J. Caggiano of Bridgeport, Connecticut, blessed the new garden, walking to the Fatima statue, then around the path.
The blessing followed a Mass the bishop and other clergy concelebrated in the national shrine’s Upper Church for 2,000 pilgrims from the Diocese of Bridgeport, along with pilgrims from the Philippines and China, the New York area and the Washington region.
Our Lady of Fatima’s message about prayer, conversion and peace that she imparted in 1917 “is as important now as it has ever been since,” Bishop Caggiano said in his homily.
“We come here to ask for her intercession,” he said. “She might lead every human heart to answer the question, ‘What is it that you are looking for?’ And we will answer it: ‘We are looking for your Son, and lead us to him.'”
Four years later, the attack on the national shrine’s statue of Our Lady of Fatima became one of the latest attacks in dozens of incidents of arson, vandalism and other destruction that have taken place at Catholic sites across the United States since May 2020.
In an Oct. 14, 2021, news release, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said the bishops’ Committee for Religious Liberty began tracking such incidents that May and by the time the release was issued, there had been 100 such incidents.
“These incidents of vandalism have ranged from the tragic to the obscene, from the transparent to the inexplicable,” the chairmen of the USCCB’s religious liberty and domestic policy committees said in a joint statement included in the release.
“There remains much we do not know about this phenomenon, but at a minimum, they underscore that our society is in sore need of God’s grace,” they said, calling on the nation’s elected officials “to step forward and condemn these attacks.”
“In all cases, we must reach out to the perpetrators with prayer and forgiveness,” said Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, chairman of the Committee for Religious Liberty, and Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, chairman of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development.
“Where the motive was retribution for some past fault of ours, we must reconcile; where misunderstanding of our teachings has caused anger toward us, we must offer clarity; but this destruction must stop. This is not the way,” they said.
“We thank our law enforcement for investigating these incidents and taking appropriate steps to prevent further harm,” Cardinal Dolan and Archbishop Coakley said. “We appeal to community members for help as well. These are not mere property crimes – this is the degradation of visible representations of our Catholic faith. These are acts of hate.”
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Pope Francis prays at a tall Marian statue overlooking the Spanish Steps in Rome Dec. 8, 2021, the feast of the Immaculate Conception. (CNS photo/Vatican Media via Reuters)
ROME (CNS) – An hour before sunrise, Pope Francis set a basket of white roses at the base of a statue of the Immaculate Conception in the center of Rome, praying Mary would help all who suffer.
“While it was still night,” the Vatican press office said Dec. 8, the pope prayed to Mary, “asking her for the miracle of a cure for the many people who are sick, for healing for people who are suffering so much because of wars and the climate crisis, and for conversion so that she would melt the stony hearts of those who build walls to keep the pain of others away.”
The pope arrived at Piazza di Spagna, near the Spanish Steps, at about 6:15 a.m., the press office said. Because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it was the second year in a row that the pope made an unannounced, early morning visit to the statue to avoid drawing a crowd.
Pope Francis arrived, prayed and was gone even before a brigade of Rome firefighters had arrived to hang a wreath of flowers from the statue’s outstretched arms.
The feast of the Immaculate Conception is a public holiday in Rome, and the pope’s usual late afternoon visit to the Spanish Steps normally draws thousands of people.
Before returning to the Vatican, the pope also stopped at the Basilica of St. Mary Major to pray, the Vatican said.
At noon, Pope Francis led the recitation of the Angelus prayer with visitors in St. Peter’s Square and spoke about Mary’s humility and the miracles God accomplishes through people who rely totally on him.
The Gospel reading for the feast is St. Luke’s account of the Angel Gabriel appearing to Mary and telling her she would be the mother of Jesus.
“The angel calls her ‘full of grace,'” the pope noted. “If she is full of grace, it means the Madonna is void of evil: She is without sin, immaculate.”
Pope Francis noted how instead of saying Mary was surprised by the angel’s greeting, she was “greatly troubled.”
“Mary does not credit prerogatives to herself, she does not hold claim to anything, she accounts nothing to her own merit,” the pope said. “She is not self-satisfied, she does not exalt herself. For in her humility, she knows she receives everything from God.”
“Mary Immaculate does not look on herself,” he said. “This is true humility: not looking on oneself but looking toward God and others.”
Pope Francis prayed that Mary would help all Christians understand that if they are humble and focused on God and on serving others, God can accomplish great things through them.
“May she enkindle enthusiasm in us for the ideal of sanctity which has nothing to do with holy cards and pictures but is about living humbly and joyfully what happens each day, freed from ourselves, with our eyes fixed on God and the neighbor we meet,” he said.
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Pope Francis uses incense to venerate a Marian image as he celebrates Mass in the Megaron Concert Hall in Athens, Greece, Dec. 5, 2021. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)
ATHENS, Greece (CNS) – God the Almighty almost always chooses the least mighty people and the most desolate places to reveal the power of his love, Pope Francis said.
Celebrating Mass Dec. 5 in Athens’ Megaron concert hall, the pope touched on a theme he had explored in depth with Catholic leaders the day before: the blessing and spiritual advantage of being a small community without power and without pretenses.
Catholics make up less than 2% of the population of Greece; more than 90% of the country’s residents belong to the Orthodox Church.
Noting how the day’s Gospel says the word of God came to John the Baptist “in the desert,” Pope Francis said, “There is no place that God will not visit.”
“Today we rejoice to see him choose the desert, to see him reach out with love to our littleness and to refresh our arid spirits,” he said. “Dear friends, do not fear littleness, since it is not about being small and few in number, but about being open to God and to others.”
The late-afternoon Mass was the pope’s last public event in Greece. After Mass he was to host a private visit by Orthodox Archbishop Ieronymos II, head of the Orthodox Church of Greece, and the next morning he was scheduled to visit a Catholic school before returning to Rome, concluding a five-day trip that began in Cyprus.
Celebrating Mass in the Greek capital after having flown to and from the outlying island of Lesbos for a meeting with migrants, Pope Francis’ homily focused both on recognizing God at work where he is least expected and on the Advent challenge of conversion.
St. Luke’s description of the call of St. John the Baptist lists the civil and religious leaders in office at the time. “We might have expected God’s word to be spoken to one of the distinguished personages” mentioned in the reading, the pope said. “Instead, a subtle irony emerges between the lines of the Gospel: from the upper echelons of the powerful, suddenly we shift to the desert, to an unknown, solitary man.”
“God surprises us,” the pope told the 2,000 people at Mass. “His ways surprise us, for they differ from our human expectations; they do not reflect the power and grandeur that we associate with him. Indeed, the Lord likes best what is small and lowly.”
The Gospel teaches that “being powerful, well-educated or famous is no guarantee of pleasing God, for those things could actually lead to pride and to rejecting him. Instead, we need to be interiorly poor, even as the desert is poor.”
The day’s reading also called for conversion, something that sounds difficult, he said, because too many people think of it as a rallying of personal strength in a struggle for perfection.
But the Greek word for conversion – “metanoia” – means “‘to think beyond,’ to go beyond our usual ways of thinking, beyond our habitual worldview – all those ways of thinking that reduce everything to ourselves, to our belief in our own self-sufficiency,” he said.
“To be converted, then, means not listening to the things that stifle hope, to those who keep telling us that nothing ever changes in life,” the pope said. “It means refusing to believe that we are destined to sink into the mire of mediocrity.”
“Everything changes when we give first place to the Lord. That is what conversion is,” Pope Francis insisted. “As far as Christ is concerned, we need only open the door and let him enter in and work his wonders.”