POPE TALK | KAIROS GLOBAL | JANUARY 2024

Author: Dr Kochurani Joseph

• Indeed, both synodality and ecumenism are rooted in the baptismal dignity of the entire people of God. Together they invite renewed commitment to the vision of a missionary synodal Church.

• Technological focus on efficiency dehumanises today’s society and this secularised world is invitation to communicate the joy of the Gospel.

• The Gospel is not merely an abstract project, nor just a repetition of an acquired style, but it is built upon dialogue that requires frequenting the spaces where one suffers, works, studies, and reflects, inhabiting the crossroads where human beings share what has meaning for their lives.

• The Bible shows us that when God calls a person and makes a pact with some of them, the criterion is always this: elect someone to reach many others. God chooses one to love everyone, to reach everyone

• Trust in the Lord, which frees our hearts, makes us active and creative in goodness. Trust frees, fear paralyses. Fear blocks, trust unblocks our abilities.

• The fullness of love is the path of holiness and sanctity of spouses, as well as the particular sanctity of two distinct people, is also common sanctity in conjugality of the personal gift of each one, which is communicated.

• Christians who are always resentful and full of complaints are not credible witnesses to the Gospel because joy is an essential ingredient for evangelisation.

• Immersed in today’s fast-paced and confused environment, we too may find ourselves living our faith with a subtle sense of resignation, persuaded that the Gospel is no longer heard and no longer worth striving to proclaim. We might even be tempted by the idea of letting others go their own way.

• Cultivate ‘the inner life’ rather than appearance and image; it is the stewardship of the inner life and the oil of my soul matters most. 

• This rule is always valid for a priest, a pastoral worker, a politician, a teacher, or a parent: What you say, what you preach to others, be committed to living it first yourself. The double aspect of the distance between saying and doing and the primacy of the exterior over the interior and duplicity of heart that puts at risk the authenticity of our witness and our credibility as persons and as Christians.

JANUARY

For the Gift of Diversity in the Church

Let us pray that the Holy Spirit helps us recognise the gift of different charisms within the Christian community, and to discover the richness of different ritual traditions in the heart of the Catholic Church.