On account of the 450th anniversary of the birth of St. Mary Magdalen de’Pazzi, the Apostolic Penitentiary has granted that all Carmelite monasteries be places where people may obtain a plenary indulgence throughout this year, beginning on the 2nd of April, 2016 and ending on the 25th of May, 2017. The same applies to churches and chapels dedicated to her.

On the 2nd of April, the date of her birth in 1566, there will be a solemn opening of the centenary year in the monastery of Careggi (Florence, Italy) where her body is venerated.

Christus resurrexit!
Resurrexit vere! AlleluIa!

In Pascha Domini
A.D. 2016

Fernando Prior Generalis
Domusque Generalis Communitas

The Elective Chapter of the Carmelite Monastery of Camerino, Italy, was held 19 March 2016. The following were elected:

• Prioress:  Sr. M. Teresita Marino, O.Carm.
• 1st Councilor:   Sr. M. Paola Colletta, O.Carm.
• 2nd Councilor:  Sr. M. Simona Staffieri, O.Carm.
• Director of Novices:  Sr. M. Paola Colletta, O.Carm.
• Treasurer:  Sr. M. Simona Staffieri, O.Carm.
• Sacristan:  Sr. M. Grazia Di Palma, O.Carm.

Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, Archbishop of Genoa, and President of the Italian Bishops' Conference.

On 24 November [2008], at the Quadrivium Hall in Genoa, Italy, a meeting was held on the theme: "justice and Mercy". It was the first in a series of lectures entitled "Giving freely without boundaries". The following is a translation from Italian, of excerpts of the conference given by Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, Archbishop of Genoa, and President of the Italian Bishops' Conference.

The conviction reached by the Church in light of what she has witnessed during the 2,000 years of her history with biblical Revelation, is that... fallen order and broken harmony are not perfectly re-established without the unity of justice and mercy. I repeat: unity between them.

Indeed, it would be a real crime if in the current circumstances — facing the divisions prevalent in humanity and in individual countries, as well as the rivalry that sets tribes, families and individual peoples against one another one were to conclude that speaking of justice and mercy was utterly pointless.

Instead, I believe that despite the difficulties present in certain situations, one can and must speak of them. It is particularly important to do so when it is clearly understood that justice and mercy are not alternative terms, nor do they signify opposing goals. Considering the relationship between secularism and faith as if they belonged to two unrelated spheres is exactly how a certain contemporary sensibility likes to describe them.

John Paul II said in his fundamental Encyclical, Dives in misericordia, states that "It would be difficult not to notice that very often programmes which start from the idea of justice and which ought to assist its fulfillment among individuals, groups and human societies, in practice suffer from distortions. Although they continue to appeal to the idea of justice, nevertheless experience shows that other negative forces have gained the upper hand over justice, such as spite, hatred and even cruelty" (n. 12).

In fact, the experience of the past and of our time shows that human justice is always fragile and imperfect, exposed as it is to the limitations and conditioning of individuals or groups, and must therefore be exercised and in a certain sense — supported by mercy, which is the interior form of love. Indeed, John Paul II explains further, "it becomes more evident that love is transformed into mercy when it is necessary to go beyond the precise norm of justice —precise and often too narrow (ibid., n. 5).

The question of the relationship between justice and mercy is an ancient one that has marked the development of Western civilization from the outset. Every time that the mind has attempted to put order between tendentially adverse opposites, such as personal freedom and social order, sin and punishment, recovery and redemption the relationship between justice and mercy has arisen regularly.

Christianity entered into this speculative effort that was so prevalent in the Greek world — from Socrates to Aristotle and Plato — and in the Roman world — from Cicero to Seneca and to Marcus Aurelius — proposing a daring synthesis that was new while at the same time containing much classical thought; thus was it to leave its mark on history. In this synthesis the ordo iustitiae and the ordo amoris are distinct yet, at the same time, deeply permeate each other.

With the Christian proclamation, justice and mercy stopped being alternatives once and for all. They became virtues that are not only interconnected but also indispensable to each other.

"Mercy without justice is the mother of dissolution", St. Thomas was to say, adding that "justice without mercy is cruelty". It is a symbiotic relationship in which the dignity of the person is nevertheless its crucial compass, delegated to confer upon justice its own true dynamism, its true value. Thus it impels justice towards ever loftier goals which, finding fulfilment in mercy, bring humanity's journey to correspond ever more closely to the image of God impressed upon the human face.

Love "does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right", St. Paul says (I Cor 13:6). In fact, true mercy first requires justice, the necessary basis of social life, in which the order of Good must prevail. Those who wish to be merciful must first of all be just and feel the inner pangs produced by the "hunger and thirst for justice" of which Jesus speaks in the Sermon on the Mount.

If it wishes to take its full course mercy must first produce justice. For this reason, mercy neither opposes nor creates alibis for justice but rather contains justice as its principal expression and essential moment. Mercy, therefore, inspires and commands justice, giving it life and light so that it is better able to surpass its own rigid and formal definitions.

The most exalted expression of this perspective is found in the teaching and life of Christ. The Lord, in many Gospel passages, while manifesting what we today would call "respect for the institutions" and for the laws of the epoch, at the same time points out the way to a superior justice that goes beyond narrow, psychological justice and transfigures it.

And he does so until his very last breath. Tortured, violated and hung on the cross by the very representatives of the law, he is implored only by the "good thief", by a criminal. But it was to be precisely the "good thief" who, through his gesture of humility and repentance, was to first merit Paradise.

This is an effective realization of what Jesus himself had predicted to a social class that considered itself formally to be honest and observant of the law par excellence; that is, that "the tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you" (Mt. 21:31)

As we were saying, the admirable balance between laws and love, between justice and mercy, was never something peacefully acquired. Rather, it was a depositum that the Church sought to preserve and to continuously propose anew in the light of the acquisitions of time and of the ever greater self-knowledge that mankind gains through the generations.

As a specific example, let us think of St. Augustine and his monumental work De civitate Dei. Particularly in chapter XIX on "true justice", the Bishop of Hippo shows with incomparable effectiveness the depth of the relationship between justice and mercy, which in the Christian vision alludes to the mystery of the relationship between the City of man and the City of God.

Yet, to return more directly to us and our time, it is interesting to note that the most recent Pontiffs have desired to give us precious instructions precisely on this topic, framing them in their most remarkable teachings. One can think that the prospect of the "Civilization of Love", in the Pontificate of Paul VI, represented an ideal of life proper to those who desire to be filled with truth and love, justice and mercy.

Or let us think for a moment longer of the new meaning that John Paul II desired to give to the word "mercy", whose true and proper meaning "does not consist only in looking, however penetratingly and compassionately, at moral, physical or material evil: mercy is manifested in its true and proper aspect when it restores to value, promotes and draws good from all the forms of evil existing in the world and in man. Understood in this way, mercy constitutes the fundamental content of the messianic message of Christ and the constitutive power of his mission"  (Dives in misericordia, n. 6).

I do not think it is wrong to say that the Pope who came from the East — and thus familiar with the stone-cold, anti-human regimes which then existed in that part of the continent — rehabilitated the word "mercy", extricating it from the pietistic vocabulary in order to hand it over to modernity as a convincing and plausible perspective.

Benedict XVI moves along the same lines. Significantly, he entitled a chapter of his first Encyclical, Deus caritas est, "Justice and Charity". "The just ordering of society and the State is a central responsibility of politics. As Augustine once said, a State which is not governed according to justice would be just a bunch of thieves" (n. 28).

This is why, moreover it should never be forgotten that "love — caritas — will always prove necessary, even in the most just society. There is no ordering of the State so just that it can eliminate the need for a service of love" (ibid.).

Benedict XVI demonstrates that in the world, whatever degree of progress in justice is achieved by politics, there will always be suffering, there will always be loneliness, there will always be inadequacy with regard to the expectations of the human heart. In other words, there will always be a need for charity expressed in sharing and compassion: "The State which would provide everything, absorbing everything into itself, would ultimately become a mere bureaucracy incapable of guaranteeing the very thing which the suffering person — every person — needs: namely, loving personal concern" (ibid.).

Thus it is not only a question of gaps to discover and filled, but of intelligence and of the execution of public action, in its implementation as an act of justice. The common conviction that just structures would make any charitable work superfluous, in the Pope's opinion, masks "a materialistic conception of man: the mistaken notion that man can live 'by bread alone' (Mt 4:4) — a conviction that demeans man and ultimately disregards all that is specifically human." (ibid.).

This is a reminder that sounds particularly valuable at a time in history when the Church's practice of mercy risks being crushed, deceiving oneself that on the basis of a Promethean conception of secularism the State on its own can successfully attain perfection in justice. This would be a fatal illusion. Justice and mercy either go hand in hand, each preparing the steps of the other, or they both limp along, groping in the fog.

Taken from:
L'Osservatore Romano
Weekly Edition in English
14 January 2009, page 13

Fr. John Flader

A gift from Christ

Some years ago when I was chaplain in a university residential college, a student who had recently returned to the practice of confession after a long time, came to me and said: “Father, please pray for a friend of mine. We are going away on a study weekend, and I am trying to get him to go to confession during this time. I told him that if he goes, I personally will do 500 times the penance the priest gives him.” Needless to say, I was astounded and we quickly calculated how long it would take him to say 500 Rosaries, in case the confessor proposed a generous penance! When I caught up with the student again in the middle of the following week I asked him how it had gone with his friend. He said, with an obvious look of joy on his face, that he was doing 100 times the penance. Intrigued, I asked him what had happened. “The offer of 500 was only valid for the weekend”, he said with a smile, “but he went to confession today.” When I asked him what the penance had been, he answered with a look of relief: “an act of thanksgiving”.

I relate this anecdote because it highlights both the great joy experienced when someone goes back to confession after a long time and the resulting eagerness to share that joy with others by encouraging them to go as Well that joy is experienced by too few, as far fewer people go to confession than was the case 50 years ago. The queues of people waiting to confess their sins in years by, are today to be found in few churches. So much is this the case that Pope John Paul II, in his Apostolic Exhortation Reconciliatio et paenitentia in 1984, bluntly stated that “the Sacrament of Penance is in crisis.”

Great treasure

This situation is most unfortunate, because, in my opinion, the Sacrament of Reconciliation is one of the greatest treasures of the Catholic Church. It is a gift from Jesus Christ, indeed his first gift to the Church after the resurrection. On the afternoon of that first Easter, when he appeared to the Apostles in the Upper Room “he breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit; when you forgive men’s sins, they are forgiven, when you hold them bound, they are held bound’.” (Jn 20:22-23) If Jesus himself has given us this gift we would be most ungrateful and even foolish if we did not make use of it. Having heard many thousands of confessions over the years, I can attest to the fact that the ministry of the confessional is one of the greatest blessings for the priest as well as for the penitent. It is a forum in which one experiences the grace of God acting in a gentle yet powerful way, always leaving the penitent with a great peace and joy.

The Elective Chapter of the Carmelite Monastery of Fisciano, Italy, was held 1 March 2016. The following were elected:

• Prioress:  Sr. M. Arcangela Parisi, O.Carm.
• 1st Councilor:   Sr. M. Regina Di Serafino, O.Carm.
• 2nd Councilor:  Sr. M. Carmela Massaro, O.Carm.
• Director of Novices:  Sr. M Arcangela Parisi., O.Carm.
• Treasurer:  Sr. M. Regina Di Serafino, O.Carm.
• Sacristan:  Sr. M. Giuseppina Albano, O.Carm.

1) Opening prayer

 O God, by whose wondrous grace

we are enriched with every blessing,

grant us so to pass from former ways to newness of life,

that we may be made ready for the glory of the heavenly Kingdom.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

2) Gospel Reading - John 8, 12-20

Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

The Pharisees challenged him, “Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid.”

Jesus answered, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going. But you have no idea where I come from or where I am going. You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. But if I do judge, my decisions are true, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me. In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is true. I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me.”

Then they asked him, “Where is your father?”

 “You do not know me or my Father,” Jesus replied. “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” He spoke these words while teaching in the temple courts near the place where the offerings were put. Yet no one seized him, because his hour had not yet come.

3) Reflection

Anyone who follows me will not be walking in the dark

The Lord Jesus, the glorious presence, that fills the temple of God, in Jerusalem, is offering to his listeners his great and mysterious teaching about the Way that is to be followed, the road that has to be travelled towards salvation. This passage, we note, opens with the verb, “to follow”, and the whole of Chapter 8 is marked by the verb “to go out”, referring to Jesus.

Thus, we can understand that the Word of the Lord wishes to invite us to travel the road of salvation towards the Light, following in the footsteps of Jesus, who, like the Shekinah, leaves the temple, (Jn 8:59 and Ezek 10:18), to go and live in a tent along with the refugees of all time, to live in the bosom of the Father.

This is precisely the route of the pathway of light that Jesus invites to take, along with him, from the temple to the Father.

Let us see, what steps the Word of the Gospels indicates to us.

You are testifying on your own behalf ...

This is just the first in a long series of seven occurrences of the word “testimony” along with the corresponding verb, “to testify”: a strong and very important key word which brings up a fundamental aspect of Hebrew law, given that a witness is a central and indispensable figure in the law of the people of Israel. There is something more: The word witness, in Hebrew, ‘ed, is underlined in that bible passage, which constitutes Israel’s most essential and vital profession of faith as we find it in the Shemah, in Dt 6:4. It is underlined because in the Hebrew bibles this verse is written in a particular way, i.e., the final syllable of the first word, the verb, shemah, listen, and the final syllable of the last word, the adjective echad, one, written in bigger letters than the rest. These two final letters, the ‘ayin and the dalet, united together form the word “witness”, ‘ed.

In this passage of the Gospel, we find ourselves facing a unique and unmistakable starting point: our journey towards the Father, together with Jesus, can only begin from our witness, from our believing lovingly and firmly in God, as the one God, and the one and only Lord. This is the witness given by Jesus. This is Jesus’ cry, right there in the temple of Jerusalem, a cry that will tear through our night, through our unbelief.

I know where I came from and where I am going ...

Jesus clearly knows the point of departure and the point of arrival of this journey of ours, through the night and towards the light. The two points, in fact, coincide, because both of them are in the Father, but for us, we have to look for them, identify them and make them ours.

Many times in the Gospel of John, we hear Jesus make the statement that the Father sent him (Jn 5, 37; 6, 44; 7, 28; 12, 49, as well as what we find in this chapter 8). The Father is his beginning, the secret place of his movement towards the world.

This very striking question concerning the origin of Christ stays alive always, always open, and apparently with no answer:  Where do you come from? (Jn 19:9), as we hear it on the lips of Pilate.

Jesus revealed to us where he came from, but our hearts continue to seek, to want to find this beginning, this place in which we can too can be truly reborn, have our own beginning.

In the same way Jesus reveals the mystery of his own exodus. He tells us about the point of arrival of his journey in this world. He says, “I am going to the Father” (Jn 16:10).

Thus we have all the necessary coordinates for our journey: from the Father to the Father, in the same way that it was for Jesus.

Where is your Father?

This prayer, this searching of the heart, has to remain alive in us: it must never be quenched, and never be wanting. This is the thirst that has to guide us, drive us on our journey, make our hearts burn, in communion with the Lord Jesus. He is the living face of the Father.

4) Personal questions

• Do I have a desire to follow Jesus? and  Do I want to begin it now?


• Am I ready to give myself to bear witness like Jesus?

5) Concluding Prayer

 (Psalm 41)

Like the dear that yearns for running streams, so my soul is yearning for you, my God.

My soul is thirsting for God, the God of my life, when can I enter and see the face of God?

My tears have become my bread, by night, by day: as I hear it said all day long, “Where  is your God?”

These things will I remember as I pour out my soul: how I would lead the rejoicing crowd into the house of God, amid cries of gladness and thanksgiving, the throng wild with joy.