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Particularly those among you who are better known to the public must be constantly aware of their responsibility. People look at you, dear friends, with fondness and interest. Always be positive and consistent models for them, capable of instilling trust, optimism and hope. In order to carry out this demanding mission, the Lord comes to your aid and you can have recourse to him by listening to his word and praying. Yes, dear friends, you who work with images, gestures and sounds; in other words, you work with the exterior. For this very reason you must be men and women with a strong interiority and be capable of recollection. God dwells within us, more inward than our innermost self, as Augustine pointed out. If you know how to converse with him, you will be better able to communicate with your neighbour. If you have a keen awareness of the good, the true and the beautiful, your creative productions even the simplest, will have good aesthetic and moral quality.
5. The Church is close to you and counts on you! She expects you to instill in cinema, television, radio, the theatre, circuses and every form of entertainment that Gospel "leaven" which enables every human reality to develop its positive potential to the maximum.
It is impossible to think of a new evangelization that does not involve your world, the world of entertainment, which is so important in forming minds and habits. I am thinking of the many initiatives which present the Bible message and the very rich heritage of the Christian tradition in the language of forms, sounds and images through the theatre, cinema and television. I am also thinking of those works and programmes that are not explicitly religious but are still capable of speaking to peoples' hearts, prompting them to wonder, to question and to reflect.
6. Dear brothers and sisters! Providence has wanted your Jubilee to be celebrated a few days before Christmas, certainly the feast most often portrayed in your field of work at all levels, from the mass media to the living cribs. May today's meeting help us to enter into harmony with the true Christmas spirit, which is very different from the worldly spirit that makes it a commercial opportunity.
Let Mary, Mother of the Incarnate Word, guide you on your journey of preparation for this solemnity. She silently awaits the fulfillment of the divine promises and teaches us that to bring peace and joy to the world, we must first welcome into our heart the Prince of Peace and source of joy, Jesus Christ. For this to happen, we must be converted to his love and be ready to do his will.
I hope, dear friends of the entertainment world, that you too will have this comforting experience. In the most varied languages, you will then be messengers of joy, of that joy which Christ gives to all humanity at Christmas.
Acknowledgment: We thank the Vatican Publisher for allowing us to publish the Homily of Blessed Pope John Paul II, so that they could be accessed by more people all over the world; as a source of God’s encouragements to all of us. 20 December 2012 |
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Extracted from the holy Gospel according to Luke 1:39-44:
Mary set out and went as quickly as she could to a town in the hill country of Judah.
She went into Zechariah’s house and greeted Elizabeth.
Now as soon as Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
She gave a loud cry and said, ‘Of all women you are the most blessed, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Why should I be honoured with a visit from the mother of my Lord?
For the moment your greeting reached my ears, the child in my womb leapt for joy.
Yes, blessed is she who believed that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled.’ 22 December 2012
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22 December 2012
Extracted from the prophet Micah 5:1-4:
The Lord says this:
But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, the least of the clans of Judah,
out of you will be born for me the one who is to rule over Israel;
his origin goes back to the distant past, to the days of old.
The Lord is therefore going to abandon them
till the time when she who is to give birth gives birth (referred to the “Blessed Virgin Mary”).
Then the remnant of his brothers will come back to the sons of Israel.
He (hereinafter referred to “Jesus Christ”) will stand and feed his flock
with the power of the Lord, with the majesty of the name of his God.
They will live secure, for from then on he will extend his power to the ends of the land.
He himself will be peace.
Extracted from Psalm 80:2-3,15-16,18-19:
Lord of hosts, bring us back; let your face shine on us and we shall be saved.
O shepherd of Israel, hear us, shine forth from your cherubim throne. O Lord, rouse up your might, O Lord, come to our help.
God of hosts, turn again, we implore, look down from heaven and see. Visit this vine and protect it, the vine your right hand has planted.
May your hand be on the man you have chosen, the man you have given your strength. And we shall never forsake you again; give us life that we may call upon your name. |
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Extracted from the Sermon- the Hebrews 10:5-10:
This is what Christ said, on coming into the world:
You who wanted no sacrifice or oblation, prepared a body for me.
You took no pleasure in holocausts or sacrifices for sin;
then I said, just as I was commanded in the scroll of the book,
‘God, here I am! I am coming to obey your will.’
Notice that he says first: You did not want what the Law lays down as the things to be offered, that is: the sacrifices, the oblations, the holocausts and the sacrifices for sin, and you took no pleasure in them; and then he says: Here I am! I am coming to obey your will. He is abolishing the first sort to replace it with the second. And this will was for us to be made holy by the offering of his body made once and for all by Jesus Christ. |
