Pornography weakens the soul, Pope Francis tells young priests, seminarians

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — After telling a funny story about receiving a cellphone decades ago that was “as big as a shoe,” Pope Francis went on to encourage young priests and seminarians to use technology and social media, but to avoid pornography at all costs. Responding Oct. 24 to questions from priests and seminarians studying in Rome, Pope Francis said he wanted to speak plainly about a danger technology has put in everyone’s reach: digital pornography. “I am not going to say, ‘Raise your hand if you have had at least one experience of this,'” the pope said. But “it is a vice that so many people have, so many laymen, so many laywomen, and even priests and nuns. The devil enters from there.” Pope Francis said he was not talking only about “criminal” forms of porn like child pornography, but of “the somewhat ‘normal’ pornography. Dear brothers, be careful of this. The pure heart, the heart that receives Jesus every day, cannot receive this pornographic information.” According to a transcript released Oct. 26 by the Vatican press office, the pope told the priests and seminarians that if their phones and computers would allow them to block all access to porn, they should set that up, and if not, they should be on guard. “I tell you, it weakens the soul. It weakens the soul,” the pope said. “The devil enters from there: It weakens the priestly heart.” At the beginning of the audience, Pope Francis said the students had submitted 205 questions and that he would try to get to 10 of them, which he did. The questions ranged from advice about finding a spiritual director to a Ukrainian priest asking what the role of the church should be in a time of war. “The holy mother church is a mother, a mother of all peoples,” the pope responded. And the church suffers when there is war because “wars bring the destruction of her children.” The church must pray for peace, he said, and be close to and assist all those who are suffering the effects of the fighting. And while it is difficult to see how the church can have a role in negotiating peace between Russia and Ukraine, the pope said, it does have a role to play in educating Catholics to pray for their enemies. “You suffer so much, your people, I know, I am close,” the pope told the Ukrainian priest. “But pray for the attackers, because they are victims like you. You can’t see the wounds in their souls, but pray, pray that the Lord will convert them and give them the desire for peace to come. This is important.” On the question of spiritual directors, Pope Francis said they should follow the advice of St. Ignatius of Loyola and have a priest as confessor and another person as their spiritual guide. While the sacrament of reconciliation requires a priest, he told them, their spiritual directors could be a priest, a religious woman or a layperson. “Spiritual direction is not a clerical charism, it’s a baptismal charism. Priests who do spiritual direction do not have the charism because they are priests, but because they are baptized.” Another young man asked Pope Francis how the priests and seminarians studying in Rome can keep “the smell of the sheep” when they are so far from home and from their regular ministry. “Whether you who are studying or working in the Curia or have some other commitment, it is not a good thing for your spiritual health not to have contact, priestly contact, with God’s holy people,” the pope responded. Without regular contact, a priest could be a good theologian or philosopher or curial official, but all of that would be only theoretical. “It is important — I would say necessary, in fact, mandatory — for each of you to have a weekly pastoral experience, at least,” the pope said. Another seminarian, who mentioned trying to find “balance” between knowing he was a sinner shown mercy by God and striving to be holy, set the pope off on a speech about how it is best to leave finding balance in life to tightrope walkers in the circus. “Life is a constant imbalance, because life is journeying and finding — finding difficulties, finding good things that take you forward, and these unbalance you, always,” the pope said. “The Christian life is a continuous walking, falling down and getting up.”❖ MAKING THE WORD OF GOD YOUR OWN 1st Reading: We are reminded that God can do all things and that our very existence is in the hands of God. Our being here is a sign that God loves us and has called us to some purpose here on earth. Pope Francis listens to Korean Cardinal Lazarus You Heung-sik, prefect of the Dicastery for Clergy, at the 2nd Reading: Paul shows his love for the Christians at Thessalonika and gives advice on the coming of beginning of a meeting with hundreds of seminarians and priests studying in Rome, in the Vatican audience hall, Oct. 24, 2022. (CNS photo/Vatican Media) the Lord Jesus Christ. Gospel: The Gospel presents us with a short dramatic scene of meeting between Jesus and a rich tax collector. It offers us an opportunity to reflect on the idea of conversion. Step 2: Applying the values of the Readings to your daily life. 1.“To be loved in your goodness is not a big deal. But to be loved in your badness can be a life-changing experience.” What do you thing of this statement? 2.To Jesus it wasn’t whether Zacchaeus deserved his liberating friendship but rather that he needed it. Do you view your relationship with others in the same way? 3.We sometimes get things twisted and convince ourselves that we have chosen God when all the time it is God who has chosen us. Do you believe this? 4.The crowd on the road entering Jericho was blinded by their own judgemental attitude towards others. Have you ever been blinded by such an attitude? How was your ‘vision’ restored? Step 3: Accepting the message of God’s Word in your life of faith. It was Jesus who sought out Zacchaeus and not the other way around. It was Jesus who approached him and spoke to him. Just as Jesus sought out Zacchaeus, so he remembers each of us too. He seeks us out and asks to come to our house to stay. Our response to this call determines the direction our lives will take. Step 4: Something to think & pray about 1.Reflect on how you can reach out to someone on the margins of life during the coming week. 2.Has there been any individual or group you have accused unjustly or made judgement about? Think about how can you make amends for this and go about doing so. 3.It is wonderful to know that God loves us with an overwhelming generosity and that God does not see us as sinners but as sons and daughters. In your prayers, ask forgiveness for the times when you have judged others as sinners and refused to see them as Jesus sees them.❖ [From: Journeying with the Word of God, The Religious Education Department, Diocese of Georgetown, Guyana ]

• Comfortable seating, place in a semicircle if possible. • A table with a candle, crucifix or image of Jesus, • Identify family members who will proclaim the Scripture and perhaps give a brief reflection. • Select 2 or 3 hymns that everyone knows READINGS –

LEADER: In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen “In truth I tell you once again, if two of you on earth agree to ask anything at all, it will be granted to you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three meet in my name, I am there among them.” (Mt: 18:19-20) The Candle is now lit LEADER: The Lord searches for us where we are hidden in our sinfulness and invites himself into our hearts to offer us his forgiveness. (PAUSE) Lord Jesus, you are kind and full of compassion slow to anger and rich in mercy; Lord, have mercy. Christ Jesus, you support all who fall and raise up all who are bowed down; Christ, have mercy. Lord Jesus, you search us out where we are and restore us to wholeness and fullness of life; Lord, have mercy. LEADER: Restore in us, O God, the splendour of your love; renew your image in our hearts, and all our sins remove and lead us to everlasting life. Amen. LEADER: Let us Pray: God of mercy and compassion true Lord of every home, we are small before you because we are aware that we are sinners. We thank you for the joy and the forgiveness that you let your Son Jesus bring to your people. Search us out, invite us to your table of mercy that we may be restored and renewed. May he dispose us to share with our brothers and sisters your mercy and forgiving love. We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord. Amen

Luke 19:1-10

Jesus entered Jericho and was going through the town when a man whose name was Zacchaeus made his appearance: he was one of the senior tax collectors and a wealthy man. He was anxious to see what kind of man Jesus was, but he was too short and could not see him for the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to catch a glimpse of Jesus who was to pass that way. When Jesus reached the spot he looked up and spoke to him: ‘Zacchaeus, come down. Hurry, because I must stay at your house today.’ And he hurried down and welcomed him joyfully. They all complained when they saw what was happening. ‘He has gone to stay at a sinner’s house’ they said. But Zacchaeus stood his ground and said to the Lord, ‘Look, sir, I am going to give half my property to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody I will pay him back four times the amount.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, because this man too is a son of Abraham; for the Son of Man has come to seek out and save what was lost.’

A Short Reflection can be given or a period of silent reflection

LEADER: With trust, let us pray to God who is kind and full of compassion and who can do all things Family members are invited to make their petitions.

In the name of Jesus the Lord we now ask our heavenly Father to forgive us as we forgive those who sin against us: Our Father...... LEADER: Jesus is the Lamb of God who has come to seek out and to save the lost. Though we cannot receive him today let us invite him into our hearts as we pray the Act of Spiritual Communion:

My Jesus, I believe that you are present in the Most Holy Sacrament. I love you above all things, and I desire to receive you into my soul. Since I cannot at this moment receive you sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace you as if you were already there and unite myself wholly to you. Never permit me to be separated from you. Amen LEADER: Let us pray: Dear Lord, it seems that you are so madly in love with your creatures that you could not live without us. So you created us, and then, when we turned away from you, you redeemed us. Yet you are God and so have no need of us. Your greatness is made no greater by our creation; your power is made no stronger by our redemption. You have no duty to care for us, no debt to repay us. It is love, and love alone, which moves you. Amen.

May God our Father, whose grace is everlastingly poured into our hearts, fill us with an overflowing love. Amen. May God the Son, through whose death and resurrection we receive life in abundance, shine in our lives. Amen. May God the Holy Spirit, who works in us and through us to redeem God’s world, give us the power and persistence to follow him. Amen. And may our merciful God bless us; In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.❖ [Diocesan Liturgy Commission ]