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"We need to practice the art of listening, which is more than simple hearing. . . Listening helps us to find the right gesture and word which shows that we are more than simply bystanders."

       Pope Francis, Joy of the Gospel

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"We are not asked to be flawless, but to keep growing and wanting to grow as we advance along the path of the Gospel. . . No one is more patient than God our Father, no one is more understanding and willing to wait. He always invites us to take a step forward, but does not demand a full response if we are not yet ready. He simply asks that we sincerely look at our life and present ourselves honestly  before him, that we be willing to continue to grow, asking from him what we ourselves cannot yet achieve."

        Pope Francis, Joy of the Gospel

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"I believe that the secret lies in the way that Jesus looked at people, seeing beyond their weaknesses and failings: 'Fear not little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.' (Luke 12: 32)"

       Pope Francis, Joy of the Gospel

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"I think of the steadfast faith of those mothers tending their sick children who, though perhaps barely familiar with the articles of the creed, cling to a rosary; or of all the hope poured into a candle lighted in a humble home with a prayer for help from Mary, or in the gaze of tender love directed to Christ crucified. No one who loves God's holy people will view these actions as the expression of a purely human search for the divine."

      Pope Francis, Joy of the Gospel

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"The salvation which God has wrought, and the Church joyfully proclaims, is for everyone.  .  .The Church must be a place of mercy, freely given, where everyone can feel welcomed, loved, forgiven and encouraged to live the good life of the Gospel."

         Pope Francis, Joy of the Gospel

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 "Let us ask the Lord to help us understand the law of love. How good it is to have this law!"

          Pope Francis, Joy of the Gospel

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"We are all in the same boat and headed to the same port! Let us ask for the grace to rejoice in the gifts of each, which belong to all."

      Pope Francis, Joy of the Gospel

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"It is fraternal love capable of seeing the sacred grandeur of our neighbor, of finding God in every human being, of tolerating the nuisances of life in common by clinging to the love of God, of opening the heart to divine love and seeking the happiness of others just as their heavenly Father does."

        Pope Francis, Joy of the Gospel

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"One important challenge is to show that the solution will never be found in fleeing from a personal and committed relationship with God which at the same time commits us to serving others."

        Pope Francis, Joy of the Gospel

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"The Christian ideal will always be a summons to overcome suspicion, habitual mistrust, fear of losing our privacy, all the defensive attitudes which today's world imposes on us. The Gospel tells us constantly to run the risk of a face-to-face encounter with others, with their physical presence which challenges us, with their pain and their pleas, with their joy which infects us in our close and continuous interaction."

        Pope Francis, Joy of the Gospel

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"God does not hide himself from those who seek him with a sincere heart, even though they do so tentatively, in a vague and haphazard manner. . . . With the eyes of faith, we can see the light which the Holy Spirit always radiates in the midst of darkness, never forgetting that 'where sin increased, grace has abounded all the more.'"

      Pope Francis, Joy of the Gospel

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"Seeing reality with the eyes of faith."

        Pope Francis, Joy of the Gospel

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"In the prevailing culture, priority is given to the outward, the immediate, the visible, the quick, the superficial, and the provisional. What is real gives way to appearances."

         Pope Francis, Joy of the Gospel

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"Until exclusion and inequality in society and between peoples are reversed, it will be impossible to eliminate violence."

         Pope Francis, Joy of the Gospel

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"I encourage financial experts and political leaders to ponder the words of one of the sages of antiquity, 'Not to share one's wealth with the poor is to steal from them and to take away their livelihood. It is not our own goods which we hold, but theirs.'"

         Pope Francis, Joy of the Gospel

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"The culture of prosperity deadens us; we are thrilled if the market offers us something new to purchase. In the meantime all those lives stunted for lack of opportunity seem a mere spectacle; they fail to move us."

      Pope Francis, Joy of the Gospel

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"Almost without being aware of it, we end up being incapable of feeling compassion at the outcry of the poor, weeping for other people's pain, and feeling a need to help them, as though all this were someone else's responsibility and not our own."

        Pope Francis, Joy of the Gospel

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"Just as the commandment, 'Thou shalt not kill' sets a limit in order to safeguard the value of human life, today we also have to say 'thou shalt not' to an economy of exclusion and inequality. Such an economy kills."

           Pope Francis, Joy of the Gospel

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"The Church is not a toll house; it is the house of the Father, where there is a place for everyone, with all their problems."

         Pope Francis, Joy of the Gospel

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"Often it is better simply to slow down, to put aside our eagerness in order to see and listen to others, to stop rushing from one thing to another and to remain with someone who has faltered along the way."

           Pope Francis, Joy of the Gospel

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"Before all else, the Gospel invites us to respond to the God of love who saves us, to see God in others and to go forth from ourselves to seek the good of others."

         Pope Francis, Joy of the Gospel

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"Let us try a little harder to take the first step and to become involved."

           Pope Francis, Joy of the Gospel

A Grateful Servant

This is a picture of a grateful servant, Sharon "Guppy" Litchfield, who died on March 5, 2014.

Guppy's whole life was about service from being a foster parent to making sandwiches and doing so much more at Sacred Heart to "adopting" Fenelus Marcony, a Haitian Hearts patient, as her son. And she did all of this serving with a smile.

Guppy lovingly cared for other Haitian Hearts' patients, also. She did so much for so many that we can't give a full accounting of her service. Truly, she was one of those people who don't receive a lot of awards or public recognition in their lives, and if the world worked like it should, she would. She would be a famous role model for everyone.

In his homily, Fr. Larry Zurek used the letters of Guppy's name to describe her. G stands for generous, and she was to all. U stands for unassuming. Guppy was her friendly self. P is for prayerful. "Let's pray about it," was a sentence Guppy often uttered. The second P stands for pilgrim. Guppy traveled to Mexico and more recently Guam in the service of her faith. She was a pilgrim on this earth. Father Larry couldn't decide between yielding and yearning for Y. Guppy's life was about yielding to God's will as she yearned to be with Him. She is, fully, now.

The day after Guppy died, I was organizing some mail on our dining room table. For some reason, there was an old letter from Guppy that she had sent to us from Guam in July 2013, some six months ago. John told me he had put the letter on the table before he left for Haiti. In the letter, Guppy was expressing concern about a friend and asking us to check up on her. It was a good reminder--and emblematic of Guppy's life--that we are all called to be grateful servants.

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"God asks everything of us, yet at the same time he offers everything to us."

            Pope Francis, Joy of the Gospel

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"He is forever young and a source of newness."

           Pope Francis, Joy of the Gospel

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"Life grows by being given away, and it weakens in isolation and comfort. Indeed, those who enjoy life more are those who leave security on the shore and become excited by the mission of communicating life to others."

       Pope Francis, Joy of the Gospel

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"Goodness always tends to spread."

         Pope Francis, Joy of the Gospel

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When I was in Haiti in December, I read Pope Francis's Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium--Joy of the Gospel--which was released on November 24, 2013. At 51,000 words, Joy of the Gospel is a novel-sized document. The Pope writes passionately about many of the themes that have characterized his papacy--inclusion and significance of the poor, peace and dialogue, and the joy of being a Christian.

Haiti was the perfect place for me to read the Exhortation. It is a land of poor people who are often joyful, despite their miserable conditions. I pulled out a lot of quotes from the Pope's letter, and each day during Lent, I will post one of these quotes, along with a photo from Haiti.

There is something about Pope Francis--his actions, his writings, his person--that gets into the marrow of what it means to be a Christian.

"Sometimes we are tempted to find excuses and complain, acting as if we could only be happy if a thousand conditions were met. To some extent this is because our technological society has succeeded in multiplying occasions of pleasure, yet has found it very difficult to engender joy. I can say that the most beautiful and natural expressions of joy which I have seen in my life were in poor people who had little to hold on to."