Pope Francis arrives at the International Eucharistic Congress in Budapest, Hungary on Sept. 12, 2021. / Vatican Media
Rome Newsroom, Sep 12, 2021 / 05:30 am (CNA).
Pope Francis encouraged Catholics at the International Eucharistic Congress in Budapest to spend more time in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament to become more like Christ.
“Dear brothers and sisters, let us allow our encounter with Jesus in the Eucharist to transform us, just as it transformed the great and courageous saints you venerate,” Pope Francis said in his homily in Hungary on Sept. 12.
“We do well to spend time in adoration before the Eucharist in order to contemplate God’s weakness. Let’s make time for adoration,” the pope said.
Pope Francis is the first pope to attend an International Eucharistic Congress since the year 2000. He offered the closing Mass for a crowd of tens of thousands gathered in Heroes’ Square in Budapest.
Vatican Media/CNA
“The Eucharist is here to remind us who God is. It does not do so just in words, but in a concrete way, showing us God as bread broken, as love crucified and bestowed,” the pope said.
“Today, as in the past, the cross is not fashionable or attractive,” he said. “Yet it heals us from within. Standing before the crucified Lord, we experience a fruitful interior struggle, a bitter conflict between ‘thinking as God does’ and ‘thinking as humans do.’”
The pope said that God’s way of humble love is different from “the wisdom of the world,” which is attached to self-importance and power, “grasping for prestige and success.”
Vatican Media/CNA
“There is God’s side and the world’s side. The difference is not between who is religious or not, but ultimately between the true God and the ‘god of self,’” he said.
“How different is Christ, who presents himself with love alone, from all the powerful and winning messiahs worshiped by the world. Jesus unsettles us; he is not satisfied with declarations of faith, but asks us to purify our religiosity before his cross, before the Eucharist.”
Daniel Ibanez/CNA
Pope Francis said that prayer in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament can be transformative.
“Let us allow Jesus the Living Bread to heal us of our self-absorption, open our hearts to self-giving, liberate us from our rigidity and self-concern, free us from the paralyzing slavery of defending our image, and inspire us to follow him wherever he would lead us,” he said.
Vatican Media
The pope arrived at the closing Mass in a popemobile. He kissed babies and waved to the crowd, who cheered enthusiastically as he passed.
Local authorities reported that around 100,000 people were in attendance at the papal Mass in Budapest, in addition to the people gathered along the streets to wave as Pope Francis made his way to Heroes’ Square in the popemobile.
Vatican Media
“The Christian journey is not a race towards ‘success;’ it begins by stepping back, finding freedom by not needing to be at the center of everything,” Francis said.
“It is to step out each day … to an encounter with our brothers and sisters. The Eucharist impels us to this encounter, to the realization that we are one Body, to the willingness to let ourselves be broken for others,” he said.
Vatican Media
After the Mass, Pope Francis prayed the Marian Angelus prayer with the crowd in Budapest.
In his Angelus address, the pope commended the example of Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński and Elizabeth Czacka who were beatified on Sunday in Warsaw, Poland.
“May the example of these new Blesseds encourage us to transform darkness into light with the power of love,” he said.
The Mass in Budapest concluded the pope’s seven-hour trip to Hungary. After a brief farewell ceremony at the Budapest International Airport, the pope will depart for Slovakia, where he will visit four cities on Sept. 12-15.
“I want to say köszönöm, thank you, thank you to you, the people of Hungary,” he said in his Angelus address.
Daniel Ibanez/CNA
“This is what I wish for you: that the cross be your bridge between the past and the future. Religious sentiment has been the lifeblood of this nation, so attached to its roots. Yet the cross, planted in the ground, not only invites us to be well-rooted, it also raises and extends its arms towards everyone,” he said.
“The cross urges us to keep our roots firm, but without defensiveness; to draw from the wellsprings, opening ourselves to the thirst of the men and women of our time.”
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Leon is a baby boy cared for and loved at Mary’s Shelter, a pro-life maternity home in Fredericksburg, Virginia. / Courtesy of Mary’s Shelter
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 24, 2022 / 13:15 pm (CNA).
Amid a shortage of baby formula in the U.S., experts recommend parents scour smaller drug stores, check online, and join social media groups sharing information.
But here’s another, perhaps lesser-known, option they can also turn to for help: pregnancy resource centers.
Nearly 3,000 pro-life pregnancy centers serve millions of people each year in the United States. They offer women and parents in need everything from health care and material assistance to educational classes and job support — at little to no cost. Right now, for many of these centers, their work also includes connecting struggling families to baby formula.
One center in Michigan, an affiliate of Heartbeat International, a pro-life pregnancy resource center network, revealed to CNA that it has a surplus of formula.
“At this time, we haven’t heard of formula shortages at the pregnancy centers,” Andrea Trudden, vice president of communications and marketing at Heartbeat International, told CNA. “Quite the contrary, actually!”
Trudden recommended families turn to their local pregnancy help organizations for assistance and use OptionLine.org as a tool to find the center closest to them.
“Since pregnancy centers are equipped to help pregnant women and new families with practical resources such as diapers and formula,” Trudden said, “they have been able to step into that gap during this time.”
Some pro-life maternity homes in states such as Virginia and North Carolina said mothers are in desperate need and exploring all of their options, including feeding their babies with formula samples. But, these homes tell CNA, they are walking with mothers in their search, every step of the way.
What is this shortage about?
The nationwide baby formula shortage was caused, and then exacerbated, by a series of factors: supply-chain issues, recalls, the closure of a major production plant in February, and even U.S. trade policy. The result, data-firm company Datasembly found, is that more than 40 percent of baby formulas were out of stock in early May.
Babies with special needs and allergies rely on formula, along with babies in general. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 63.3% of infants were exclusively breastfeeding seven days after birth in 2018. Three months after birth, only 46.3% of infants exclusively breastfed. Six months after birth, that percentage changed to 25.8%
The trouble with formula began partially with the Covid-19 pandemic. Parents stockpiled baby formula at the beginning, which increased production, only to later discover that they had a surplus to use up, which decreased production.
After consuming formula from an Abbott plant in Sturgis, Michigan, four babies became sick, including two who died, from bacterial infections. This led to a recall and the plant shutting down in February.
These incidents exposed the formula market as one not structurally prepared for emergencies, with just four companies largely in control of supply in the United States. U.S. and regulatory trade policy only added to the problem, restricting the exchange of formula internationally, The Atlantic reported.
Months into the shortage, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has reached an agreement with Abbott, one of the largest U.S. baby formula manufacturers, to reopen its Sturgis plant in the coming weeks. President Joe Biden invoked the Defense Production Act to prioritize the production of formula. And, in the meantime, the U.S. military has begun importing formula from Europe.
Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle have called for action. Senate Democrats are pushing a bill that would send $28 million in emergency funding to the FDA. Congress passed, and Biden signed into law, a bill to expand access to formula for lower-income families during emergencies.
In the meantime, before the shelves are fully stocked once more, pregnancy centers and maternity homes around the country are helping parents in need.
“I have never seen this much formula. We have an overflow!” Lois Stoll, a volunteer who manages the formula supply at the center, said in a press release. The center, one of Heartbeat International’s 1,857 affiliate locations, accumulated its surplus over the last two years, during the pandemic.
“It really is the result of an unexpected set of circumstances,” Bryce Asberg, the executive director, added in the release. “During the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of clients fell but donations continued to come in.”
Baby formula is stored on shelves at Helping Hands Pregnancy Resource Center in Hillsdale, Michigan. Courtesy of Helping Hands
Asberg told CNA that the center has been running a material assistance program for several years where it provides mothers and families with baby clothes, diapers, wipes, and baby food or formula.
“We still offer all those items to clients who come in, but recently we have noticed a surge of interest in formula,” he said. “God has been building our supply of formula for many months, and we didn’t know why we had so much. Now we do!”
Washington, D.C.
In Washington, D.C., Janet Durig, the executive director of Capitol Hill Pregnancy Center, said that her center also has baby formula on hand.
“We’ve had some phone calls seeking help and we’ve had formula to give them,” she told CNA. But, she emphasized, the supply is limited because they rely on donations.
“We have it to help people on a limited basis and are helping people on a limited basis,” she said, adding that the center welcomes donations of unopened bottles or cans of formula as long as they have not expired.
Connecticut
Leticia Velasquez, executive director and co-founder of Pathways Pregnancy in Norwich, Connecticut, encouraged moms and families to reach out if they need formula.
She told CNA that the three-year-old center is there for any woman or mom in need.
“We just say, ‘How can we fill the need? That’s what we’re here for,’” she said. “We definitely stand with them in any crisis, whether it be a formula shortage or an unplanned pregnancy.”
Parents in eastern Connecticut looking for baby formula can text the center at (860) 222-4505.
North Carolina
Debbie Capen, the executive director of MiraVia, said that the baby formula shortage is affecting her group’s work in supporting and providing resources to new moms in need. The Catholic nonprofit runs an outreach center in Charlotte and a free college residence at nearby Belmont Abbey College where a pregnant student — from any university or college — can stay until her child turns two years old.
“Yes, the mothers we serve are very concerned about the baby formula shortage,” Capen told CNA. “We always encourage breastfeeding for our expectant mothers, but for those who cannot breastfeed, they usually rely on vouchers for baby formula through the USDA’s WIC program.”
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s WIC program, also known as the “Special Supplementation Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children,” offers federal grants to states for supplemental foods, health care referrals, and nutrition education for low-income pregnant and postpartum women, and young children at nutritional risk.
Capen highlighted that WIC only covers one specific brand of formula, which means that moms must pay full price for any other label. Formula is at a premium price right now, she added, which only puts more stress on their limited resources.
In each state, baby formula manufacturers bid for exclusive rights to provide formula to WIC participants in that state. In return, they offer the state discounts, or rebates. For those who rely on WIC, this means that they face limited options.
In response to the scarcity, the mothers at MiraVia are turning to alternatives: food pantries and the MiraVia community.
“They communicate with our staff and each other when they find formula at a certain location, as well as contact stores to find out when shipments are expected,” Capen said. “They substitute with generic brands when possible and reach out to their pediatricians for recommendations and even free samples.”
Capen listed some ways that people can help during this shortage, beginning with communication and the sharing of resources.
“For example, you can help by searching posts on social media and community apps like NextDoor or OfferUp to find those with formula and suggest where it can be donated,” she said. “Remind friends and family not to stockpile so that the supply of formula can flow to those in most urgent need. If you are pregnant and have received free samples of formula, donate what you won’t use to food pantries or programs for new mothers.”
Virginia
Kathleen Wilson, the executive director of Mary’s Shelter, a faith-centered maternity home in Fredericksburg, Virginia, agreed that “our moms have had many difficulties.”
She told CNA about one of their mothers who gave birth to her fourth baby three months ago. At first, she used a formula brand called Enfamil Reguline. After it became unavailable, she began switching between brands and using whatever she can find, Wilson said. The mother has also tried ordering on Amazon and turned to her pediatrician for samples.
Yaretzi is a baby girl cared for and loved at Mary’s Shelter, a pro-life maternity home in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Courtesy of Mary’s Shelter
“This is a mom who is trying to hold down a job, with an infant and other children to tend to,” Wilson stressed the “very difficult” situation.
Wilson said that two of the other mothers spent days driving around at one point to try to find formula for their babies. When necessary, they are also turning to sample packets of baby formula.
“Our staff and volunteers have been assisting with this and picking up and delivering formula when they can get their hands on it,” Wilson said, adding that donors have also pitched in.
“We are blessed with wonderful donors,” she said. “A friend just stopped in this morning with two cans of formula that he was able to find.”
“If donors are willing and can find formula, we would be thrilled to take their donation,” she said, concluding that she is “praying this comes to an end soon.”
Washington D.C., Jul 8, 2021 / 11:15 am (CNA).
The upcoming Saint Joseph Summit will feature the debut of the “Song of Saint Joseph,” a new original song by Catholic musician Donna Lee.“It’s n… […]
Archbishop Carlos Castillo Mattasoglio of Lima, Peru / ACI Prensa
Lima, Peru, Dec 26, 2021 / 00:00 am (CNA).
Archbishop Carlos Castillo Mattasoglio of Lima, Peru, has yet to clarify remarks he made in a pre-Christmas Mass that contradict the te… […]
13 Comments
“We do well to spend time in adoration before the Eucharist in order to contemplate God’s weakness…” God’s weakness? Is this a typo, a mis-translation, or what Pope Francis actually believes? God is all-powerful; there is not an iota of weakness in the Holy Trinity. When in the Adoration Chapel I don’t meditate on God’s weakness…how can one meditate on something that doesn’t exist? Someone who created the Universe…and science now says there could be infinite Universes…is not a weakling.
He may have spoken to God’s vulnerability to our outpouring of love, as in adoration. That his good is such that He’s compelled to respond. Otherwise, if not, I agree with you
I hope that is a error in translation. “We do well to spend time in adoration before the Eucharist in order to contemplate God’s weakness.” God is never weak, he chooses to humble Himself to make Himself available to us in the Blessed Sacrament. Humility is very different from weakness.
My hour before the Lord every Monday afternoon, is one of the best hours of my life. Praying before God in this way, is beyond beautiful and comforting. God is there on the altar in a beautiful monstrance that I can see, treasure, and worship.
Such a disconnected Pope: there is no Adoration with or even without covid. Churches are locked; we are grateful we now have daily Mass, from which we are chased afterward in order to lock up. He speaks as if it is our choice; has not been the case for at least two or three decades, since Vii, perhaps.
Let me echo the comments above, “we do well to spend time in adoration before the Eucharist in order to contemplate God’s weaknesses”
I think not! He is the Almighty, the all Powerful Living God! King of Kings!
Truly I think Francis reads a different Gospel than I.
God’s ‘weakness’ exists only in Frank’s eyes. One fine day, I presume God will open his eyes to show him his mess and his misses.
As one contemplates the presence of Christ in the Eucharist, one sees more than a one body of humanity. Does the Body of Christ include manifest, obstinate, grave sinners who sin against the Eucharist?? Indeed. Does the pope recommend we see individuals like Hitler, Stalin, or Biden in the Eucharistic Body of Jesus Christ? Does he see folk like them there? If he does, that would explain the ‘weakness’ he finds in his view of the Eucharist.
Finally, what does this mean? “The cross urges us to keep our roots firm, but without defensiveness; to draw from the wellsprings, opening ourselves to the thirst of the men and women of our time.”
If ‘the mean and women of our time’ are thirsty, how does Francis recommend we ‘open’ ourselves to them? From the cross, Jesus claimed HIS thirst. Here Francis focuses on people being thirsty rather than Christ. What is he trying to suggest?
Also to the woman at the well, Jesus claimed that He was the living water. If people thirst today, why does Francis fail to teach the remedy that Jesus taught??? Who is his theologian, his scripture scholar, his rabbi? He seems to be one of the very thirsty and very broken.
One theologian explains a weak God. The view boils down to unitarian universalism.
Frank’s catholicism appears to be a straw man in need of a knockdown, and he is doing his level best.
Reading the Holy Father’s words on the law helped to look up bit more on Jewish cutoms , to see that this year , Yom Kippur and Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows fall on the same day . The endearing practice of ‘kaparot ‘ of offering atonements of chickens that are passed over one’s head three times saying the prescribed prayers – having never heard of same before , relsih the rich symbolism in it all –
? rich symbolism to point to the role of bl.Mother and The Spirit and the Reign The Divine Will – the words of the Holy Father too seem to be indircet references to same .
and the humility of the people who do the above , while those who know The Price of the True atonement grumble about the directive on which direction to turn .. and ? did St.Peter hear lots more in that rooster’s crow than we take in , he himself who becomes ia ‘Golden Mouth ‘ of rich blessings as in his letters .
God is NOT weak. I find it interesting the CNA reporter did not comment on this quote in her article. I believe if the use of “weakness” was an error in translation, the reported would have stated so in her report.
Regarding “the weakness of God,” perhaps in the case Pope Francis was only imprecise or was poorly translated?
Even St. Augustine writes of the “humility” of God. By this humility (or seeming weakness?) might we mean the divine freedom to not override his own creation (except occasionally by miracles) while, instead, He leaves untouched human free will?
God Almighty respects (!) and humbly leaves intact his very inferior creation. This might be the only way to make any sense at all out of the Scandal of the Cross.
Luther, on the other hand, is one who believed that the power of grace annihilates human stupidity and wickedness (like “snow covering excrement,” he is said to have said). But Catholic/Christian anthropology settles more carefully on human concupiscence (only the tendency toward sin), but not total depravity through and through…
The goodness of creation, however self-betrayed, then remains intact even after the Fall. Between grace and works, it is still the first nudging of grace that elicits a human response (rather than the other way around). The incomprehensible respect and humility of God before his own creation also leaves a space, then, for Calvary and the gifted sacrifice of the Mass as more than a symbol. Are we touched?
The self-donating Christ becomes the head of his Church into which we are invited (not forced). Very mysterious, but the bookend alternatives are either (a) Jansenism and the primacy of human endeavor and progress, or (b) with Luther and Calvin and predestination, domination by a powerful and arbitrary God (which/who, in this respect, shows some similarity to the anti-triune Allah and the fatalism of Islam).
So, is it out of perfect charity (in Person) that there is revealed the weakness/humility of a respectful God Almighty—-even so far as to place himself at the mercy of his own creation? High time, then, for Eucharistic Adoration and Eucharistic coherence.
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“We do well to spend time in adoration before the Eucharist in order to contemplate God’s weakness…” God’s weakness? Is this a typo, a mis-translation, or what Pope Francis actually believes? God is all-powerful; there is not an iota of weakness in the Holy Trinity. When in the Adoration Chapel I don’t meditate on God’s weakness…how can one meditate on something that doesn’t exist? Someone who created the Universe…and science now says there could be infinite Universes…is not a weakling.
Yes that word “weakness” jumps right out at you. Always question marks with what this pope says.
He may have spoken to God’s vulnerability to our outpouring of love, as in adoration. That his good is such that He’s compelled to respond. Otherwise, if not, I agree with you
I hope that is a error in translation. “We do well to spend time in adoration before the Eucharist in order to contemplate God’s weakness.” God is never weak, he chooses to humble Himself to make Himself available to us in the Blessed Sacrament. Humility is very different from weakness.
My hour before the Lord every Monday afternoon, is one of the best hours of my life. Praying before God in this way, is beyond beautiful and comforting. God is there on the altar in a beautiful monstrance that I can see, treasure, and worship.
God has no weaknesses. That statement is false.
Such a disconnected Pope: there is no Adoration with or even without covid. Churches are locked; we are grateful we now have daily Mass, from which we are chased afterward in order to lock up. He speaks as if it is our choice; has not been the case for at least two or three decades, since Vii, perhaps.
Let me echo the comments above, “we do well to spend time in adoration before the Eucharist in order to contemplate God’s weaknesses”
I think not! He is the Almighty, the all Powerful Living God! King of Kings!
Truly I think Francis reads a different Gospel than I.
God’s ‘weakness’ exists only in Frank’s eyes. One fine day, I presume God will open his eyes to show him his mess and his misses.
As one contemplates the presence of Christ in the Eucharist, one sees more than a one body of humanity. Does the Body of Christ include manifest, obstinate, grave sinners who sin against the Eucharist?? Indeed. Does the pope recommend we see individuals like Hitler, Stalin, or Biden in the Eucharistic Body of Jesus Christ? Does he see folk like them there? If he does, that would explain the ‘weakness’ he finds in his view of the Eucharist.
Finally, what does this mean? “The cross urges us to keep our roots firm, but without defensiveness; to draw from the wellsprings, opening ourselves to the thirst of the men and women of our time.”
If ‘the mean and women of our time’ are thirsty, how does Francis recommend we ‘open’ ourselves to them? From the cross, Jesus claimed HIS thirst. Here Francis focuses on people being thirsty rather than Christ. What is he trying to suggest?
Also to the woman at the well, Jesus claimed that He was the living water. If people thirst today, why does Francis fail to teach the remedy that Jesus taught??? Who is his theologian, his scripture scholar, his rabbi? He seems to be one of the very thirsty and very broken.
One theologian explains a weak God. The view boils down to unitarian universalism.
Frank’s catholicism appears to be a straw man in need of a knockdown, and he is doing his level best.
https://jcrt.org/archives/07.2/heltzel.pdf
https://biblehub.com/1_corinthians/1-25.htm – ‘ ‘For the foolishenss of God is wiser than man’s wisdom and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength .’
Thank you CWR and CNA , for bringing good articles and themes from the Holy Father –
invoking powerful blessings on the many needy areas of our times – one below for families .
https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2021/09/11/pope-francis-a-family-that-remains-open-to-life-builds-history/
Reading the Holy Father’s words on the law helped to look up bit more on Jewish cutoms , to see that this year , Yom Kippur and Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows fall on the same day . The endearing practice of ‘kaparot ‘ of offering atonements of chickens that are passed over one’s head three times saying the prescribed prayers – having never heard of same before , relsih the rich symbolism in it all –
? rich symbolism to point to the role of bl.Mother and The Spirit and the Reign The Divine Will – the words of the Holy Father too seem to be indircet references to same .
and the humility of the people who do the above , while those who know The Price of the True atonement grumble about the directive on which direction to turn .. and ? did St.Peter hear lots more in that rooster’s crow than we take in , he himself who becomes ia ‘Golden Mouth ‘ of rich blessings as in his letters .
https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/989585/jewish/Kaparot.htm
FIAT !
God is NOT weak. I find it interesting the CNA reporter did not comment on this quote in her article. I believe if the use of “weakness” was an error in translation, the reported would have stated so in her report.
Regarding “the weakness of God,” perhaps in the case Pope Francis was only imprecise or was poorly translated?
Even St. Augustine writes of the “humility” of God. By this humility (or seeming weakness?) might we mean the divine freedom to not override his own creation (except occasionally by miracles) while, instead, He leaves untouched human free will?
God Almighty respects (!) and humbly leaves intact his very inferior creation. This might be the only way to make any sense at all out of the Scandal of the Cross.
Luther, on the other hand, is one who believed that the power of grace annihilates human stupidity and wickedness (like “snow covering excrement,” he is said to have said). But Catholic/Christian anthropology settles more carefully on human concupiscence (only the tendency toward sin), but not total depravity through and through…
The goodness of creation, however self-betrayed, then remains intact even after the Fall. Between grace and works, it is still the first nudging of grace that elicits a human response (rather than the other way around). The incomprehensible respect and humility of God before his own creation also leaves a space, then, for Calvary and the gifted sacrifice of the Mass as more than a symbol. Are we touched?
The self-donating Christ becomes the head of his Church into which we are invited (not forced). Very mysterious, but the bookend alternatives are either (a) Jansenism and the primacy of human endeavor and progress, or (b) with Luther and Calvin and predestination, domination by a powerful and arbitrary God (which/who, in this respect, shows some similarity to the anti-triune Allah and the fatalism of Islam).
So, is it out of perfect charity (in Person) that there is revealed the weakness/humility of a respectful God Almighty—-even so far as to place himself at the mercy of his own creation? High time, then, for Eucharistic Adoration and Eucharistic coherence.