Image: Mater Admirabilis, Sr. Pauline Pedrau, fresco for the Sacred Heart School in Rome,
And the Holy Father's Angelus message is about Christian joy, a recurring theme of his, and one that strikes me as the special mission of Christians in this time of the dissolution of corruption, political turmoil, the voluntary turn to tyranny, loss of identity, isolation and loneliness. Men are crying, "Peace! Peace!" but there is no peace... except perhaps in the hearts of believers, who seem to be being taught in this strained period how to rely on God alone, and not just the things of God, however holy and good in themselves.
And maybe part of this experience has been to awaken a complacent Church to the fact that the state is not its friend?
