"The Sleepies" by Carl Barks (in English)

art by Carl Barks - Walt Disney's Donald Duck v1 #81 - Dell, 1961.

 

"Ecclesiastes" (Chapter IX) by Qoheleth (in English)

Chapter 9

1 All this I have kept in mind and recognized: the just, the wise, and their deeds are in the hand of God. Love from hatred man cannot tell; both appear equally vain, 2 in that there is the same lot for all, for the just and the wicked, for the good and the bad, for the clean and the unclean, for him who offers sacrifice and him who does not. As it is for the good man, so it is for the sinner; as it is for him who swears rashly, so it is for him who fears an oath. 3 Among all the things that happen under the sun, this is the worst, that things turn out the same for all. Hence the minds of men are filled with evil, and madness is in their hearts during life; and afterward they go to the dead. 4 Indeed, for any among the living there is hope; a live dog is better off than a dead lion. 5 For the living know that they are to die, but the dead no longer know anything. There is no further recompense for them, because all memory of them is lost. 6 For them, love and hatred and rivalry have long since perished. They will never again have part in anything that is done under the sun.

7 Go, eat your bread with joy

and drink your wine with a merry heart,

because it is now that God favors your works.

8 At all times let your garments be white,

and spare not the perfume for your head.

9 Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of the fleeting life that is granted you under the sun. This is your lot in life, for the toil of your labors under the sun. 10 Anything you can turn your hand to, do with what power you have; for there will be no work, nor reason, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the nether world where you are going...

11 Again I saw under the sun that the race is not won by the swift, nor the battle by the valiant, nor a livelihood by the wise, nor riches by the shrewd, nor favor by the experts; for a time of calamity comes to all alike. 12 Man no more knows his own time than fish taken in the fatal net, or birds trapped in the snare; like these the children of men are caught when the evil time falls suddenly upon them.

13 On the other hand I saw this wise deed under the sun, which I thought sublime. 14 Against a small city with few men in it advanced a mighty king, who surrounded it and threw up great siegeworks about it. 15 But in the city lived a man who, though poor, was wise, and he delivered it through his wisdom. Yet no one remembered this poor man. 16 Though I had said, "Wisdom is better than force," yet the wisdom of the poor man is despised and his words go unheeded. 17 "The quiet words of the wise are better heeded than the shout of a ruler of fools" - ! 18 "A fly that dies can spoil the perfumer's ointment, and a single slip can ruin much that is good."

Homily of Pope Francis at Cathedral of Myeong-dong, Seoul (in English)

APOSTOLIC JOURNEY

OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS

TO THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA

ON THE OCCASION OF THE 6th ASIAN YOUTH DAY

(13-18 AUGUST 2014)

HOLY MASS FOR PEACE AND RECONCILIATION

HOMILY OF POPE FRANCIS

Cathedral of Myeong-dong (Seoul)

Monday, 18 August 2014

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

As my stay in Korea draws to a close, I thank God for the many blessings he has bestowed upon this beloved country, and in a special way, upon the Church in Korea. Among those blessings I especially treasure the experience we have all had in these recent days of the presence of so many young pilgrims from throughout Asia. Their love of Jesus and their enthusiasm for the spread of his Kingdom have been an inspiration to us all.

My visit now culminates in this celebration of Mass, in which we implore from God the grace of peace and reconciliation. This prayer has a particular resonance on the Korean peninsula. Today’s Mass is first and foremost a prayer for reconciliation in this Korean family. In the Gospel, Jesus tells us how powerful is our prayer when two or three of us join in asking for something (cf. Mt 18:19-20). How much more when an entire people raises its heartfelt plea to heaven!

The first reading presents God’s promise to restore to unity and prosperity a people dispersed by disaster and division. For us, as for the people of Israel, this is a promise full of hope: it points to a future which God is even now preparing for us. Yet this promise is inseparably tied to a command: the command to return to God and wholeheartedly obey his law (cf. Dt 30:2-3). God’s gifts of reconciliation, unity and peace are inseparably linked to the grace of conversion, a change of heart which can alter the course of our lives and our history, as individuals and as a people.

At this Mass, we naturally hear this promise in the context of the historical experience of the Korean people, an experience of division and conflict which has lasted for well over sixty years. But God’s urgent summons to conversion also challenges Christ’s followers in Korea to examine the quality of their own contribution to the building of a truly just and humane society. It challenges each of you to reflect on the extent to which you, as individuals and communities, show evangelical concern for the less fortunate, the marginalized, those without work and those who do not share in the prosperity of the many. And it challenges you, as Christians and Koreans, firmly to reject a mindset shaped by suspicion, confrontation and competition, and instead to shape a culture formed by the teaching of the Gospel and the noblest traditional values of the Korean people.

In today’s Gospel, Peter asks the Lord: “If my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?” To which the Lord replies: “Not seven times, I tell you, but seventy times seven” (Mt 18:21-22). These words go to the very heart of Jesus’ message of reconciliation and peace. In obedience to his command, we ask our heavenly Father daily to forgive us our sins, “as we forgive those who sin against us”. Unless we are prepared to do this, how can we honestly pray for peace and reconciliation?

Jesus asks us to believe that forgiveness is the door which leads to reconciliation. In telling us to forgive our brothers unreservedly, he is asking us to do something utterly radical, but he also gives us the grace to do it. What appears, from a human perspective, to be impossible, impractical and even at times repugnant, he makes possible and fruitful through the infinite power of his cross. The cross of Christ reveals the power of God to bridge every division, to heal every wound, and to reestablish the original bonds of brotherly love.

This, then, is the message which I leave you as I conclude my visit to Korea. Trust in the power of Christ’s cross! Welcome its reconciling grace into your own hearts and share that grace with others! I ask you to bear convincing witness to Christ’s message of reconciliation in your homes, in your communities and at every level of national life. I am confident that, in a spirit of friendship and cooperation with other Christians, with the followers of other religions, and with all men and women of good will concerned for the future of Korean society, you will be a leaven of the Kingdom of God in this land. Thus our prayers for peace and reconciliation will rise to God from ever more pure hearts and, by his gracious gift, obtain that precious good for which we all long.

Let us pray, then, for the emergence of new opportunities for dialogue, encounter and the resolution of differences, for continued generosity in providing humanitarian assistance to those in need, and for an ever greater recognition that all Koreans are brothers and sisters, members of one family, one people. They speak the same language.

Before leaving Korea, I wish to thank President Park Geun-hye, the civil and ecclesiastical authorities and all those who in any way helped to make this visit possible. I especially wish to address a word of personal appreciation to the priests of Korea, who daily labor in the service of the Gospel and the building up of God’s people in faith, hope and love. I ask you, as ambassadors of Christ and ministers of his reconciling love (cf. 2 Cor 5:18-20), to continue to build bridges of respect, trust and harmonious cooperation in your parishes, among yourselves, and with your bishops. Your example of unreserved love for the Lord, your faithfulness and dedication to your ministry, and your charitable concern for those in need, contribute greatly to the work of reconciliation and peace in this country.

Dear brothers and sisters, God calls us to return to him and to hearken to his voice, and he promises to establish us on the land in even greater peace and prosperity than our ancestors knew. May Christ’s followers in Korea prepare for the dawning of that new day, when this land of the morning calm will rejoice in God’s richest blessings of harmony and peace! Amen.

Addition to the Prayer of the Faithful

Mass for Peace and Reconciliation

Seoul, 18 August 2014

Prayer for Cardinal Filoni e for Iraq:

            For Cardinal Fernando Filoni, who cannot be with us because he was sent by the Pope to the suffering people of Iraq in order to assist our persecuted and dispossessed brothers and sisters, and all the religious minorities who are afflicted in that country. May the Lord be close to him in his mission.

Sonnet XIV by William Shakespeare (in English)

Not from the stars do I my judgement pluck;

And yet methinks I have Astronomy,

But not to tell of good or evil luck,

Of plagues, of dearths, or seasons' quality;

Nor can I fortune to brief minutes tell,

Pointing to each his thunder, rain and wind,

Or say with princes if it shall go well

By oft predict that I in heaven find:

But from thine eyes my knowledge I derive,

And, constant stars, in them I read such art

As truth and beauty shall together thrive,

If from thyself, to store thou wouldst convert;

   Or else of thee this I prognosticate:

   Thy end is truth's and beauty's doom and date.

“A Volta da Primavera” by Castro Alves (in Portuguese)

Aime, et tu renaítras; fais-toi fleur pour éclore,

Après avoir souffert, il faut souffrir encore;

Il faut aimer sans cesse, après avoir aimé.

A. DE MUSSET

AI! Não maldigas minha fronte pálida,

E o peito gasto ao referver de amores.

Vegetam louros — na caveira esquálida

E a sepultura se reveste em flores.

Bem sei que um dia o vendaval da sorte

Do mar lançou-me na gelada areia.

Serei... que importa? o D. Juan da morte

Dá-me o teu seio — e tu serás Haidéia!

Pousa esta mão — nos meus cabelos úmidos!...

Ensina à brisa ondulações suaves!

Dá-me um abrigo nos teus seios túmidos!

Fala!... que eu ouço o pipilar das aves!

Já viste às vezes, quando o sol de maio

Inunda o vale, o matagal e a veiga?

Murmura a relva: "Que suave raio!"

Responde o ramo: "Como a luz é meiga!"

E, ao doce influxo do clarão do dia,

O junco exausto, que cedera à enchente,

Levanta a fronte da lagoa fria...

Mergulha a fronte na lagoa ardente ...

Se a natureza apaixonada acorda

Ao quente afago do celeste amante,

Diz!... Quando em fogo o teu olhar transborda,

Não vês minh'alma reviver ovante?

É que teu riso me penetra n'alma —

Como a harmonia de uma orquestra santa —

É que teu riso tanta dor acalma...

Tanta descrença!... Tanta angústia!... Tanta!

Que eu digo ao ver tua celeste fronte,

"O céu consola toda dor que existe.

Deus fez a neve — para o negro monte!

Deus fez a virgem — para o bardo triste!"

"O Sorriso do Tio Pavel Pleffel" (Chapter VII) by José Thiesen (in Portuguese)

No dia seguinte, acordei com vozes no meu quarto, coisa extraordin]aria, pois dormia pois sempre dormi só, por ser filho único.

Abri os meus olhos, preguiçoso, e levei um susto ao ver o sr. Pavel sentado na minha cadeia, conversando com um boneco que ganhara quando bebé, um elefane de pano xadrez, branco e preto.

- Como o sr. entrou aqui? perguntei.

- Pela porta.

- O sr. falava com meu boneco?

- Eu? Falando com um boneco? Ainda tens muito que aprender, menino!

- Mas eu...!

- Olhe: vim assim de surpresa por causa da pressa.Hoje hoverá festa no céu e todas as aves foram convidadas, inclusive eu. Como permitiram que levasse acompanhante, pensei em convidar-te.

- Uma festa no céu? Quer dizer, o céu, lá em cima?

- Quantos outros há?

- Mas o senhor não é uma ave; porque foi convidado?

- Porque sou quem sou. Mas afinal, vamos ou não vamos? É para já!

- Mas e minha mãe, a escola?

- São muitos “mas”! De um lado, há um mundo abrindo-se diante de ti; por outro, já deves ter percebido que eu jamais te deixaria em maus lençóis. Não é de minha natureza prejudicar ninguém.

Olhou-me com sua habitual severidade e perguntou: 

- Vens comigo ou não?

E estendi-lhe minha mão!

The Son of Satan by Unknown Writer (in English)

 art by George Olesen. Tales of Horror #9 - Toby, February 1954.