VATICAN CITY, 30 NOVEMBER 2016 (VIS) - Pope Francis' universal prayer intention for December is: "That the scandal of child-soldiers may be eliminated the world over".

His intention for evangelization is: "That the peoples of Europe may rediscover the beauty, goodness, and truth of the Gospel which gives joy and hope to life.".

FRANCIS-PRAYER INTENTIONS/VIS 20161130 (70)
Published by VISarchive - November 30, 2016

In all seriousness, I do not, for one minute, believe that we live in a "Matrix" like the premise in the movie "The Matrix". Nevertheless, the controlled virtual reality of the Matrix does remind me of the world painted by the mass media on a daily basis, and so lamely accepted by so many of our citizenry. So, isn't it curious that the movie plot features a choice between taking a "red pill" that will open one to perceiving reality as it is vs. a "blue pill" that will simply return one to the make-believe reality of the Matrix?

The politics of the last 8 years has, to a large extent, reflected a kind of desperation combined with ideological hubris. The desperation is a natural product of improvident economic policies (resulting in the credit crunch of 2007/2008) and improvident diplomatic/military policies (resulting in destabilizing several areas of the world). The ideological hubris is largely a cultural artifact of desperate times and intellectual and moral drift.

The early Christian community evidently practiced a form of communism. The book of Acts testifies to this.

Pope Francis' reflection on the challenges of prayer at a recent daily Mass at Casa Santa Marta highlighted the importance of humility and penitence. These remarks have a significant echo in Dr. Brant Pitre's latest reflection on Sunday Mass readings.