Pope leaves Mozambique urging reconciliation, care for one another MAPUTO, Mozambique (CNS) — When Jesus told his disciples to love one another and pray for their enemies, he meant it — even disciples in a nation like Mozambique, where political tensions have led to violence, war and death, Pope Francis said. The pope ended his visit to Mozambique Sept. 6 with a visit to a health center founded to care for people living with HIV/AIDS and with a Mass nearby in Maputo’s Zimpeto Stadium, where a late winter rain fell intermittently. Bernadete Silva Fungalane came to the Mass from the Diocese of Pemba, in the northern Cabo Delgado province, where outbreaks of violent killings and pillaging have terrorized the population for the past few years. Wearing a headwrap and a skirt made of blue fabric with the pope’s image, she told Catholic News Service that the pope “can help stop the violence, first of all because he unites people. His words about reconciliation are very important for our people.” Before the recitation of the rosary began 90 minutes before the pope’s arrival, Silva Fungalane said, she knew in her heart that she would receive a blessing being at Mass and “all Mozambique will be blessed.” In his homily, Pope Francis insisted Jesus’ message about love and turning the other cheek was not simply a lovely platitude, but a call to courage and strength and trust in God alone. Jesus “is talking about specific enemies, real enemies, the kind he described” in the beatitudes: “those who hate us, exclude us, revile us and defame us,” the pope said. Pope Francis said he knows people are frightened of renewed violence, and he made special mention of Cabo Delgado. A true and long-lasting peace, he said, can be achieved only through reconciliation, which requires meeting with, speaking to, trying to understand and praying for those who had been enemies. “Jesus wants to end forever that common practice of being Christians yet living under the law of retaliation,” the pope said. “We cannot look to the future, or build a nation, an equitable society, on the basis of violence. I cannot follow Jesus if I live my life by the rule of ‘an eye for an eye, and a tooth for tooth.'” Pope Francis also used the occasion to condemn corruption, especially because it has kept so many Mozambicans in absolute poverty, despite the country’s natural resources. The pope did not mention specifics, but Mozambicans are still paying the price for a massive loan and bribery scheme that was revealed in 2016 and led to the suspension of international development funding. With general elections scheduled for Oct. 15, the pope told people to look for those who show “concern for others, acknowledging and appreciating them as our brothers and sisters, even to the point of identifying with their lives and their pain.” Before arriving at the stadium, Pope Francis paid a visit to the Zimpeto DREAM Center, a medical clinic sponsored by the Rome-based Community of Sant’Egidio, but now fully staffed by Mozambican doctors, nurses and laboratory technicians. Sant’Egidio, a lay movement, helped mediate the Mozambique peace talks in the early 1990s and, when the AIDS pandemic began, the community mobilized to help. Some 20 percent of Mozambican adults are HIV positive and, in 2002 when the first DREAM Center opened, mother-to-baby transmission of the virus was commonplace. Sant’Egidio decided to start there, giving the women antiretroviral drugs at no cost, as well as providing them and their families with food assistance. The program boasts of more than 100,000 babies being born virus free. Pope Francis met several of those newborns, offering a big smile to the proud mothers and gently stroking the chubby cheeks of the babies. In a brief speech, the pope praised the program for listening to the needs of those suffering before designing the program and for always treating the patients with dignity. It was essential, he said, that someone hear “the silent, almost inaudible, cry of countless women, so many of them living in shame, marginalized and judged by all.” Now those same women have formed an association where they support one another and go into their communities to educate other women about HIV/AIDS and accompany those being tested for the virus. After the Mass, Pope Francis traveled to Madagascar, the second stop on his three- nation Africa visit. He also was scheduled to visit Mauritius before returning to the Vatican Sept. 10. Copyright ©2019 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. St. Philip Neri parishioners continue to support outreach begun in their basement GLEN BURNIE – Under the guidance of Leo Zerhusen, HOPE (He Opens Paths to Everyone) For All has turned empty houses into furnished homes and outfitted children for school. Now the ecumenical Christian ministry is preparing for a transition. While Zerhusen will step down as executive director of a program he began in 2004, he’ll continue to be involved – no surprise for someone who’s been giving back since the 1960s. “We could never replace his value. said Connie Cooper, president of the HOPE for All board. “We’ll hold on to him as long as we can.” Zerhusen and his wife, Diane, are parishioners of St. Philip Neri in Linthicum Heights. They met in 1968, when she was teaching at Our Lady of Victory School and he was a Loyola College student who came to share about his faith with her class. He also went into teaching, first at Holy Trinity School in Glen Burnie, where, he said, “We celebrated our engagement at the convent with the sisters who were teaching there.” The Zerhusens will celebrate their 48th wedding anniversary in November. Both are retired teachers, his last post being at St. Philip Neri School. What began in the Zerhusens’ basement now occupies four locations, including a 14,000-square-foot warehouse, and fields referrals from 23 agencies in Anne Arundel County. HOPE has two main programs. Turning Houses into Homes provides housewares, furniture and linens for an average of 25 families a month as they escape homelessness. Head to Toe provides students with clothing and school supplies. HOPE also offers help in Terra Alta and Bruceton Mills, W.Va. “The need is astronomical. We put 76 families into homes in May and June,” said Zerhusen, who estimates HOPE has helped 28,000 families. It is an effort fueled by volunteers. “I’ve always thought you had to give back,” said Zerhusen, who has never drawn a salary from HOPE. Its logistics manager has seen Zerhusen open his wallet for strangers. “The man is the most humble person I’ve ever met,” Roger Potter said. “Leo will be the first person to say, ‘this didn’t come from me – it came from God.’ ” Students from Catholic high schools, such as Archbishop Curley, Archbishop Spalding and Mount St. Joseph, were part of the 14,000 hours clocked last year by volunteers, who include 100 regulars. “Until I started doing this, I had no idea the level of poverty that existed locally,” said Brock Hutton, one of the regulars. “A lot of us are not young, but we dedicate our lives to God and the community. They (the Zerhusens) are the most caring people you can imagine. They are two of the most wonderful human beings I’ve ever met.” Service begins with getting to know clients. “They will tell you their story,” Zerhusen said. “It’s often not a good story.” After a divorce, Loretta Hall and her 10-year-old daughter lost their home and lived out of her car for two years. Their new residence was furnished by HOPE, including new beds. “It means a lot,” Hall said. “We had a hard time finding housing. We lost everything in storage that we had, so it’s a blessing.” While Zerhusen will step down at some point, he intends to remain involved. “It’s part of me,” he said. “I’ve always told the Lord that as long as he gives me the health, I will continue to do it.” Pope: Proclaim God’s love through care for needy VATICAN CITY (CNS) — While listening to and obeying God’s word brings healing and comfort to those in need, it also can attract disdain and even hatred from others, Pope Francis said. Christians are called to proclaim the love of God through their care for the sick and the needy, like St. Peter and the other disciples who went to various cities bringing spiritual and physical healing to many, the pope said during his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square Aug. 28. While Peter’s healing of the sick also “aroused the hatred of the Sadducees,” the pope said, his response to them to “obey God instead of men” is the “key to Christian life.” “Let us also ask the Holy Spirit for the strength to not be frightened in the face of those who command us to be silent, who slander us and even threaten our lives,” he said. “Let us ask him to strengthen us inwardly to be certain of the loving and comforting presence of the Lord at our side.” The pope continued his series of talks on the Acts of the Apostles and reflected on St. Peter’s role in leading the early church’s mission of proclaiming Christ’s love and of healing the sick and the suffering. Today, like in St. Peter’s day, he said, “the sick are the privileged recipients of the joyous proclamation of the kingdom, they are brothers and sisters in whom Christ is present in a special way so that they may be sought out and found by all of us.” “The sick are the privileged ones for the church, for the priestly heart, for all the faithful.