Sunday, June 15, 2014

Angelus for the Holy Trinity

At noon today, the Holy Father appeared at the window of his study in the Vatican Apostolic Palace to recite the Angelus with the faithful and with pilgrims who had gathered in Saint Peter's Square.


Greetings of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
prior to the recitation of the Angelus

Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!

Today, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, which presents for our contemplation and adoration today the divine life of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit: a life of perfect communion and love, the origin and the destination of the entire universe and of every creature: God.  In the Trinity, we also find a model for the Church, in which we are called to love one another as Jesus loved us.  Love is the concrete sign that demonstrates faith in God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Love is the trademark of Christians, as Jesus himself said: By this, all will know that you are my disciples: if you love one another (Jn 13:35).  It would be a contradiction to think that Christians could hate one another.  A contradiction!  The devil is always at work: causing us to hate - he is the one who always sows the snares of hatred; he does not know how to love, love is from God.

We are all called to bear witness to and to proclaim the message that God is love, that God is never far from or indifferent to our human concerns.  He is always near, always by our sides, walking with us and sharing our joys and our sorrows, our hopes and our disappointments.  He loves us so much, even to the point that he took on our human form, and came into the world, not to judge the world but so that the world might be saved by Jesus (cf. Jn 3:16-17).  This is the love of God in Jesus, the love that is so difficult to understand but which we feel when we draw close to Jesus. He always forgives us, He is always waiting for us.  He loves us so much.  It is the love of Jesus that we feel, the love of God.

The Holy Spirit, the gift of the Risen Jesus, passes on divine life to us and makes it possible for us to enter into a relationship with the Trinity: a relationship of love, of communion, of reciprocal service and of sharing.  A person who loves others simply for the joy of loving is a reflection of the Trinity.  A family that loves and that helps one another is a reflection of the Trinity.  A parish in which people love one another, and where people share spiritual and material goods is a reflection of the Trinity.

True love has no limits, but knows how to go out toward others, respecting the freedom of the other.  Every Sunday, we go to Mass, we celebrate the Eucharist together and the Eucharist is like the burning bush where the Trinity lives in all humility, communicating with us; this is the reason why the Church has placed the feast of the Body of Christ immediately after that of the Trinity.  Next Thursday, following the Roman tradition, we will celebrate Mass at Saint John Lateran and then we will have a procession with the Blessed Sacrament.  I invite all Romans and all pilgrims to participate in this procession in order to express our desire to be a people graced with the unity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit (Saint Cyprian).  See you all next Thursday at 7:00pm for the Mass and the Corpus Christi procession.

The Virgin Mary, perfect disciple of the Trinity, helps us to give praise to God who is love with all our lives, in small gestures and in more decisive moments.

Following the recitation of the Angelus, the Pope continued:

Dear brothers and sisters,

I am following attentively the events of these past days in Iraq.  I invite you all to join me in praying for the beloved Iraqi nation, above all for the victims and for those who are suffering the consequences of the violence that is taking place there, especially for the many people, among whom are so many Christians, who have had to leave their homes.  My hope is that they will all find security and peace so that they can enjoy justice and reconciliation among all Iraqis, whatever their religious beliefs should be, and so that they can build their country together, making of it a model of cooperation and sharing.  Let us ask Our Lady to watch over all the Iraqi people.

Hail Mary ...

Today I want to announce that I will accept the invitation of the Bishops and the civil authorities of Albania, and that I plan to visit Tirana on Sunday, September 21 of this year.  Through this brief visit, I want to confirm the Church in Albania in their faith and to show them my encouragement and my love for a country which has suffered for so long because of ideologies of the past.

And now I greet you all, dear pilgrims present here today: parish groups, there are so many, families and associations.  In a special way, I greet the military from Columbia, the faithful who have come from Taiwan and Hong Kong, from Avila and La Rioja in Spain, from Venado Tuerto in Argentina, from Cagliari, Albino, Vignola, Lucca and Battipaglia.

I greet the Movimento Pro Sanctiate, who are celebrating the centenary of the birth of your founder, the Servant of God, Guglielmo Giaquinta: dear friends, continue your journey with apostolic joy and holiness.  I greet the young people from Casaleone who have recently been Confirmed, and the members of the Groupo IDI Sanità from Rome.

A special thought goes out today to domestic workers and caregivers, who have come from many parts of the world and provide a valuable service to families, especially in supporting the elderly and persons who need assistance of various sorts.  Too often, we don't properly recognize the great and beautiful work that they do in family settings.  Thank you very much to all of you!

I wish you all a wonderful Sunday; enjoy your lunch.  Please don't forget to pray for me.  Good bye!

No comments: