At noon today (6:00am EDT), the Holy Father, Pope Francis appeared at the window of his study in the Vatican Apostolic Palace to recite the Angelus with the faithful and with pilgrims gathered in Saint Peter's Square.
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
The liturgy for this Sunday offers us the parable of the vine growers to whom the master entrusts the vineyard that he has planted before he goes away (cf Mt 21:33-43). In that way, the loyalty of those vine growers was tested: the vineyard was entrusted to them, and it was their responsibility to care for it, to make it fruitful and to deliver its produce to the master. When the harvest time had come, the master sent his servants to collect the fruit. But the vine growers took on a possessive attitude: they did not consider themselves simply as workers, but as owners themselves, and they refused to deliver the crop. They mistreated the servants, to the point of killing them. The master was patient with them: he sent other servants, more numerous than the first time, but the result was the same. In the end, still patient, he decided to send his own son; but those vine growers, who were prisoners of their possessive behaviour, even killed the son, thinking that in this way they would have the inheritance.
This story is an allegorical illustration of the reproaches that the Prophets had raised concerning Israel's history. It is a history that also belongs to us: it speaks of the alliance that God wanted to establish with humanity and to which he has even called us to participate. However, this history of alliance, like every history of love, has known its positive moments but has also been marked by betrayal and refusal. In order to help us understand how God the Father responds to our refusals of his love and his plans for creating alliances, this gospel passage places a question on the lips of the master: When the master of that vineyard returns, how will he deal with those peasants (Mt 21:40). This question points to the fact that God's disappointment over the bad behaviour of the men is not the last word! This is the great novelty of Christianity: a God who, though he is disappointed over our misdeeds and sins, does not go back on his word, does not stop loving us and most of all, does not claim vengeance!
Brothers and sisters, God does not take vengeance! God loves, he is not vengeful, he is waiting for us in order to forgive us, to embrace us. With rejected stones - and Christ is the first such stone that the builders rejected - in situations of weakness and sin, God continues to put the new wine of his vineyard into circulation, that is to say his mercy: this is the new wine from the Lord's vineyard: mercy. There is only one impediment holding us back from the tenacious and tender will of God: our own arrogance and our own presumptions, which sometimes are also transformed into violence! Faced with these attitudes, in situations where no fruit is produced, the Word of God preserves its power to reproach and to warn: The kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to those who will produce its fruit (Mt 21:43).
The urgency of bearing good fruit in response to the call of the Lord, who calls us to become his vineyard, helps us to understand the newness and originality of the Christian faith. It is not so much a matter of precepts and moral norms, but it is first and foremost a proposal of love that God, through his son Jesus, has presented and continues to present to us. It is an invitation to enter into the history of love, to become a living and open vineyard, rich with fruit and with hope for all people. A closed vineyard can become wild, and produce wild grapes. We are called to go out from the vineyard to serve our brothers and sisters who are not with us, in order to wake each other up and to encourage one another, to remind one another that we must be the vineyard of the Lord in every environment, even in the furthest and most difficult situations.
Dear brothers and sisters, let us call upon the intercession of Blessed Mary, that she may help us to be everywhere, especially on the peripheries of society, the vineyard that the Lord has planted for the well-being of all people, and that we may always carry with us the new wine of the Lord's mercy.
After the recitation of the Angelus, the Holy Father continued:
Dear brothers and sisters,
Yesterday in Milan, Father Arsenio da Trigolo (born Giuseppe Migliavacca), a priest of the Capuchin Friars Minor and founder of the Sisters of the Most Holy Consoler was Beatified. Let us praise the Lord for this humble disciple who, even in the midst of adversity and trial - he faced much of it - never lost hope.
I affectionately greet all of you pilgrims, above all the families and the parish groups from Italy and from various other parts of the world. In particular: the faithful from Australia, from France and from Slovakia, as well as those from Poland who are spiritually united with their compatriots to celebrate today's observance of the Pope's Day.
I affectionately greet all of you, the group from the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in the city of Pieve, accompanied by Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti: dear brothers and sisters, I encourage you to continue with joy in your journey of faith, under the thoughtful and tender gaze of our heavenly mother: She is our refuge and our hope! Keep on going.
I greet the faithful from Grumo Appula, the scouts from Gioiosa Ionica, the parish choir from Siror (Trento) and the recently confirmed young people from San Teodoro (Sardegna).
I wish you all a good Sunday. Please, don't forget to pray for me. Enjoy your lunch and good bye!
Greetings of His Holiness, Pope Francis
prior to the recitation of the Angelus
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
The liturgy for this Sunday offers us the parable of the vine growers to whom the master entrusts the vineyard that he has planted before he goes away (cf Mt 21:33-43). In that way, the loyalty of those vine growers was tested: the vineyard was entrusted to them, and it was their responsibility to care for it, to make it fruitful and to deliver its produce to the master. When the harvest time had come, the master sent his servants to collect the fruit. But the vine growers took on a possessive attitude: they did not consider themselves simply as workers, but as owners themselves, and they refused to deliver the crop. They mistreated the servants, to the point of killing them. The master was patient with them: he sent other servants, more numerous than the first time, but the result was the same. In the end, still patient, he decided to send his own son; but those vine growers, who were prisoners of their possessive behaviour, even killed the son, thinking that in this way they would have the inheritance.
This story is an allegorical illustration of the reproaches that the Prophets had raised concerning Israel's history. It is a history that also belongs to us: it speaks of the alliance that God wanted to establish with humanity and to which he has even called us to participate. However, this history of alliance, like every history of love, has known its positive moments but has also been marked by betrayal and refusal. In order to help us understand how God the Father responds to our refusals of his love and his plans for creating alliances, this gospel passage places a question on the lips of the master: When the master of that vineyard returns, how will he deal with those peasants (Mt 21:40). This question points to the fact that God's disappointment over the bad behaviour of the men is not the last word! This is the great novelty of Christianity: a God who, though he is disappointed over our misdeeds and sins, does not go back on his word, does not stop loving us and most of all, does not claim vengeance!
Brothers and sisters, God does not take vengeance! God loves, he is not vengeful, he is waiting for us in order to forgive us, to embrace us. With rejected stones - and Christ is the first such stone that the builders rejected - in situations of weakness and sin, God continues to put the new wine of his vineyard into circulation, that is to say his mercy: this is the new wine from the Lord's vineyard: mercy. There is only one impediment holding us back from the tenacious and tender will of God: our own arrogance and our own presumptions, which sometimes are also transformed into violence! Faced with these attitudes, in situations where no fruit is produced, the Word of God preserves its power to reproach and to warn: The kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to those who will produce its fruit (Mt 21:43).
The urgency of bearing good fruit in response to the call of the Lord, who calls us to become his vineyard, helps us to understand the newness and originality of the Christian faith. It is not so much a matter of precepts and moral norms, but it is first and foremost a proposal of love that God, through his son Jesus, has presented and continues to present to us. It is an invitation to enter into the history of love, to become a living and open vineyard, rich with fruit and with hope for all people. A closed vineyard can become wild, and produce wild grapes. We are called to go out from the vineyard to serve our brothers and sisters who are not with us, in order to wake each other up and to encourage one another, to remind one another that we must be the vineyard of the Lord in every environment, even in the furthest and most difficult situations.
Dear brothers and sisters, let us call upon the intercession of Blessed Mary, that she may help us to be everywhere, especially on the peripheries of society, the vineyard that the Lord has planted for the well-being of all people, and that we may always carry with us the new wine of the Lord's mercy.
After the recitation of the Angelus, the Holy Father continued:
Dear brothers and sisters,
Yesterday in Milan, Father Arsenio da Trigolo (born Giuseppe Migliavacca), a priest of the Capuchin Friars Minor and founder of the Sisters of the Most Holy Consoler was Beatified. Let us praise the Lord for this humble disciple who, even in the midst of adversity and trial - he faced much of it - never lost hope.
I affectionately greet all of you pilgrims, above all the families and the parish groups from Italy and from various other parts of the world. In particular: the faithful from Australia, from France and from Slovakia, as well as those from Poland who are spiritually united with their compatriots to celebrate today's observance of the Pope's Day.
I affectionately greet all of you, the group from the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in the city of Pieve, accompanied by Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti: dear brothers and sisters, I encourage you to continue with joy in your journey of faith, under the thoughtful and tender gaze of our heavenly mother: She is our refuge and our hope! Keep on going.
I greet the faithful from Grumo Appula, the scouts from Gioiosa Ionica, the parish choir from Siror (Trento) and the recently confirmed young people from San Teodoro (Sardegna).
I wish you all a good Sunday. Please, don't forget to pray for me. Enjoy your lunch and good bye!
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