Sunday, May 17, 2020

Pope Francis' Mass for 17 May 2020

At 7:00am local time this morning (1:00am EDT), the Holy Father, Pope Francis celebrated Mass inside the chapel at the Casa Santa Marta.


Greetings of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
prior to the celebration of the Mass

Today, let us offer our prayers for the many people who are cleaning in hospitals, in the streets ... people who empty the garbage cans, who go to houses to take away the garbage: these are jobs that no one sees, but it is a job that is necessary for us to survive.  May the Lord bless them and help them.


Homily of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
during the Mass celebrated on 17 May 2020

In his farewell addressed to the disciples (cf Jn 14: 15-21), Jesus gives them peace; he gives peace, with a promise: I will not leave you orphans (Jn 14: 18). Peace defends them from that pain, from that painful sense of being orphaned. Today in the world there is a great feeling of being orphaned: many people have many things, but the Father is missing. And in the history of humanity this is repeated: when the Father is missing, something important is missing and there is always the desire to meet, to find the Father, even in ancient myths. We can think of the myths of Oedipus, of Telemachus and many others: always looking for the missing Father. Today we can say that we live in a society where the Father is missing, a sense of being orphaned that affects one's belonging and fraternity.

This is why Jesus promises: I will pray to the Father and he will give you another Paraclete (Jn 14: 16). I am going - says Jesus - but another will come and teach you how to access the Father. He will remind you of your access to the Father. The Holy Spirit does not come to create his own customers; he comes to signal access to the Father, to help us remember that we have access to the Father, to what Jesus has opened, to what Jesus has shown. There is no spirituality of the only Son, of the Holy Spirit: the focus is the Father. The Son is sent by the Father and returns to the Father. The Holy Spirit is sent by the Father to remind us and to teach us that we have access to the Father.

Only with this awareness of children who are not orphans can we live in peace among us. Always, wars, both small wars and large wars, always have a dimension of being an orphan: the Father who establishes peace is missing. For this reason, when Peter, in the first community, says that they respond to the people because they are Christians (cf 1Peter 3: 15-18), he says: However, this must be done with gentleness and respect, with a right conscience (1 Peter 3: 16), that is, the mildness that the Holy Spirit gives. The Holy Spirit teaches us this mildness, the sweetness of the Father's children. The Holy Spirit does not teach us to insult. And one of the consequences of the sense of being orphaned is insult and war because if there is no Father there are no brothers, brotherhood is lost. They are - this sweetness, respect, gentleness - these are attitudes of belonging, of belonging to a family that is sure of having a Father.

I will pray to the Father and he will send you another Paraclete (Jn 14: 16) who will remind you of access to the Father, who will remind you that we have a Father who is the centre of everything, the origin of everything, the unity of all, the salvation of all ... because he sent his Son to save us all. And now he sends the Holy Spirit to remind us of our access to him, to the Father and, from this fatherhood, this fraternal attitude of mildness, of sweetness, of peace.

Let us ask the Holy Spirit to always remind us, always, to remind us of our access to the Father ... to remind us that we have a Father.  And also our society, which has a great sense of being orphaned, that the Holy Spirit will grant us the grace of re-discovering the Father, the Father who gives us all a sense of life and makes it possible for all people to be a family.


Prayer to make a spiritual communion

My Jesus, I believe that you are truly present in the Blessed Sacrament of the altar. I love you above all things and I desire you in my soul. Since I cannot receive You sacramentally now, at least spiritually come to my heart. As you have already come, I embrace you and I join myself to you. Do not let me ever be separated from you.  Amen.

A Tes pieds, ô mon Jésus, je me prosterne et je T'offre le repentir de mon cœur contrit qui demeure dans son néant et en Ta sainte présence. Je t'adore dans le Sacrement de Ton amour, l'ineffable Eucharistie. Je désire te recevoir dans la pauvre demeure que mon cœur t'offre. Dans l'attente du bonheur de la communion sacramentelle, je veux te posséder en esprit. Viens à moi, ô mon Jésus, que je vienne à Toi. Que Ton amour enflamme tout mon être, pour la vie et pour la mort. Je crois en toi, j'espère en toi, je t'aime. Ainsi soit-il.

Ai tuoi piedi, o mio Gesù, mi prostro e ti offro il pentimento del mio cuore contrito che si abissa nel suo nulla e nella tua santa presenza. Ti adoro nel sacramento del Tuo amore, l’Eucaristia. Desidero riceverti nella povera dimora che ti offre il mio cuore; in attesa della felicità della comunione sacramentale voglio possederti in spirito. Vieni a me, o mio Gesù, che io vengo da Te. Possa il tuo amore infiammare tutto il mio essere per la vita e per la morte. Credo in Te, spero in Te, ti amo. Cosi sia.

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