Angelus with seminarians

At the end of the Mass celebrated for the Day of Seminarians, Novices and those discerning a vocational call, the Holy Father appeared at the window of his study in the Vatican Apostolic Palace and led the recitation of the Angelus, along with the faithful and with pilgrims who were gathered in Saint Peter’s Square.

Greetings of the Holy Father, Pope Francis

Before the recitation of the Angelus

Dear brothers and sisters!  Good morning!

First of all, I wish to share with you the joy of having encountered, yesterday and today, a special pilgrimage for the Year of Faith: composed of seminarians and novices.  I ask you to pray for them, that their love for Christ might always grow and mature in their lives, and that they might become true missionaries of the Kingdom of God.

This Sunday’s Gospel (Lk 10:1-12, 17-20) speaks about this: about the fact that Jesus is not an isolated missionary, he doesn’t want to accomplish his mission on his own, but he involves his disciples.  And today, we see that in addition to the Twelve apostles, he calls another seventy-two, and sends them to various villages, two by two, to announce the good news that the Kingdom of God is near at hand.  This is very beautiful!  Jesus doesn’t want to work alone, he came to bring the love of God to everyone and he wants to share with us a new understanding of communion, a new understanding of fraternity.  To do this, he quickly forms a community of disciples, which is a missionary community.  He immediately begins training them for their mission, to go out to the people.

But be careful: his intent is not social in nature, as though we were merely to spend time together, no, the intent is that the disciples should announce the Kingdom of God, and they should do so urgently!  Even today we must do this urgently!  We don’t have time to lose in idle chatter, we don’t need to wait for a consensus, we need to go and to announce.  We go to take the peace of Christ to the world, and if they don’t welcome it, we still keep going.  To the sick we announce healing, because God wants to heal us from every ill. How many missionaries already do this!  Sowing the seeds of life, comforting those on the periphery: how beautiful this is!  They don’t live for their own good, they don’t preoccupy themselves with their own interests, but they live in order to go and to do good!  There are so many young people here in the Piazza today: think of this, ask yourselves: Is Jesus calling me to go, to go outside of myself in order to good?  To you, young people, to you young men and women I ask: are you brave enough for this, do you have the courage to listen for the voice of Jesus? It’s good to be a missionary!  You are brave!  I am happy about this!

These seventy-two disciples, who Jesus sends ahead of himself, who are they?  Who do they represent?  If the Twelve are the Apostles, and therefore represent the Bishops, their successors, these seventy-two can represent other ordained ministers, priests and deacons; but in a wider sense, we can also think of other ministries in the Church: of catechists, of the lay faithful who engage in parish missions, of those who work with the sick, with various forms of discomfort and alienation; but always as missionaries of the Gospel, with the urgency of the Kingdom that is at hand.  Everyone must be a missionary, everyone can hear the call of Jesus and go ahead and announce the Kingdom!

The Gospel says that these seventy-two returned from their mission filled with joy, because they had experienced the power of the Name of Christ against evil.  Jesus confirmed it: to these disciples, He gives the strength to defeat the evil one.  But he adds: Do not rejoice because the spirits submit to you, rejoice instead because your names are written in the heavens (Lk 10:20).  We should not boast, as though we were the heros: there is only one hero, the Lord!  The true hero is the grace of the Lord!  He is the only hero!  And our joy is only this: to be his disciples, his friends.  May Our Lady help us to be good servants of the Gospel.

Dear friends, joy!  Don’t be afraid to be joyful!  Don’t be afraid of joy!  That joy which the Lord gives when we allow him to enter into our lives, let us allow Him to enter into our lives and to invite us to go out of ourselves, even to the periphery of life to announce the Gospel.  Don’t be afraid of joy.  Joy and courage

After the recitation of the Angelus, the Holy Father continued:

Dear brothers and sisters,

As you know, two days ago the Encyclical Letter on the theme of faith was published.  It is entitled Lumen fidei, ‘the light of faith’.  For the Year of faith, Pope Benedict XVI began this Encyclical, which follows upon his other two Encyclicals on charity and hope.  I took up this good work and completed it.  I offer it joyfully to all the People of God: in fact, all people, especially today, need to consider the essentials of the Christian faith, to deepen their understandings of these truths and to examine them in the light of modern-day challenges.  But I think that this Encyclical, at least in some part, can be useful also to those who are seeking God and seeking meaning in their lives.  I place it in the hands of Mary, the perfect icon of faith, because she knows how it will bear the fruit that the Lord desires.

I cordially greet all of you, dear faithful of Rome and you pilgrims.  I particularly greet the youth of the Diocese of Rome who are preparing for their departure for Rio de Janeiro for the World Youth Day.  Dear young people, I too am preparing!  Let’s walk this path together toward the great celebration of faith; may the Madonna accompany us, and we will make it there!

I greet the Rosminiane Sisters and the Angeline Franciscans, who are taking part in their General Chapters; and the coordinators of the Sant’Egidio Community who have come from various countries for a training course.  I wish you all a good day!  Enjoy your lunch!  Goodbye.