The Shrine of Saint Cajetan (Saint Gaetano of Thiene),
venerated in Argentina as the Patron Saint of Bread and Work is located in the
Liniers neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, on the outskirts of the city. Every
year, on August 7, designated as the Liturgical Memorial of Saint Gaetano,
thousands of pilgrims line up and wait their turn to pass in front of the
statuette of Saint Cajetan, to kiss the glass pane of the small niche which
holds the statue and to bless themselves. The line stretches for up
to 15 blocks of the city and people sometimes wait up to ten hours to reach the
statuette. Every hour of the day, in the Shrine church, there are
Masses celebrated on this day. The principal Mass is celebrated at
11:00am. As Archbishop of Buenos Aires, it was Cardinal Bergoglio
who would preside at the 11:00am Mass for the Feast of San Cayetano and, at the
end of the Mass, there would effectively be two processions, the first
continuing its way to the statue, and the second making its way toward the
Cardinal, who would speak with each person, listen to their stories and bless
their children.
This year, Archbishop Mario Aurelio Poli, Archbishop of
Buenos Aires will preside at the 11:00am Mass. At the end of the
celebration, he will greet the pilgrims as his predecessor did. The
theme of this year’s feast is With Jesus and Saint Cajetan, we go out
to meet those most in need. Today’s celebrations are part of an
annual novena of prayer which began on August 1 and will continue until August
9, with particular intentions for each of the nine days: for families, for
those in political office, for those who suffer, for the dead, for the
unemployed and for solidarity.
A video message prepared by Pope Francis is being transmitted today
via Channel 21, the Catholic television station in Buenos Aires, and also at
the entrance to the Shrine of Saint Cajetan beginning at midnight local time
(11:00pm last night EST) so that the faithful who pass by the doors of the
Shrine may see and hear the message.
Transcription of the video message of His Holiness, Pope Francis
addressed to the faithful of Buenos Aires
for the liturgical memorial of Saint Cajetan
Good evening!
As I do every year, after having waited in line, I speak
with you. This time, I make this pilgrimage in my heart. I
am a little too far away to be able to share this beautiful moment with you in
person. You are making your way toward the image of Saint
Cajetan. Why? In order to meet him, in order to meet
Jesus. But today, the theme of this pilgrimage – a theme chosen for
you from among many possible themes – today’s theme speaks of another meeting: With
Jesus and Saint Cajetan, let us go out to meet those most in need. It
speaks of the encounter of a meeting with those most in need, of those of who
we must be aware, of those who need us to lend them a helping hand, who we must
look at with great love, with whom we must share their pain, their anxieties,
their problems. But the most important thing is not that we should
look upon them from afar, or help them from a distance. No,
no! We must go out to meet them. This is the Christian
way! This is what Jesus teaches us: go and meet those who are most
in need, like Jesus himself always went out to meet the people. He
would always go out to meet with them. Go out and meet with those
most in need.
Sometimes, I ask people: Do you give alms? They tell me: Yes, Father.
And when you give alms, do you look into the people
who receive the alms?
Ah, I don’t know, I didn’t realize that I should.
So, therefore you don’t meet the people. You throw the alms and move on. When you give alms, do you touch the hands of
the one who receives them, or do you throw the money?
No, I throw the money.
So , therefore you haven’t touched the person. And if you haven’t touched the person, you
haven’t met the person.
Jesus teaches us, above all, to meet people, and having
met them, to help them. We have to know
how to meet. We must build, create,
construct a culture of encounter. How
many distractions there are today, family problems, always! Trouble in neighbourhoods, trouble at work,
trouble everywhere … and these distractions don’t help. The culture of encounter means that we need
to go out and encounter people. The
theme for today says: Meet those most in
need, or rather with those who are more in need than I am. With those who are experiencing a difficult
moment in their lives, worse than that which I’m dealing with myself. There is always someone who is worse off,
right? Always! There is always someone. So, I think: I’m going through a rough time, I’ll wait in line to meet with Saint
Cajetan and with Jesus and then I’ll go out and meet with others, because
there’s always someone who is worse off than I am. These are the people, the people we need to
meet.
Thank you for listening, thank you for coming today,
thank you for everything you carry in your heart. Jesus loves you very much! Saint Cajetan loves you very much! I ask only one thing of you: go out and meet others! Go out, seek out and meet with the people who
are most in need! Don’t give them money,
no. With Jesus and with Saint Cajetan … Do
we need to go and convince another person that we are Catholic? No! Simply go and meet, that person is your
brother, and that’s enough! Go, meet
your brother, help your brother, and Jesus will do the rest, the Holy Spirit
will do the rest. Remember: with Saint
Cajetan, we need to go out and meet those who are most in need. With Jesus, who we need, we go out to meet
those who are even more in need than we are.
And perhaps Jesus will point out the way so that we can meet up with
those who are most in need.
When you meet those who are most in need, your heart will
begin to grow, grow, grow … because this kind of encounter multiplies our
capacity to love. An encounter with
another makes the heart grow. Be
brave! Even if you are tempted to say, I don’t know how …do it anyway, with
Jesus and with Saint Cajetan!
May God bless you, and may Saint Cajetan’s day be a good
day. Please, don’t forget to pray for me. Thank you.
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