At noon today, 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 who had come to Saint Peter's Square for his habitual Sunday appointment.
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
In Italy and in many other countries, we celebrate the Feast of the Body and the Blood of Christ today - using especially the Latin name (for this day): Corpus Domini or Corpus Christi. The community of the Church gathers around the Eucharist in order to adore the most precious treasure that Jesus has left us.
The Gospel of John recounts the bread of life discourse, which Jesus gave in the synagogue at Capharnum, in which he affirms: I am the bread of life, come down from heaven. Anyone who eats of this bread will live forever, and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world (Jn 6:51). Jesus underscores the fact that he did not come into this world to give us something, but to give us himself, his life, as food for those who have faith in Him. Our life in communion with him therefore necessitates that we, his disciples, should imitate him, making of our lives, through our approach to life, a special sharing with others, like the Master has broken and shared with us the bread that is his true flesh. For us, however, it is our attitude of generosity toward others that demonstrates our willingness to give our lives for the sake of others.
Every time that we participate at Mass and receive the Body of Christ, the presence of Jesus and of the Holy Spirit in us acts in us, shapes our hearts, forms within us inner attitudes that are transformed into behaviour according to the Gospel. Above all, docility to the Word of God, fraternity among us, courage to testify to the Christian faith, the dream of love, the capacity to provide hope to the despairing and to welcome those who have been excluded. In this way, the Eucharist helps us to grow in a Christian lifestyle. The love of Christ, welcomed with an open heart, changes us, transforms us, makes us capable of loving not according to human understanding which always imposes limits, but according to the understanding of God. And what exactly is the understanding of God in this regard? There can be no limits! God measures without limits. Everything! Everything! Everything! No one can measure the love of God: it has no limits! This is how we are able to love even those who do not love us: and this is not easy. To love those who do not love in return ... is not easy! If we know that someone does not love us, we too are tempted not to love them, but this is not right! We should love even those who do not love us! We should respond to evil with good, with forgiveness, with sharing, with welcome. Thanks to God and to the Holy Spirit, even our lives can become broken bread for the sake of our brothers and sisters. Living in this way, we discover true joy! The joy of giving, in order to transform the gift that we ourselves have first received, without having done anything to merit such a gift. This is beautiful: our lives become a gift! This is what it means to imitate Jesus. I want to remind you of these two things. First: the measure of God's love is to love without measure. Do you understand this? And our lives, with the love of God, received in the Eucharist, become gifts, just like Jesus' life was offered as a gift. Don't forget these things: the measure of God's love is to love without measure; and following the example of Jesus, with the Eucharist, we offer our lives as a gift.
Jesus, Bread of eternal life, came down from heave and took on our flesh thanks to the faith of Blessed Mary. After having carried him within her womb with limitless love, She followed him faithfully even to the cross and to the Resurrection. Let us ask Our Lady to help us rediscover the beauty of the Eucharist, to make it the central focus of our lives, especially in the Sunday Mass and in the habit of adoration.
After the recitation of the Angelus, the Holy Father continued:
Dear brothers and sisters,
On June 26, we will observe the United Nations Day for the victims of torture. In this context, I want to reiterate a firm condemnation of every form of torture and I invite Christians everywhere to work collaboratively toward its abolition and toward the assistance of victims and their families. It is a mortal sin to torture another person! A very serious sin!
I greet you all, Romans and pilgrims alike!
In particular, I greet the students from the London Oratory School, the faithful from the Diocese of Como and those frm Ormea (Cuneo), the Joy Choir from Matera, the Ark Association from Borgomanero and the children from Massafra. I also greet the young people from the Canova High School in Treviso, the group of cyclists from SAn Pietro in Gu (Padua) and the members of the Living Champions initiative who, inspired by the example of Saint John Paul II are carrying a message of solidarity to all parts of Italy.
I wish you all a good Sunday, and enjoy your lunch. Please pray for me! Pray for me, good bye!
Greetings of His Holiness, Pope Francis
prior to the recitation of the Angelus
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
In Italy and in many other countries, we celebrate the Feast of the Body and the Blood of Christ today - using especially the Latin name (for this day): Corpus Domini or Corpus Christi. The community of the Church gathers around the Eucharist in order to adore the most precious treasure that Jesus has left us.
The Gospel of John recounts the bread of life discourse, which Jesus gave in the synagogue at Capharnum, in which he affirms: I am the bread of life, come down from heaven. Anyone who eats of this bread will live forever, and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world (Jn 6:51). Jesus underscores the fact that he did not come into this world to give us something, but to give us himself, his life, as food for those who have faith in Him. Our life in communion with him therefore necessitates that we, his disciples, should imitate him, making of our lives, through our approach to life, a special sharing with others, like the Master has broken and shared with us the bread that is his true flesh. For us, however, it is our attitude of generosity toward others that demonstrates our willingness to give our lives for the sake of others.
Every time that we participate at Mass and receive the Body of Christ, the presence of Jesus and of the Holy Spirit in us acts in us, shapes our hearts, forms within us inner attitudes that are transformed into behaviour according to the Gospel. Above all, docility to the Word of God, fraternity among us, courage to testify to the Christian faith, the dream of love, the capacity to provide hope to the despairing and to welcome those who have been excluded. In this way, the Eucharist helps us to grow in a Christian lifestyle. The love of Christ, welcomed with an open heart, changes us, transforms us, makes us capable of loving not according to human understanding which always imposes limits, but according to the understanding of God. And what exactly is the understanding of God in this regard? There can be no limits! God measures without limits. Everything! Everything! Everything! No one can measure the love of God: it has no limits! This is how we are able to love even those who do not love us: and this is not easy. To love those who do not love in return ... is not easy! If we know that someone does not love us, we too are tempted not to love them, but this is not right! We should love even those who do not love us! We should respond to evil with good, with forgiveness, with sharing, with welcome. Thanks to God and to the Holy Spirit, even our lives can become broken bread for the sake of our brothers and sisters. Living in this way, we discover true joy! The joy of giving, in order to transform the gift that we ourselves have first received, without having done anything to merit such a gift. This is beautiful: our lives become a gift! This is what it means to imitate Jesus. I want to remind you of these two things. First: the measure of God's love is to love without measure. Do you understand this? And our lives, with the love of God, received in the Eucharist, become gifts, just like Jesus' life was offered as a gift. Don't forget these things: the measure of God's love is to love without measure; and following the example of Jesus, with the Eucharist, we offer our lives as a gift.
Jesus, Bread of eternal life, came down from heave and took on our flesh thanks to the faith of Blessed Mary. After having carried him within her womb with limitless love, She followed him faithfully even to the cross and to the Resurrection. Let us ask Our Lady to help us rediscover the beauty of the Eucharist, to make it the central focus of our lives, especially in the Sunday Mass and in the habit of adoration.
After the recitation of the Angelus, the Holy Father continued:
Dear brothers and sisters,
On June 26, we will observe the United Nations Day for the victims of torture. In this context, I want to reiterate a firm condemnation of every form of torture and I invite Christians everywhere to work collaboratively toward its abolition and toward the assistance of victims and their families. It is a mortal sin to torture another person! A very serious sin!
I greet you all, Romans and pilgrims alike!
In particular, I greet the students from the London Oratory School, the faithful from the Diocese of Como and those frm Ormea (Cuneo), the Joy Choir from Matera, the Ark Association from Borgomanero and the children from Massafra. I also greet the young people from the Canova High School in Treviso, the group of cyclists from SAn Pietro in Gu (Padua) and the members of the Living Champions initiative who, inspired by the example of Saint John Paul II are carrying a message of solidarity to all parts of Italy.
I wish you all a good Sunday, and enjoy your lunch. Please pray for me! Pray for me, good bye!
No comments:
Post a Comment