At 6:00pm today in Rome, the Holy Father presided over the Eucharistic celebration in the Roman parish of All the Saints on the via Appia Nuova, commemorating the first Mass celebrated in Italian according to the renewed liturgical norms established by the Second Vatican Council - on March 7, 1965 in a parish setting. That first Mass was presided over by Blessed Paul VI.
On the occasion of the Jewish Passover, Jesus goes to Jerusalem. Arriving at the temple, he does not find people in search of God, but people who are doing their own thing: merchants selling animals for the sacrificial offerings; money changers, who change impure money engraved with the image of the emperor for money approved by the religious authorities which can be used to pay the annual temple tax. What do we find when we come, when we go to our temple? I will leave that question with you. It is dishonest trading, the source of good earnings that provokes Jesus' energetic reaction. He breaks the coin boxes, throws the money on the ground and chases the merchants, saying to them: Stop making my Father's house into a marketplace (John 2:16).
This expression is not only a reference to the trading that was practiced in the courtyard of the temple. Rather it refers to a type of religiosity. Jesus' action is a gesture of cleansing, of purification and the attitude he portrays can be understood in the light of prophetic texts, according to which God takes no pleasure in an external cult of sacrifice and material based on self-interest (cf Isaiah 1:11-17; Jeremiah 7:2-11). This gesture is a call to authentic worship, to the correspondence between liturgy and life; a reminder that is true for every age and even today for all of us. The correspondence between liturgy and life. The liturgy is not something strange, unknown or distant where while we celebrate, I might think about many things, or pray the rosary. No, no. There is a correspondence, between the liturgical celebration and what I do with the rest of my life; and on this point, we must always be willing to go further; there is still more of the journey to complete.
The Conciliar Constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium defines the liturgy as the primary and indispensable font to which the faithful can derive the true Christian spirit (SC, 14). This means to reaffirm the essential connection that unites the life of the disciples to Jesus and liturgical worship. It is not primarily a doctrine to be understood or a rite to be performed; it is all of this but in another sense, it is essentially different: it is a source of light and life for our journey of faith.
Therefore, the Church calls us to have and to promote a genuine liturgical life, in order that there might be harmony between what the liturgy celebrates and what we live in our day-to-day lives. It is expressed in the life we have received through faith and how we have celebrated this life (cf SC, 10).
The disciple of Jesus does not go to church only to observe a precept, or to feel good about a God who he should not disturb too much. But Lord, I go every Sunday, I do it ... but you, don't bother to get involved in my life, don't disturb me. This is the attitude that many Catholics have, many of them. The disciple of Jesus goes to church in order to meet the Lord and to find in his grace, that is at work in the Sacraments, the strength to think and to act according to the gospel. We cannot pretend to enter the house of the Lord and to play, with prayers and with devotional practices, while behaving contrary to the demands of justice, honesty and charity toward our neighbour. We cannot replace what we owe to our neighbour with religious homage if we hope to truly experience conversion. Worship, liturgical celebrations are the privileged moments when we hear the voice of the Lord, who guides us along the path of righteousness and Christian perfection.
It is a matter of undertaking a journey of conversion and penance, in order to remove from our lives the scourge of sin, like Jesus did, cleansing the temple of narrow-minded interests. Lent is the favourable time for all of this, the time of interior renewal, of forgiveness for sins, the time in which we are called to rediscover the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation which makes it possible for us to pass from the darkness of sin to the light of grace and friendship with Jesus. We must not forget the great strength this Sacrament has for the Christian life: it makes us grow in union with God, it makes it possible for us to regain the joy that was lost and to experience the consolation of feeling personally welcomed by the merciful embrace of God.
Dear brothers and sisters, this temple was built thanks to the apostolic zeal of San Luigi Orione. In this very place, fifty years ago, Blessed Paul VI began the liturgical reform, in a certain sense, with the celebration of the Mass in the language spoken by the people. May this circumstance reawaken in all of you a love for the house of God. In this place, you find great spiritual help. Here you can feel, every time that you seek it, the regenerative power of personal and communal prayer. Listening to the Word of God, proclaiming it in the liturgical assembly, it will support you on the journey of your Christian life. Within these walls, you meet, not as strangers but as brothers, capable of willingly offering your hands to one another, united in your love for Christ, the foundation of hope and source of commitment for every believer.
To Him, to Jesus Christ, the cornerstone, we look with confidence during this Mass, renewing our intention to strive for purification and interior cleansing of the interior spiritual building that is the Church, of which every one of us is a living part by virtue of our Baptism. Amen.
At the conclusion of the Mass, the Pope greeted the parish priests (since it's foundation, this parish has been entrusted to the spiritual care of the Orionists), the Directors General of the Little Works of Divine Providence (Saint Luigi Orione), Father Flavio Peloso, who was present along with the General Councillors of the Orionists and the Daughters of Divine Providence, the religious community of the General Curia and representatives of the Don Orione Family who had come from various parts of Italy.
Homily of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
for the pastoral visit to the church of
All the Saints (Rome)
On the occasion of the Jewish Passover, Jesus goes to Jerusalem. Arriving at the temple, he does not find people in search of God, but people who are doing their own thing: merchants selling animals for the sacrificial offerings; money changers, who change impure money engraved with the image of the emperor for money approved by the religious authorities which can be used to pay the annual temple tax. What do we find when we come, when we go to our temple? I will leave that question with you. It is dishonest trading, the source of good earnings that provokes Jesus' energetic reaction. He breaks the coin boxes, throws the money on the ground and chases the merchants, saying to them: Stop making my Father's house into a marketplace (John 2:16).
This expression is not only a reference to the trading that was practiced in the courtyard of the temple. Rather it refers to a type of religiosity. Jesus' action is a gesture of cleansing, of purification and the attitude he portrays can be understood in the light of prophetic texts, according to which God takes no pleasure in an external cult of sacrifice and material based on self-interest (cf Isaiah 1:11-17; Jeremiah 7:2-11). This gesture is a call to authentic worship, to the correspondence between liturgy and life; a reminder that is true for every age and even today for all of us. The correspondence between liturgy and life. The liturgy is not something strange, unknown or distant where while we celebrate, I might think about many things, or pray the rosary. No, no. There is a correspondence, between the liturgical celebration and what I do with the rest of my life; and on this point, we must always be willing to go further; there is still more of the journey to complete.
The Conciliar Constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium defines the liturgy as the primary and indispensable font to which the faithful can derive the true Christian spirit (SC, 14). This means to reaffirm the essential connection that unites the life of the disciples to Jesus and liturgical worship. It is not primarily a doctrine to be understood or a rite to be performed; it is all of this but in another sense, it is essentially different: it is a source of light and life for our journey of faith.
Therefore, the Church calls us to have and to promote a genuine liturgical life, in order that there might be harmony between what the liturgy celebrates and what we live in our day-to-day lives. It is expressed in the life we have received through faith and how we have celebrated this life (cf SC, 10).
The disciple of Jesus does not go to church only to observe a precept, or to feel good about a God who he should not disturb too much. But Lord, I go every Sunday, I do it ... but you, don't bother to get involved in my life, don't disturb me. This is the attitude that many Catholics have, many of them. The disciple of Jesus goes to church in order to meet the Lord and to find in his grace, that is at work in the Sacraments, the strength to think and to act according to the gospel. We cannot pretend to enter the house of the Lord and to play, with prayers and with devotional practices, while behaving contrary to the demands of justice, honesty and charity toward our neighbour. We cannot replace what we owe to our neighbour with religious homage if we hope to truly experience conversion. Worship, liturgical celebrations are the privileged moments when we hear the voice of the Lord, who guides us along the path of righteousness and Christian perfection.
It is a matter of undertaking a journey of conversion and penance, in order to remove from our lives the scourge of sin, like Jesus did, cleansing the temple of narrow-minded interests. Lent is the favourable time for all of this, the time of interior renewal, of forgiveness for sins, the time in which we are called to rediscover the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation which makes it possible for us to pass from the darkness of sin to the light of grace and friendship with Jesus. We must not forget the great strength this Sacrament has for the Christian life: it makes us grow in union with God, it makes it possible for us to regain the joy that was lost and to experience the consolation of feeling personally welcomed by the merciful embrace of God.
Dear brothers and sisters, this temple was built thanks to the apostolic zeal of San Luigi Orione. In this very place, fifty years ago, Blessed Paul VI began the liturgical reform, in a certain sense, with the celebration of the Mass in the language spoken by the people. May this circumstance reawaken in all of you a love for the house of God. In this place, you find great spiritual help. Here you can feel, every time that you seek it, the regenerative power of personal and communal prayer. Listening to the Word of God, proclaiming it in the liturgical assembly, it will support you on the journey of your Christian life. Within these walls, you meet, not as strangers but as brothers, capable of willingly offering your hands to one another, united in your love for Christ, the foundation of hope and source of commitment for every believer.
To Him, to Jesus Christ, the cornerstone, we look with confidence during this Mass, renewing our intention to strive for purification and interior cleansing of the interior spiritual building that is the Church, of which every one of us is a living part by virtue of our Baptism. Amen.
At the conclusion of the Mass, the Pope greeted the parish priests (since it's foundation, this parish has been entrusted to the spiritual care of the Orionists), the Directors General of the Little Works of Divine Providence (Saint Luigi Orione), Father Flavio Peloso, who was present along with the General Councillors of the Orionists and the Daughters of Divine Providence, the religious community of the General Curia and representatives of the Don Orione Family who had come from various parts of Italy.
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