At the conclusion of the meeting with the world of work, at 9:15am, the Holy Father entered into the Cathedral and stopped for a moment of prayer before the image of the Shroud, which has been on display as part of an exhibition that began on April 19 of this year and which will conclude next Wednesday, June 24.
Present with the Holy Father were some elderly priests, some cloistered monks, the metropolitan Chapter, the Shroud Commission and some relatives of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, at whose altar the Pope also stopped to pray.
At 10:30am this morning, in the Vittorio Veneto Square, the Holy Father, Pope Francis presided over the concelebration of the Eucharist for the faithful of the Diocese of Turin.
Upon his arrival, the Pope was greeted by the concelebrating Bishops.
At the conclusion of the Mass, the Archbishop of Turin, His Excellency, Cesare Nosiglia, addressed greetings to the Holy Father and presented him with an offering which has been collected from pilgrims during the exposition of the Shroud, for the Pope's charitable work.
In the Collect (the Opening Prayer) of today's Mass, we prayed: Grant your people, O Father, to live always in veneration and in love of your holy name, so that you never deprive of your grace those who you establish on the rock of your love. And the readings that we have heard explain the love that God has for us: it is a faithful love, a love that recreates everything, a stable and secure love.
The Psalm invited us to give thanks to the Lord for his love is everlasting. This is faithful love, faithfulness: it is a love that does not mislead, it is never diminished. Jesus embodies this love, he is its Witness. He never grows tired of loving us, of bearing with us, of forgiving us, and this is how he takes us on the journey of life, according to the promise that he made to the disciples: I am with you always, until the end of time (Mt 28:20). Out of love for us, he became man, out of love for us, he died and rose again, and out of love for us he is always by our side, in good and difficult moments. Jesus always loves us, until the end, without any limits and without any measure. He loves us all, to the point that every one of us can say: He gave his life for me. For me! Jesus' faithfulness never gives up, even when it is faced with our own infidelities. Saint Paul reminds us of this truth: If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself (2 Tim 2:13). Jesus remains faithful, even when we have made mistakes, and he waits, ready to forgive us: He is the face of the merciful Father. This is faithful love.
The second aspect: the love of God re-creates everything, that is to say that it renews everything, as the second reading reminded us. Recognizing our own limits, our own weaknesses, is the path that leads to Jesus' forgiveness, to his love that can renew us at the deepest level, that can re-create us. Salvation can enter into our hearts when we open ourselves to the truth and recognize our mistakes, our sins; so let us experience, the beautiful experience of Him who came not for the healthy but for the sick, not for the just, but for sinners (cf Mt 9:12-13); we experience his patience - he has so much patience! - his tenderness, his willingness to save everyone. And what is the sign? The sign is the fact that we have become new and that we have been transformed in the love of God and that we know how to strip away old and used clothing and old grudges and enmities and to put on a clean robe of meekness, of kindness, of service toward others, of peace of heart, proper to the children of God. The spirit of the world is always seeking something new, but only the faithfulness of Jesus is capable of true renewal, of making men and women new, of recreating us.
Finally, the love of God is stable and secure, like rocks that shelter us from the violence of the waves. Jesus demonstrates this truth in the miracle spoken of in the gospel, when he calmed the storm, commanded the wind and the sea (cf Mk 4:41). The disciples were afraid because they realized that they would not make it, but He opened their hearts to the courage of faith. In answer to the man who cries: I can't take it any more, the Lord goes out to meet him, offers him the rock of his love, to which all of us can cling and be sure never to fall. How many times do we feel as though we can't take it any more! But He is beside us with his outstretched hand and his open heart.
Dear brothers and sisters of Turin and from Piemonte, our ancestors were well acquainted with the meaning of being a rock, a source of strength. One of our famous poems gives us a beautiful testimony of this fact:
Do we believe that the Lord is faithful? How do we live the novelty of the Lord who transforms us every day? How do we live the saving love of the Lord, that is like a secure barrier against the waves of pride and falsities? The Holy Spirit helps us to be more aware of this love, a rock that makes us stable and strong against small and great sufferings, that makes us able to not close ourselves off when we are faced with difficulties, but to face life with courage and to look to the future with hope. As it was then on the Sea of Galilee, so it is today on the sea of our existence: Jesus is the one who triumphs over the forces of evil and threats of despair. The peace that he gives is for everyone; even for our many brothers and sisters who are fleeing from war and persecution in search of peace and freedom.
Beloved people, yesterday you celebrated the Blessed Virgin, the Consoler who is there: humble and obedient, without any pomp: like a good mother. Let us confide to our Mother the journey of the church and of society in this land: May she help us to follow the Lord and to be faithful, to allow ourselves to be renewed every day and to remain steadfast in love. Amen.
Present with the Holy Father were some elderly priests, some cloistered monks, the metropolitan Chapter, the Shroud Commission and some relatives of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, at whose altar the Pope also stopped to pray.
At 10:30am this morning, in the Vittorio Veneto Square, the Holy Father, Pope Francis presided over the concelebration of the Eucharist for the faithful of the Diocese of Turin.
Upon his arrival, the Pope was greeted by the concelebrating Bishops.
At the conclusion of the Mass, the Archbishop of Turin, His Excellency, Cesare Nosiglia, addressed greetings to the Holy Father and presented him with an offering which has been collected from pilgrims during the exposition of the Shroud, for the Pope's charitable work.
Homily of His Holiness, Pope Francis
during the Mass celebrated in Turin
In the Collect (the Opening Prayer) of today's Mass, we prayed: Grant your people, O Father, to live always in veneration and in love of your holy name, so that you never deprive of your grace those who you establish on the rock of your love. And the readings that we have heard explain the love that God has for us: it is a faithful love, a love that recreates everything, a stable and secure love.
The Psalm invited us to give thanks to the Lord for his love is everlasting. This is faithful love, faithfulness: it is a love that does not mislead, it is never diminished. Jesus embodies this love, he is its Witness. He never grows tired of loving us, of bearing with us, of forgiving us, and this is how he takes us on the journey of life, according to the promise that he made to the disciples: I am with you always, until the end of time (Mt 28:20). Out of love for us, he became man, out of love for us, he died and rose again, and out of love for us he is always by our side, in good and difficult moments. Jesus always loves us, until the end, without any limits and without any measure. He loves us all, to the point that every one of us can say: He gave his life for me. For me! Jesus' faithfulness never gives up, even when it is faced with our own infidelities. Saint Paul reminds us of this truth: If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself (2 Tim 2:13). Jesus remains faithful, even when we have made mistakes, and he waits, ready to forgive us: He is the face of the merciful Father. This is faithful love.
The second aspect: the love of God re-creates everything, that is to say that it renews everything, as the second reading reminded us. Recognizing our own limits, our own weaknesses, is the path that leads to Jesus' forgiveness, to his love that can renew us at the deepest level, that can re-create us. Salvation can enter into our hearts when we open ourselves to the truth and recognize our mistakes, our sins; so let us experience, the beautiful experience of Him who came not for the healthy but for the sick, not for the just, but for sinners (cf Mt 9:12-13); we experience his patience - he has so much patience! - his tenderness, his willingness to save everyone. And what is the sign? The sign is the fact that we have become new and that we have been transformed in the love of God and that we know how to strip away old and used clothing and old grudges and enmities and to put on a clean robe of meekness, of kindness, of service toward others, of peace of heart, proper to the children of God. The spirit of the world is always seeking something new, but only the faithfulness of Jesus is capable of true renewal, of making men and women new, of recreating us.
Finally, the love of God is stable and secure, like rocks that shelter us from the violence of the waves. Jesus demonstrates this truth in the miracle spoken of in the gospel, when he calmed the storm, commanded the wind and the sea (cf Mk 4:41). The disciples were afraid because they realized that they would not make it, but He opened their hearts to the courage of faith. In answer to the man who cries: I can't take it any more, the Lord goes out to meet him, offers him the rock of his love, to which all of us can cling and be sure never to fall. How many times do we feel as though we can't take it any more! But He is beside us with his outstretched hand and his open heart.
Dear brothers and sisters of Turin and from Piemonte, our ancestors were well acquainted with the meaning of being a rock, a source of strength. One of our famous poems gives us a beautiful testimony of this fact:
Direct and sincere, what they are appears:
square heads, steady hands and healthy livers,
speaking little but knowing what to say,
even though they walk slowly, they go far.
People who don't waste time and sweatWe can ask ourselves if today we are firmly planted on this rock that is the love of God. How do we live the faithful love of God toward others. There is always a risk of forgetting the great love that the Lord has shown toward us. Even we Christians run the risk of becoming paralyzed by fear of the future and seeking security in passing things, or in a model of society that is closed, that tends to exclude more than to include. In this land, many Saints and Blesseds have lived and grown to welcome the love of God. They have also shared this love with others, free and stubborn saints. In the footsteps of these witnesses, even we can live the joy of the Gospel by practicing mercy, we can share the difficulty of many people, many families, especially those who are most fragile and marked by the economic crisis. Families need to feel the maternal caress of the Church in order to carry on in their daily lives, with the education of their children, with taking care of the elderly and with passing on the faith to younger generations.
- Our local race, free and stubborn -.
The whole world knows who we are
and, when we pass by ... the whole world looks to us.
Do we believe that the Lord is faithful? How do we live the novelty of the Lord who transforms us every day? How do we live the saving love of the Lord, that is like a secure barrier against the waves of pride and falsities? The Holy Spirit helps us to be more aware of this love, a rock that makes us stable and strong against small and great sufferings, that makes us able to not close ourselves off when we are faced with difficulties, but to face life with courage and to look to the future with hope. As it was then on the Sea of Galilee, so it is today on the sea of our existence: Jesus is the one who triumphs over the forces of evil and threats of despair. The peace that he gives is for everyone; even for our many brothers and sisters who are fleeing from war and persecution in search of peace and freedom.
Beloved people, yesterday you celebrated the Blessed Virgin, the Consoler who is there: humble and obedient, without any pomp: like a good mother. Let us confide to our Mother the journey of the church and of society in this land: May she help us to follow the Lord and to be faithful, to allow ourselves to be renewed every day and to remain steadfast in love. Amen.
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