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 gathered in Saint Peter's Square.
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
This Sunday, the liturgy presents us with a brief but very important passage of scripture (cf Mt 22:34-40). The evangelist Matthew says that the Pharisees had gathered to put Jesus to the test. One of them, a doctor of the Law, asked Jesus this question: Master, in the Law, which is the greatest commandment? (Mt 22:36). This is an insidious question because there are more than six hundred precepts in the Law of Moses. The question is how to distinguish - among all of them - which is the greatest commandment? But Jesus doesn't have any hesitation in responding: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. And he adds: You shall love your neighbour as yourself (Mt 22:37,39).
Jesus' response is significant because, among the many precepts in the Jewish law, the most important ones were the Ten Commandments, communicated directly by God to Moses as conditions of the covenant between Him and his people. But Jesus wanted to help others to understand that without love for God and for others, there can be no faithfulness to the covenant with the Lord. You can do many other good things, follow many good precepts, do many good things, but if you have no love, all your works are useless.
This truth is confirmed by another text in the Book of Exodus, referred to as the covenantal code, where it is said that we cannot be in a covenant with the Lord and mistreat others who enjoy his protection. Who are the people who enjoy his protection? The bible says: widows, orphans and strangers, migrants - that is, people who are the most alone and defenceless (cf Ex 22:20-21). Responding to the Pharisees who had questioned him, Jesus also sought to help them put some order in their own religiosity, to distinguish between what really matters and what is less important. Jesus said: All of the Law and the Prophets are based on these two commandments (Mt 22:40). These are the most important ones, and the others are rooted in these two. And Jesus lived his life in this way: preaching and acting based on what really matters, what is truly essential, that is to say: love. Love lends momentum and meaning to life and to the journey of faith: without love, both life and faith remain sterile.
What Jesus proposes in these pages of the gospel is a wonderful idea that corresponds to the deepest desire of our hearts. In fact, we were created for love and to be loved. God, who is Love, has created us in order for us to participate in his life, to be loved by Him and in order to love Him, and with Him, to love everyone else. This is God's dream for humanity. In order to make it reality, we need his grace, we need to receive the capacity to love, a gift that comes from God himself. Jesus offers us this gift in the Eucharist. In the Eucharist, we receive Jesus in the fullest expression of his love, when he offered himself to the Father for our salvation.
The Virgin Mary helps us to welcome this greatest commandment of love for God and for our neighbour and to find a home for it in our lives and hearts. In fact, even if we have known this from the time of our childhood, without her, we will never be converted or be able to put these truths into practice in the various circumstances of our lives.
Following the recitation of the Angelus, the Holy Father continued:
Dear brothers and sisters,
Yesterday in Caxias do Sul (Brazil), John Schiavo, a priest of the Order of Giuseppini del Murialdo was proclaimed Blessed. Born in the Vicenza hills in the early 1900s, he was sent as a young priest to Brazil where he worked with zeal in service to the people of God and in providing formation to religious men and women. May his example help us to fully live our faith in Christ and in the gospel.
I affectionately greet all of you, Italian pilgrims and others from various other countries, in particular, those who have come from Ballygawley (Ireland), Salzburg (Austria) and from the regions of Traunstein and Berchtesgaden (Germany). I greet the participants taking part in the Conference of Secular Italian Institutes, who encourage others through their own witness of the gospel in the world; and the FIDAS Blood Donor Association from Orta Nova (Foggia). I see that there are some Colombians here too!
I greet the Togolese community resident here in Italy as well as the Venezuelans who are here with the image of Our Lady of Chiquinquirà , the Chinita. Let us entrust all the hopes and desires of these two nations to the Virgin Mary!
I wish you all a good Sunday. Please, don't forget to pray for me. Enjoy your lunch and good bye!
Greetings of His Holiness, Pope Francis
prior to the recitation of the Angelus
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
This Sunday, the liturgy presents us with a brief but very important passage of scripture (cf Mt 22:34-40). The evangelist Matthew says that the Pharisees had gathered to put Jesus to the test. One of them, a doctor of the Law, asked Jesus this question: Master, in the Law, which is the greatest commandment? (Mt 22:36). This is an insidious question because there are more than six hundred precepts in the Law of Moses. The question is how to distinguish - among all of them - which is the greatest commandment? But Jesus doesn't have any hesitation in responding: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. And he adds: You shall love your neighbour as yourself (Mt 22:37,39).
Jesus' response is significant because, among the many precepts in the Jewish law, the most important ones were the Ten Commandments, communicated directly by God to Moses as conditions of the covenant between Him and his people. But Jesus wanted to help others to understand that without love for God and for others, there can be no faithfulness to the covenant with the Lord. You can do many other good things, follow many good precepts, do many good things, but if you have no love, all your works are useless.
This truth is confirmed by another text in the Book of Exodus, referred to as the covenantal code, where it is said that we cannot be in a covenant with the Lord and mistreat others who enjoy his protection. Who are the people who enjoy his protection? The bible says: widows, orphans and strangers, migrants - that is, people who are the most alone and defenceless (cf Ex 22:20-21). Responding to the Pharisees who had questioned him, Jesus also sought to help them put some order in their own religiosity, to distinguish between what really matters and what is less important. Jesus said: All of the Law and the Prophets are based on these two commandments (Mt 22:40). These are the most important ones, and the others are rooted in these two. And Jesus lived his life in this way: preaching and acting based on what really matters, what is truly essential, that is to say: love. Love lends momentum and meaning to life and to the journey of faith: without love, both life and faith remain sterile.
What Jesus proposes in these pages of the gospel is a wonderful idea that corresponds to the deepest desire of our hearts. In fact, we were created for love and to be loved. God, who is Love, has created us in order for us to participate in his life, to be loved by Him and in order to love Him, and with Him, to love everyone else. This is God's dream for humanity. In order to make it reality, we need his grace, we need to receive the capacity to love, a gift that comes from God himself. Jesus offers us this gift in the Eucharist. In the Eucharist, we receive Jesus in the fullest expression of his love, when he offered himself to the Father for our salvation.
The Virgin Mary helps us to welcome this greatest commandment of love for God and for our neighbour and to find a home for it in our lives and hearts. In fact, even if we have known this from the time of our childhood, without her, we will never be converted or be able to put these truths into practice in the various circumstances of our lives.
Following the recitation of the Angelus, the Holy Father continued:
Dear brothers and sisters,
Yesterday in Caxias do Sul (Brazil), John Schiavo, a priest of the Order of Giuseppini del Murialdo was proclaimed Blessed. Born in the Vicenza hills in the early 1900s, he was sent as a young priest to Brazil where he worked with zeal in service to the people of God and in providing formation to religious men and women. May his example help us to fully live our faith in Christ and in the gospel.
I affectionately greet all of you, Italian pilgrims and others from various other countries, in particular, those who have come from Ballygawley (Ireland), Salzburg (Austria) and from the regions of Traunstein and Berchtesgaden (Germany). I greet the participants taking part in the Conference of Secular Italian Institutes, who encourage others through their own witness of the gospel in the world; and the FIDAS Blood Donor Association from Orta Nova (Foggia). I see that there are some Colombians here too!
I greet the Togolese community resident here in Italy as well as the Venezuelans who are here with the image of Our Lady of Chiquinquirà , the Chinita. Let us entrust all the hopes and desires of these two nations to the Virgin Mary!
I wish you all a good Sunday. Please, don't forget to pray for me. Enjoy your lunch and good bye!
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