This morning's General Audience began at 9:20am in the Paul VI Hall, where the Holy Father, Pope Francis met with groups of pilgrims and the faithful from Italy and from every corner of the world.
In his speech, the Pope continued the new cycle of catecheses on the Our Father, adding his meditation on the theme: A prayer that asks with trust (Biblical passage: Lk 11:9-13).
After having summarized his catechesis in various languages, the Holy Father offered particular greetings to each group of the faithful in attendance.
The General Audience concluded with the chanting of the Pater Noster and the Apostolic blessing.
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
Let us continue the journey of catechesis on the Our Father, which we began last week. Jesus puts a short, bold prayer on the lips of his disciples, made up of seven questions - a number which in the Bible is not accidental, but one which indicates fullness. I can say this with audacity because, if Christ had not suggested it, probably none of us - indeed, none of the most famous theologians - would dare to pray to God in this way.
In fact, Jesus invites his disciples to approach God and to ask him some questions with confidence: first of all concerning Himself and then concerning us. There are no preambles in the Our Father. Jesus does not teach us formulas meant to ingratiate ourselves with the Lord; on the contrary, he invites us to pray to him, lowering the barriers of subjection and fear. He does not ask us to turn to God, calling him Almighty ... Most High ... You, who are so far from us, and therefore I am miserable: no, he does not say so, but he simply asks us to say Father, with all simplicity, like children who turn to their father. And this word Father expresses confidence and filial trust.
The prayer of the Our Father has its roots in the concrete reality of mankind. For example, God makes us ask for bread, our daily bread: this is a simple but essential request, which says that faith is not a decorative issue, detached from life, which intervenes when all other needs have been met. If anything, prayer begins with life itself. Prayer - Jesus teaches us - does not begin in human existence after the stomach is full: rather it lurks wherever there is a man, any man who is hungry, who cries, who struggles, who suffers and who wonders why. Our first prayer, in a sense, was the wail that accompanied our first breath. In that newborn cry, the destiny of our whole life was announced: our continual hunger, our continuous thirst, our search for happiness.
In this prayer, Jesus does not want to extinguish the human being, he does not want to anaesthetize us. He does not want us to dampen our questions and requests by learning to bear everything ourselves. Instead, he wants all suffering, every disquiet, to rush towards the sky and become dialogue.
Having faith, someone once said, is a habit of crying out.
We should all be like Bartimaeus in the Gospel (cf Mk 10:46-52) - we remember that passage of the Gospel: Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus - that blind man who was begging at Jericho. Around him he had so many good people who continually told him to keep quiet: Shut up! The Lord is passing by. Shut up. Do not disturb him. The Master has a lot to do; do not disturb him. You are annoying with your screams. Do not disturb him. But he did not listen to their advice: with holy insistence, he demanded that even in his miserable condition, he might finally meet Jesus. And he shouted louder! And the polite people continued: But no, he is the Master, please! You are making a bad impression! And he cried out because he wanted to see, he wanted to be healed: Jesus, have mercy on me! (Mk 10:47). Jesus restored his sight, and told him: Your faith has saved you (Mk 10:52), as if to explain that the decisive thing needed for his recovery was that prayer, that invocation that he shouted with faith, stronger than the common sense of so many people who wanted to silence him. Prayer not only precedes salvation, but somehow it already contains it, because it frees us from the desperation of those who do not believe in a way out of so many unbearable situations.
Of course, believers also feel the need to praise God. The Gospels bring back to us the exclamation of joy that breaks out from the heart of Jesus, full of amazement and gratitude to the Father (cf Mt 11:25-27). The early Christians even felt the need to add a doxology to the text of the Our Father: For yours are the power and the glory forever and ever (Didache, 8,2).
But none of us is obliged to embrace the theory that someone in the past has advanced, which is, that prayers made up of questions are a weak form of faith, whereas the most authentic prayer would be pure praise, that which seeks God without the burden of any request. No, this is not true. The prayer of questions is authentic, it is spontaneous, it is an act of faith in God who is the Father, who is good, who is omnipotent. It is an act of faith in me, that I am small, sinful, needy. And this is why prayer, the act of asking for something, is very noble. God is our Father who has immense compassion for us, and wants his children to speak to him without fear, directly calling him Father; or one who, in moments of difficulty says: But Lord, what have you done to me?. That's why we can determine everything about it, even the things that in our life remain distorted and incomprehensible. And Jesus promised us that he would be with us forever, until the last days we spend on this earth. Let us pray to our Father, beginning simply with the word: Father or Dad. And He understands us and loves us so much.
The Holy Father's catechesis was then summarized in various languages, and the Pope offered greetings to each group of the faithful in attendance. To English-speaking pilgrims, he said:
I greet the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors taking part in today’s Audience, especially those from the United States of America. Upon all of you, and your families, I invoke the Lord’s blessings of joy and peace. God bless you!
In his speech, the Pope continued the new cycle of catecheses on the Our Father, adding his meditation on the theme: A prayer that asks with trust (Biblical passage: Lk 11:9-13).
After having summarized his catechesis in various languages, the Holy Father offered particular greetings to each group of the faithful in attendance.
The General Audience concluded with the chanting of the Pater Noster and the Apostolic blessing.
Catechesis of His Holiness, Pope Francis
for the General Audience
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
Let us continue the journey of catechesis on the Our Father, which we began last week. Jesus puts a short, bold prayer on the lips of his disciples, made up of seven questions - a number which in the Bible is not accidental, but one which indicates fullness. I can say this with audacity because, if Christ had not suggested it, probably none of us - indeed, none of the most famous theologians - would dare to pray to God in this way.
In fact, Jesus invites his disciples to approach God and to ask him some questions with confidence: first of all concerning Himself and then concerning us. There are no preambles in the Our Father. Jesus does not teach us formulas meant to ingratiate ourselves with the Lord; on the contrary, he invites us to pray to him, lowering the barriers of subjection and fear. He does not ask us to turn to God, calling him Almighty ... Most High ... You, who are so far from us, and therefore I am miserable: no, he does not say so, but he simply asks us to say Father, with all simplicity, like children who turn to their father. And this word Father expresses confidence and filial trust.
The prayer of the Our Father has its roots in the concrete reality of mankind. For example, God makes us ask for bread, our daily bread: this is a simple but essential request, which says that faith is not a decorative issue, detached from life, which intervenes when all other needs have been met. If anything, prayer begins with life itself. Prayer - Jesus teaches us - does not begin in human existence after the stomach is full: rather it lurks wherever there is a man, any man who is hungry, who cries, who struggles, who suffers and who wonders why. Our first prayer, in a sense, was the wail that accompanied our first breath. In that newborn cry, the destiny of our whole life was announced: our continual hunger, our continuous thirst, our search for happiness.
In this prayer, Jesus does not want to extinguish the human being, he does not want to anaesthetize us. He does not want us to dampen our questions and requests by learning to bear everything ourselves. Instead, he wants all suffering, every disquiet, to rush towards the sky and become dialogue.
Having faith, someone once said, is a habit of crying out.
We should all be like Bartimaeus in the Gospel (cf Mk 10:46-52) - we remember that passage of the Gospel: Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus - that blind man who was begging at Jericho. Around him he had so many good people who continually told him to keep quiet: Shut up! The Lord is passing by. Shut up. Do not disturb him. The Master has a lot to do; do not disturb him. You are annoying with your screams. Do not disturb him. But he did not listen to their advice: with holy insistence, he demanded that even in his miserable condition, he might finally meet Jesus. And he shouted louder! And the polite people continued: But no, he is the Master, please! You are making a bad impression! And he cried out because he wanted to see, he wanted to be healed: Jesus, have mercy on me! (Mk 10:47). Jesus restored his sight, and told him: Your faith has saved you (Mk 10:52), as if to explain that the decisive thing needed for his recovery was that prayer, that invocation that he shouted with faith, stronger than the common sense of so many people who wanted to silence him. Prayer not only precedes salvation, but somehow it already contains it, because it frees us from the desperation of those who do not believe in a way out of so many unbearable situations.
Of course, believers also feel the need to praise God. The Gospels bring back to us the exclamation of joy that breaks out from the heart of Jesus, full of amazement and gratitude to the Father (cf Mt 11:25-27). The early Christians even felt the need to add a doxology to the text of the Our Father: For yours are the power and the glory forever and ever (Didache, 8,2).
But none of us is obliged to embrace the theory that someone in the past has advanced, which is, that prayers made up of questions are a weak form of faith, whereas the most authentic prayer would be pure praise, that which seeks God without the burden of any request. No, this is not true. The prayer of questions is authentic, it is spontaneous, it is an act of faith in God who is the Father, who is good, who is omnipotent. It is an act of faith in me, that I am small, sinful, needy. And this is why prayer, the act of asking for something, is very noble. God is our Father who has immense compassion for us, and wants his children to speak to him without fear, directly calling him Father; or one who, in moments of difficulty says: But Lord, what have you done to me?. That's why we can determine everything about it, even the things that in our life remain distorted and incomprehensible. And Jesus promised us that he would be with us forever, until the last days we spend on this earth. Let us pray to our Father, beginning simply with the word: Father or Dad. And He understands us and loves us so much.
The Holy Father's catechesis was then summarized in various languages, and the Pope offered greetings to each group of the faithful in attendance. To English-speaking pilgrims, he said:
I greet the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors taking part in today’s Audience, especially those from the United States of America. Upon all of you, and your families, I invoke the Lord’s blessings of joy and peace. God bless you!
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