At noon today in Rome (6:00am EST), the Holy Father, Pope Francis appeared at the window of his study inside 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!
Last Sunday, with the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, we began the journey of the liturgical period called ordinary time: the time in which we follow Jesus in his public life, in the mission for which the Father sent him into the world. In today's gospel passage (cf Jn 2:1-11) we find the story of the first of Jesus' miracles. The first of these prodigious signs takes place in the village of Cana, in Galilee, during the celebration of a wedding. It is no accident that at the beginning of Jesus' public life there should be a wedding ceremony because in Him, God has espoused (married) all of humanity: this is the good news, even if those who have invited him are not yet aware that the Son of God is seated at their table and that He is the true spouse. In effect, the entire mystery of the sign of Cana is based on the presence of Jesus, the divine spouse who begins to reveal himself. Jesus shows himself as the spouse of the people of God, proclaimed by the prophets and he reveals to us the depth of the relationship that unites us to Him: a new covenant of love.
In the context of the Covenant, we can comprehend the sense of the sign of wine, which is the focus of this miracle. Just when the party is at its peak, the wine runs out; Our Lady notices it and tells Jesus: They have no wine (Jn 2:3) because it would have been terrible to continue the party with water! For those people, this would have been considered madness. Our Lady realizes this and, since she is a mother, she immediately goes to Jesus. The Scriptures, especially te Prophets, point to wine as a typical element of the messianic banquet (cf Amos 9:13-14; Is 25:6). Water is necessary for life, but wine expresses the abundance of a banquet and the joy of a feast. A feast without wine? I don't know ... Turning the water in the stone jars - customarily used for the Jewish ritual purification rites (Jn 2:6), which was a habitual act carried out before entering the house - into wine, Jesus carries out an eloquent sign, transforming the Law of Moses into the Gospel, a bearer of joy.
And then, let us look at Mary: the word that Mary speaks to the servants crowns the spousal framework of Cana: Do whatever he tells you (Jn 2:5). Even today, Our Lady says to all of us: Do whatever he tells you. These words are a precious inheritance that our Mother has left us. In fact, it even at Cana, the servants obeyed. Jesus told them: fill the jars with water. And they filled them to the brim. Again, he said to them: Now, take some and present it to the chief steward, and so they did (Jn 2:7-8). In this wedding, in fact a new Covenant was established and this new mission is entrusted to the Lord's stewards - the Church: Do whatever he tells you. Serving the Lord means to listen and to act according to his word. This simple, essential recommendation, offered by the Mother of Jesus, is a life plan for every Christian.
I want to underscore an experience which surely many of us have encountered in life. When we are in difficult situations, when problems arise that we do not know how to resolve, when we feel anxiety and anguish, when we are unhappy, we should go to our Mother and say: We have no wine. The wine is finished: look at me, look at my heart, look at my soul. Speak to our Mother, and she will go to Jesus and say to him: Look at this, look at that: there is no wine. And then she will come back to us and say: Do whatever he tells you.
For every one of us, drawing from the jars is equivalent to trusting in the Word and the Sacraments in order to experience God's grace in our lives so, we - like the chief steward who tasted the water that had been turned into wine - can exclaim: You have kept the good wine until now (Jn 2:10). Jesus always surprises us. Let us speak to our Mother; she will speak to her Son, and He will surprise us.
May the Holy Virgin help us to follow her invitation: Do whatever he tells you, so that we can fully open our hearts to Jesus, and recognize in our everyday lives the signs of his life-giving presence.
Following the recitation of the Angelus, the Holy Father continued:
Dear brothers and sisters,
Today there are two sources of suffering in my heart: Colombia and the Mediterranean.
I want to assure my closeness to the Colombian people, following a serious terrorist attack which took place last Thursday at the national Police school. I am praying for the victims and for their families, and I am continuing my prayer for the journey of peace in Colombia.
I am thinking about the 170 victims who have drowned in the Mediterranean. They were seeking a future for their lives. They are victims of human trafficking. Let us pray for them and for those who are responsible for what has happened to them.
Hail Mary ...
In a few days, I will leave for Panama - (shouts are heard from the Square, and the Holy Father says:) you too? -, where the World Youth Day is taking place from 22 to 27 January. I ask you to pray for this event which is very beautiful and important for the Church's journey.
This week, we will publish the Message for the World Day of Social Communications, which - this year - contains a reflection on the community of networks and the human community. Internet and social media are modern-day resources; an occasion to keep in contact with others, to share values and projects, and to feel the desire to build community. This network can also help us to pray in community, to pray together.
For this reason, Father Formos is with me: he is the international director of the Apostolate of Prayer. I want to introduce you to the official platform of the Pope's World Network of Prayer: Click to Pray. Here, you can add your intentions and requests for prayer for the mission of the Church.
I want to especially invite all of you young people to download the Click to Pray app, continue praying with me the Rosary for Peace, especially during the World Youth Day in Panama.
On 24 January, we will also celebrate the first International Day of Education, which was established by the United Nations in order to highlight and promote the essential role of education in human and social development. In this context, I encourage the efforts of UNESCO to increase peace in the world through education, and I hope that peace will be made available to everyone, that it will be integral, free from ideological colonization. I am praying for all educators: keep up the good work!
I greet all of you, dear pilgrims and faithful of Rome! In particular, the parish groups from Barcelona and from Poland: I see many Polish flags here! The alumni and professors from Badajoz (Spain); and the many young people from Panama - you have come to accompany me!
I greet the faithful from Nereto and from Formia; those from Santi Fabiano and Venanzio in Rome; and the young people from San Giuseppe della Pace in Milan.
A special greeting to the Italian Association of Friends of Raoul Follereau and to those who are suffering from Hansen's disease, as well as those who are close to them, accompanying them on the path of human and social care and redemption.
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!
Last Sunday, with the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, we began the journey of the liturgical period called ordinary time: the time in which we follow Jesus in his public life, in the mission for which the Father sent him into the world. In today's gospel passage (cf Jn 2:1-11) we find the story of the first of Jesus' miracles. The first of these prodigious signs takes place in the village of Cana, in Galilee, during the celebration of a wedding. It is no accident that at the beginning of Jesus' public life there should be a wedding ceremony because in Him, God has espoused (married) all of humanity: this is the good news, even if those who have invited him are not yet aware that the Son of God is seated at their table and that He is the true spouse. In effect, the entire mystery of the sign of Cana is based on the presence of Jesus, the divine spouse who begins to reveal himself. Jesus shows himself as the spouse of the people of God, proclaimed by the prophets and he reveals to us the depth of the relationship that unites us to Him: a new covenant of love.
In the context of the Covenant, we can comprehend the sense of the sign of wine, which is the focus of this miracle. Just when the party is at its peak, the wine runs out; Our Lady notices it and tells Jesus: They have no wine (Jn 2:3) because it would have been terrible to continue the party with water! For those people, this would have been considered madness. Our Lady realizes this and, since she is a mother, she immediately goes to Jesus. The Scriptures, especially te Prophets, point to wine as a typical element of the messianic banquet (cf Amos 9:13-14; Is 25:6). Water is necessary for life, but wine expresses the abundance of a banquet and the joy of a feast. A feast without wine? I don't know ... Turning the water in the stone jars - customarily used for the Jewish ritual purification rites (Jn 2:6), which was a habitual act carried out before entering the house - into wine, Jesus carries out an eloquent sign, transforming the Law of Moses into the Gospel, a bearer of joy.
And then, let us look at Mary: the word that Mary speaks to the servants crowns the spousal framework of Cana: Do whatever he tells you (Jn 2:5). Even today, Our Lady says to all of us: Do whatever he tells you. These words are a precious inheritance that our Mother has left us. In fact, it even at Cana, the servants obeyed. Jesus told them: fill the jars with water. And they filled them to the brim. Again, he said to them: Now, take some and present it to the chief steward, and so they did (Jn 2:7-8). In this wedding, in fact a new Covenant was established and this new mission is entrusted to the Lord's stewards - the Church: Do whatever he tells you. Serving the Lord means to listen and to act according to his word. This simple, essential recommendation, offered by the Mother of Jesus, is a life plan for every Christian.
I want to underscore an experience which surely many of us have encountered in life. When we are in difficult situations, when problems arise that we do not know how to resolve, when we feel anxiety and anguish, when we are unhappy, we should go to our Mother and say: We have no wine. The wine is finished: look at me, look at my heart, look at my soul. Speak to our Mother, and she will go to Jesus and say to him: Look at this, look at that: there is no wine. And then she will come back to us and say: Do whatever he tells you.
For every one of us, drawing from the jars is equivalent to trusting in the Word and the Sacraments in order to experience God's grace in our lives so, we - like the chief steward who tasted the water that had been turned into wine - can exclaim: You have kept the good wine until now (Jn 2:10). Jesus always surprises us. Let us speak to our Mother; she will speak to her Son, and He will surprise us.
May the Holy Virgin help us to follow her invitation: Do whatever he tells you, so that we can fully open our hearts to Jesus, and recognize in our everyday lives the signs of his life-giving presence.
Following the recitation of the Angelus, the Holy Father continued:
Dear brothers and sisters,
Today there are two sources of suffering in my heart: Colombia and the Mediterranean.
I want to assure my closeness to the Colombian people, following a serious terrorist attack which took place last Thursday at the national Police school. I am praying for the victims and for their families, and I am continuing my prayer for the journey of peace in Colombia.
I am thinking about the 170 victims who have drowned in the Mediterranean. They were seeking a future for their lives. They are victims of human trafficking. Let us pray for them and for those who are responsible for what has happened to them.
Hail Mary ...
In a few days, I will leave for Panama - (shouts are heard from the Square, and the Holy Father says:) you too? -, where the World Youth Day is taking place from 22 to 27 January. I ask you to pray for this event which is very beautiful and important for the Church's journey.
This week, we will publish the Message for the World Day of Social Communications, which - this year - contains a reflection on the community of networks and the human community. Internet and social media are modern-day resources; an occasion to keep in contact with others, to share values and projects, and to feel the desire to build community. This network can also help us to pray in community, to pray together.
For this reason, Father Formos is with me: he is the international director of the Apostolate of Prayer. I want to introduce you to the official platform of the Pope's World Network of Prayer: Click to Pray. Here, you can add your intentions and requests for prayer for the mission of the Church.
I want to especially invite all of you young people to download the Click to Pray app, continue praying with me the Rosary for Peace, especially during the World Youth Day in Panama.
On 24 January, we will also celebrate the first International Day of Education, which was established by the United Nations in order to highlight and promote the essential role of education in human and social development. In this context, I encourage the efforts of UNESCO to increase peace in the world through education, and I hope that peace will be made available to everyone, that it will be integral, free from ideological colonization. I am praying for all educators: keep up the good work!
I greet all of you, dear pilgrims and faithful of Rome! In particular, the parish groups from Barcelona and from Poland: I see many Polish flags here! The alumni and professors from Badajoz (Spain); and the many young people from Panama - you have come to accompany me!
I greet the faithful from Nereto and from Formia; those from Santi Fabiano and Venanzio in Rome; and the young people from San Giuseppe della Pace in Milan.
A special greeting to the Italian Association of Friends of Raoul Follereau and to those who are suffering from Hansen's disease, as well as those who are close to them, accompanying them on the path of human and social care and redemption.
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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