Below is a ZENIT translation of Pope Francis’ Angelus address today at noon in St. Peter’s Square:
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Dear brothers and sisters, Good morning!
This Sunday’s Gospel presents the miraculous event which took place in Cana, a village in Galilee, during a wedding party in which also Mary, Jesus, and His first disciples were present (cf. Jn 2,1-11). The mother, Mary, makes her Son notice that the wine ran out, and Jesus, after having said to her that His hour has not yet come, however, grants her request and gives the spouses the best wine of the entire celebration. The Evangelist notes that, «Jesus did this as the beginning of His signs at Cana in Galilee and so revealed His glory, and His disciples began to believe in Him»(v. 11).
Miracles, then, are extraordinary signs that accompany the preaching of the Good News, and are intended to arouse or strengthen the faith in Jesus. In the miracle at Cana, we can see an act of kindness on the part of Jesus to the newlyweds, a sign of God’s blessing on the marriage. The love between man and woman is therefore a good way to live the Gospel, that is, to go on with joy on the path of holiness.
But the miracle of Cana is not just about the bride and groom. Every human person is called to meet the Lord as the Bridegroom of his life. The Christian faith is a gift we receive in Baptism, which allows us to meet God. The faith [undergoes] times of joy and sorrow, light and darkness, as in any authentic experience of love. The story of the wedding at Cana invites us to rediscover that Jesus does not come to us as a judge ready to condemn our sins, nor as a commander that requires us to blindly follow His orders; He appears as the Savior of humanity, as brother, as our big brother, Son of the Father: as the One who responds to the expectations and promises of joy that dwell in the heart of each of us.
Therefore, we can ask ourselves: Do I really know the Lord like this? Do I feel Him next to me, in my life? Am I responding on the wavelength of that spousal love that He shows to all, to each human being? It is in realizing that Jesus searches us and invites us to make room for Him deep in our heart. And in this journey of faith, with Him, we are not left alone: we have received the gift of the Blood of Christ. The large stone jars that Jesus filled with water to transform it into wine (v. 7) are a sign of the passage from the Old to the New Covenant: instead of water used for the purification ritual, we received the Blood of Jesus, poured in a sacramental way in the Eucharist and in a bloody way in the Passion and the Cross. The Sacraments, which flow from the Paschal Mystery, instill in us supernatural strength and allow us to enjoy the infinite mercy of God.
May the Virgin Mary, model of meditation on the words and gestures of the Lord, help us to rediscover faith with the beauty and richness of the Eucharist and the other sacraments, which makes present ever more the faithful love of God for us. So let us fall more and more in love with the Lord Jesus, our Spouse, and meet Him with lamps lit up with our joyous faith, and become ever more His witnesses in the world.
[Original text: Italian]
[Translation by Deborah Castellano Lubov]
After the Angelus:
Dear brothers and sisters,
Today marks the World Day of Migrants and Refugees, which, in the context of the Holy Year of Mercy, is also celebrated as the Jubilee of Migrants. I am pleased, therefore, to greet with great affection the ethnic communities present here, from various regions of Italy, especially from Lazio. Dear migrants and refugees, each of you carries a history, a culture, precious values; and often, unfortunately, experiences of poverty, oppression and fear. Your presence in this square is a sign of hope in God. Do not allow yourselves to be robbed of hope and the joy of living, resulting from the experience of divine mercy, also thanks to the people who greet you and help you. Passing through the Holy Door and the Mass, that soon you will soon experience, will fill your heart with peace. In this Mass, I wish to thank–and I would like for you all to thank with me–the inmates of the prison in Opera, for the gift of the hosts, that will be used in this celebration.
I greet with affection all of you, pilgrims who have come from Italy and other countries: in particular, the cultural association Napredak, of Sarajevo; Spanish students of Badajoz and Palma de Mallorca; and young people from Osteria Grande (Bologna).
Now I invite you all to pray to God for the victims of the attacks that have taken place in recent days in Indonesia and Burkina Faso. May the Lord welcome them into His house, and support the commitment of the international community to build peace. Let us pray to the Virgin Mary: Hail Mary….
I wish you all a good Sunday. And, please, do not forget to pray for me. Good lunch and goodbye!
[Original text: Italian]
[Translation by Deborah Castellano Lubov]
