Here is a ZENIT translation of the address Pope Francis gave on May 27, 2018, before and after praying the midday Angelus with those gathered in St. Peter’s Square.
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Before the Angelus
Dear Brothers and Sisters, good morning!
Today, Sunday after Pentecost, we celebrate the feast of the Most Holy Trinity. A feast to contemplate and praise the mystery of the God of Jesus Christ, who is One in the communion of three Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. To celebrate ever with renewed wonder the God-Love, who offers His life freely to us and asks that we spread it in the world. Today’s biblical Readings make us understand that God doesn’t want so much to reveal to us that He exists, but, rather, that He is the “God with us,” who loves us, is interested in our personal story and takes care of each one of us, beginning with the littlest and the neediest. He “is God up there in Heaven” but also “down here on earth” (Cf. Deuteronomy 4:39). Therefore, we don’t believe in a distant, indifferent entity, but, on the contrary, in the Love that created the universe and generated a people, was made flesh, died and rose for us, and as Holy Spirit transforms everything and leads to fullness.
Saint Paul (Cf. Romans 8:14-17), who experienced personally this transformation wrought by the God-Love, communicates to us His desire to be called Father, rather “Daddy,” with the total trust of a child that abandons himself in the arms of one who gave him life. The Holy Spirit — the Apostle recalls again — acts in us so that Jesus Christ isn’t reduced to a personage of the past, but that we feel Him close, our contemporary, and we experience the joy of being beloved children of God. Finally, in the Gospel the risen Lord promises to remain with us forever: “Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Matthew 28:20). And, in fact, thanks to this His presence and to the strength of His Spirit, we can carry out serenely the mission that He entrusts to us: to proclaim and witness His Gospel to all and thus deepen communion with Him and the joy stemming from it.
Therefore, the feast of the Most Holy Trinity makes us contemplate the mystery of a God that creates incessantly, redeems and sanctifies, always with love and for love, and to every creature that receives Him, He gives the gift to reflect a ray of His beauty, goodness, and truth. He has always chosen to walk with humanity and forms a people that are a blessing for all the nations and for every person, none excluded. Therefore, the task of every baptized person is the same as that entrusted by Jesus to His disciples: ”Go [. . . ] and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19).
A task that, thinking of the meaning of the verb “baptize,” that is, “immerse,” we can translate with the invitation to “immerse” every human being in this ocean that is the love of God; a love that raises from sin, heals the wounds of the soul and gives us salvation.
May the Virgin Mary, who from today we invoke — taking up again the Angelus prayer –, help us to fulfil joyfully the mission to witness to the world, thirsty for love, that the meaning of life is precisely the infinite and concrete love of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
[Original text: Italian] [ZENIT’s translation by Virginia M. Forrester]
© Libreria Editrice Vatican
After the Angelus:
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Proclaimed Blessed yesterday at Piacenza was Leonella Sgorbati, Consolata Missionary Sister, killed out of hatred of the faith in Mogadishu (Somalia), in 2006. Her life — spent for the Gospel and at the service of the poor –, as well as her martyrdom, represent a pledge of hope for Africa and for the whole world. Let us pray together for Africa, that there may be peace there.
[Hail Mary . . .]
Our Lady of Africa, pray for us.
I greet you all, Romans and pilgrims: the families, the parish groups, and the Associations. In particular, I greet the faithful of Porto Sant’Elpidio, Naples, Bruzzano of Milan, Padua, and the choir of Sappada and that of the youngsters of Vezza d’Alba. You all sang well yesterday at Saint Peter’s, congratulations! I greet the Polish pilgrims and bless the participants in the great pilgrimage to the Marian Shrine of Piekari Slaskie.
On the occasion of the “Day of Relief,” I greet all those gathered at the “Gemelli” Polyclinic, to promote solidarity with people affected by serious illnesses. I exhort all to recognize the needs, also spiritual, of sick persons and to be close to them with tenderness.
I wish you all a happy Sunday. Please, don’t forget to pray for me.
Have a good lunch and goodbye!
[Original text: Italian] [ZENIT’s translation by Virginia M. Forrester]
© Libreria Editrice Vatican
