On Sunday, Pope Francis addressed thousands gathered in St. Peter’s Square who came to join the Holy Father in praying the Angelus. The Pope earlier celebrated Mass in the parish of Saints Elizabeth and Zechariah in Rome, his first pastoral visit to a parish in the Diocese of Rome.
Prior to the recitation of the Angelus, Pope Francis focused on the significance of Trinity Sunday, which illuminated by the “light of Easter”, allows us to understand that God is neither vague or abstract, but rather, is concrete and has a name. “God is love,” the Pope exclaimed.
“It is not a sentimental or emotive love, but the love of the Father that is the origin of every life, the love of the Son who dies on the cross and rises, the love of the Spirit, who renews man and the world,” the Holy Father explained.
“Understanding that God is love does us a lot of good, because it teaches us to love, to give ourselves to others as Jesus gave himself to us, to walk with us. Jesus walks with us along the road of life.”
Pope Francis went on to say that the Holy Trinity is not a product of human reasoning; it is the face which God revealed himself to us.
“God walked with his people in the history of the people of Israel and Jesus always walked with us and promised us the Holy Spirit, who is fire, who teaches us all the things that we do not know, who guides us from within, he gives us the good ideas and the good inspirations,” the Pope said.
“Today, “he continued, “we praise God not for a particular mystery but for himself, ‘for his great glory,’ as the liturgical hymn says. We praise him and we thank him because he is Love, and because he calls us to enter into the embrace of his communion, which is eternal life.”
After reciting the Angelus, the Holy Father commented on the beatification of Fr. Giuseppe Puglisi, an Italian priest from Palermo who was murdered in 1993 by the local mafia after converting many youth in the area.
“Teaching them according to the Gospel,” the Pope said of Blessed Puglisi, “he snatched them out of the hands of organized crime, and so they tried to defeat him by killing him. In fact, however, he is the one who won, with the risen Christ.”
The Holy Father lamented the men, women and children who are exploited in slavery and prostitution.
“The mafia is behind this exploitation and slavery,” the Pope said.
“Let us pray to the Lord that he convert the hearts of these people. They cannot do this! They cannot make us, their brothers, slaves! We must pray to the Lord! Let us pray that these mafiosi convert to God and praise God through the shining witness of Don Giuseppe Puglisi, and let us treasure his example!”
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For the full text of the Pope’s address, go to:
http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/on-the-most-holy-trinity–2
