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Archive for the ‘Angelus’ Category

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In this moment of profound communion in Christ we also feel the presence of the Virgin Mary living among us. It is a maternal, familiar presence, especially for you who belong to the confraternaties. Love for the Madonna is one of the characteristics of popular piety, which must be valued and directed. For this reason I invite you to meditate on the last chapter of the second Vatican Council’s constitution on the Church, “Lumen gentium,” which speaks precisely of Mary in the mystery of Christ and the Church. There it is stated that Mary “advanced in the pilgrimage of faith” (58). Dear friends, in the Year of Faith I present this portrait of Mary the pilgrim, who follows the Son Jesus and precedes all of us in the journey of faith.

Today the Eastern Churches, which follow the Julian Calendar, celebrate the feast of Easter. I would like to send these brothers and sisters a special greeting, uniting with them with my whole heart in proclaiming the glad tidings: Christ is risen! Recollected in prayer around Mary, we ask God for the gift the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, that he might console and comfort all Christians – especially those who celebrate Easter amidst trials and suffering – and guide them in the path of reconciliation and peace.

Yesterday in Brazil Francisca de Paula De Jesus, called “NháChica,” was proclaimed blessed. Her simple life was dedicated wholly to God and to charity, so much so that she was called “mother of the poor.” I share the joy of the Church in Brazil over this luminous disciple of the Lord.

I greet with affection all of the confraternities that have come here from many countries. Thank you for your testimony of faith! I greet also the parish and family groups along with the parade of various musical bands and associations of Schützen who have come from Germany.

I offer a special greeting today to the “Meter” Association on this special day remembering children who are victims of violence. And this provides me with the occasion to direct a thought to those who have suffered and sufffer from abuse. I would like to to assure them that you are present in my prayer, and I would also like firmly to say that we must all cleary and courageously work that every human person, especially children, who are among the most vulnerable, might be defended and protected.

I also encourage those afflicted with pulmonary hypertension.

[Translation by Joseph Trabbic]

Angelus

On Listening to the Lord's Call

Dear brothers and sisters!   In today’s liturgy the Gospel according to Luke presents the account of the calling of the first disciples. This version is original with respect to the other 2 synoptic Gospels, Matthew and Mark (Matthew 4:18-22; Mark 1:16-20). The call, in fact, is preceded by Jesus’ teaching of the crowds and of a miraculous catch of fish, accomplished by the Lord’s will (Luke 5:1-6). While the crowd gathers on the shore of the Lake of Genesaret to listen to Jesus he sees Simon who is discouraged because he had not caught anything all night. First he asks Simon if he might get into the boat to preach to the people a little ways from the shore; then when he finishes preaching he commands him to set out into the lake with his companions and cast out the nets (5:5). Simon obeys and they catch a great quantity of fish. In this way the evangelist makes us see how the first disciples followed Jesus, entrusting themselves to him, basing themselves on his word, which is also accompanied by wondrous signs. Let us observe that before this sign, Simon speaks to Jesus calling him “Master” (5:5), while afterward he calls him “Lord” (5:7). It is the pedagogy of God’s call, which is not much concerned with the qualities of the elect but with their faith, like that of Simon, who says: “At your word I will cast out the nets” (5:5).   The image of the catch of fish points to the mission of the Church. St. Augustine comments on this: “Twice the disciples fish at the Lord’s command: once before the passions and once after the resurrection. In both cases we find a figure of the whole Church: the Church as she is now and as she will be after the resurrection of the dead. Now she contains a multitude impossible to count, including the good and the bad together; after the resurrection she will only contain the good” (Sermon 248, 1). Peter’s experience, certainly singular, is also representative of the call of every apostle of the Gospel, who must never be discouraged in proclaiming Christ to all men, to the ends of the earth. But the text of today’s Gospel also brings us to reflect on the vocation to the priesthood and the consecrated. It is the work of God. Man is not the author of his own vocation, but he replies to the divine proposal; and human weakness must not trouble us if God calls. We must have confidence in his strength, which acts precisely in our poverty; we must more and more place our trust in the power of his mercy, which transforms and renews.   Dear brothers and sisters, may this Word of God revive in us too and in our Christian communities the courage, the confidence and the zeal to proclaim and witness to the Gospel. Failures and difficulties must not lead to discouragement: we are expected to cast out the nets with faith, the Lord does the rest. Let us trust in the intercession of the Virgin Mary, Queen of the Apostles. Quite aware of her littleness, she responds to the Lord’s call with total trust: “Here I am.” With her maternal aid let us renew our openness to follow Jesus, Master and Lord.