ANGELUS TODAY
The Holy Father returned to talk once again about the mission of priests in his mini-homily on today's Gospel, paid homage to the new Blessed, Stephan Nehme of Lebanon, and expressed his thanks for worldwide contributions to Peter's Pence.
He also reminded the faithful to use the coming summer vacation not only for physical and intellectual refreshment, but also by more intimate contact with God.
In English, he said:
On Tuesday of this week we will be celebrating Rome’s feast-day, that is to say, the feast of Saints Peter and Paul – two great Apostles who proclaimed the Gospel in this city and bore witness to Christ even to the shedding of their blood.
Through their prayers, may all who come on pilgrimage to Rome be renewed and strengthened in faith, hope and love. May God’s abundant blessings come down upon all of you and upon your loved ones at home!
Here is a full translation of what the Holy Father said today:
Dear brothers and sisters!
The Biblical readings for the Holy Mass this Sunday give me the opportunity to take up once more the subject of Christ's call and its demands, a subject I dwelt on last week at the ordination of new priests for the Diocese of Rome.
Indeed, whoever has the good fortune to know a young man or a young woman who leaves family, studies or work to be consecrated to God knows well what this is about, because he has before him a living example of a radical response to divine calling.
This is one of the most beautiful experiences one can have in the Church: to see, to touch, the action of the Lord on the lives of persons, to experience that God is not an abstract entity, but a Reality so great and srong that can fill man's heart so super-abundantly, a living Person who is near, who loves us and asks to be loved.
(In today's Gospel), the evangelist Luke presents Jesus to us while he is walking on the road that leads to Jerusalem. He meets some people, probably young people, who promise to follow him wherever he goes.
But he shows them that he would be very demanding, warning them that "The Son of Man (i.e., him, the Messiah) has nowhere to lay his head on" - he has no stable residence of his own - and that whoever chooses to work with him in God's field cannot then pull back (cfr Lk 9,57-58.61-62). To someone else, Jesus says: "Follow me!", asking him to make a clean break with his familial ties (cfr Lk 9,59-60).
These demands may appear too harsh, but in fact, they represent the newness and the absolute priority of the Kingdom of God which is present in the person of Jesus Christ himself. Ultimately, this is about that radicalness owed to the Love of God, whom Jesus himself obeyed.
Whoever renounces everything, including himself, in order to follow Jesus, enters a new dimension of freedom, which St. Paul defines as "walking according to the Spirit" (cfr Gal 5,16).
"Christ has liberated us for freedom", the Apostle writes, and he explains that this new form of freedom acquired for us by Christ consists in being "at the service of one another" (Gal 561,13).
Freedom and love coincide! Whereas, obeying one's own selfishness leads to rivalry and conflicts.
Dear friends, the month of June is coming to an end, a month that was characterized by devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. On the Feast of the Sacred itself, we renewed with the priests of the whole world our commitment to sanctification. Today, I wish to invite everyone to contemplate the mystery of the divine-human Heart of our Lord Jesus, in order to draw directly from the source of God's love itself.
Whoever fixes his gaze on that pierced Heart that is always open with love for us, feels the truth of the invocation: "You are my inheritance, o Lord" (Resp. Psalm), and is ready to leave everything to follow the Lord.
Mary, who responded weithout reservations to the divine call, pray for us!
After the prayers, he said:
Today in Lebanon, Stephan Nehme, born Joseph - a religious of the Lebanese Maronite Order, who lived in Lebanon from the late 19th century to the first half of the 20th - was proclaimed Blessed.
i rejoice from the heart with our Lebanese brothers and sisters, and I entrust them with great affection to the protection of the new Blessed.
On this Sunday which precedes the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Italy and other countries of the world observe the Day of the Pope's Charity. I express my sincere gratitude to all those who, with prayers and offerings, sustain the apostolic and charitable work of teh Successor of Peter for the good of the Universal Church and for so many brothers both near and far.
In the end, he said:
Vacation time is coming. For many, it will be a time of rest. I hope that encounters with nature, with new persons, and with thw fruits of human creativity, may be an occasion not just to recover physical strength and intellectual development, but also for a more intensive contact with God and a strengthening of faith. God bless you all.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 28/06/2010 00:50]