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ANGELUS TODAY
The Holy Father led the Angelus today from the window overlooking the inner courtyard of the Apostolic Palace in Castel Gandolfo.
He spoke on the Lord's Prayer narrated in today's Gospel and made reference to Abraham's prayer to God invoking him to save the just in the city of Sodom. (It could be his reference to the Panorama article on gay priests apparently employed in the Roman Curia who pursue the homosexual lifestyle outside work hours).
He also greeted the Spanish people who celebrate today the Feast of St. James, Patron of Spain, and expressed his condolences for the deaths from a stampede during a music festival this weekend in Duisburg, Germany.@
Here is a translation of the Holy Father's words today:
Dear brothers and sisters:
The Gospel this Sunday presents Jesus deep in prayer, a bit apart from his disciples. When he finishes, one of them says: "Lord. teach us to pray!" (Lk 11,1).
Jesus did not make any objections, he did not speak of strange or esoteric formulas, but with great simplicity, he said: "When you pray, say "Our Father"..." and taught them the Lord's Prayer (cfr Lk 11,2-4), from the prayer with which he himself addressed God, his Father.
St. Luke transmits the Lord's Prayer to us in a shorter form than that found in the Gospel of St. Matthew which has become the common usage. Here we face the first words of Sacred Scripture that we have all learned as children.
These words are impressed in our memory, they shape our life, they accompany us to our last breath. They reveal that "We are not ready-made children of God from the start, but we are meant o become so increasingly by growing more and more deeply in communion with Jesus. Our sonship turns out to be identical with following Christ" (Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth, Ignatius Press, 2007, p. 138).
This prayer gathers together and expresses all human material and spiritual needs: "Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our sins" (Lk 11,3-4).
And precisely because of the needs and difficulties of everyday, Jesus exhorts forcefully: "And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened" (Lk 11.9-10).
It is not asking God to satisfy our own wishes, but rather to uphold our friendship with God who, the Gospel tells us, "will give the holy Spirit to those who ask him" (Lk, 11,13).
This was experienced by the ancient 'desert fathers' and the contemplatives of all times, who became, through prayer, friends of God.
Like Abraham, who implored the Lord to save the few just men from the extermination of the city of Sodom (cfr Gen 18,23-32).
St. Teresa of Avila invited her sisters thus: "We must always ask God to free us from every danger and to take away all evil. However imperfect our desire may be, let us strive to insist on this request. What does it cost us to ask much since we are addressing the Omnipotent?" (Cammino, 60 (34), 4, in Opere complete, Milano 1998, p. 846).
Every time that we say the Lord's prayer, our voice intertwines with that of the Church, because whoever prays is never alone.
"Every faithful Christian must strive to be able to find - in the truth and richness of Christian prayer taught by the Church - his own way, his own manner of praying.... thus allowing himself to be led by the Holy Spirit, who will lead him through Christ to the Father" (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, 'Some aspects of Christian meditation', Oct, 15, 1989, 29:AAS 82 (1990), 378).
Today is the Feast of the Apostle James called the Greater, who left his father and his occupation as a fisherman to follow Jesus, and gave his life for him, the first to do so among the Apostles.
From my heart, I address a special thought to the pilgrims who have flocked to Santiago de Compostela for this feast! May the Virgin Mary help us to rediscover the beauty and profundity of Christian prayer.
In English, he said:
I am pleased to greet all the English-speaking pilgrims here present!
In today’s Gospel Jesus teaches us the Lord’s Prayer. Following Christ’s own example, I encourage you to pray for the grace always to be worthy sons and daughters of our Father in heaven, and loving brothers and sisters to each other.
May God grant you his abundant blessings!
In German, he added some words about last night's tragedy in Duisburg:
Today, I particularly entrust to our merciful Father in heaven the young people who lost their lives tragically in Duisburg yesterday. I ask the Holy Spirit to grant comfort and support to their sorrowing families and friends as well as to the injured. May God bless you all.
In Spanish, he said:
I affectionately greet the Spanish-speaking pilgrims here. Dear brothers and sisters, the Gospel today invites us to be constant in prayer, addressing God with the prayer that Jesus taught us and that the apostles transmitted to us.
On this Sunday we also celebrate the Feast of the Apostle St. James, who has been venerated since time immemorial in Compostela, and whose cult is deeply rooted in your countries (Hispanic).
On this Holy Year in Compostela, I too expect to join the numerous pilgrims when I visit in November, during a trip when I will also visit Barcelona.
Following the steps of St. James, let us pursue the path of our life, giving constant witness of faith, hope and charity.
And in Italian again:
Finally, today is the 'Sagra della pesche' [Peach Festival] in Castel Gandolfo. Let us thank God for the fruits of the earth and of human labor! Best wishes to the administration and the citizenry, and a good Sunday to everyone!
* About the Duisburg tragedy:
Nineteen people died as a result of a “stampede” at a musical festival called the “Love Parade” in Duisburg, Germany on Saturday night. According to Reuters, after closing the only entrance to the festival, a tunnel, in an attempt to better organize the massive crowd, “mass panic” broke out.
The techno dance festival drew an estimated 1.4 million young people from all over Europe. It was originally an event to promote peace, with the first parade taking place in the German capital city just months before the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Reuters reported that police have opened an investigation to determine the cause of the panic that led to the fatal stampede which also injured more than 300 people.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 26/07/2010 11:00] |