As part of a continuing desire by Pope Francis to come to know the Diocese of Rome, he has decided to visit each of the four major basilicas during the Easter Season. Included below are the homilies or talks he gave at the three he has visited thus far. He will go to Saint Mary Major the first week in May. Enjoy!
HOMILY OF POPE FRANCIS
Basilica of Saint John Lateran
Second Sunday of Easter - Divine Mercy Sunday, 7 April 2013
Second Sunday of Easter - Divine Mercy Sunday, 7 April 2013
It is with joy that I am celebrating the Eucharist for
the first time in this Lateran Basilica, the Cathedral of the Bishop of Rome. I
greet all of you with great affection […].
Together let us walk in the light of the risen Lord.
1. Today we are celebrating the Second Sunday of Easter,
also known as "Divine Mercy Sunday". What a beautiful truth of faith
this is for our lives: the mercy of God! God’s love for us is so great, so
deep; it is an unfailing love, one which always takes us by the hand and
supports us, lifts us up and leads us on.
2. In today’s Gospel, the Apostle Thomas personally
experiences this mercy of God, which has a concrete face, the face of Jesus,
the risen Jesus. Thomas does not believe it when the other Apostles tell him:
"We have seen the Lord". It isn’t enough for him that Jesus had
foretold it, promised it: "On the third day I will rise". He wants to
see, he wants to put his hand in the place of the nails and in Jesus’ side. And
how does Jesus react? With patience: Jesus does not abandon Thomas in his
stubborn unbelief; he gives him a week’s time, he does not close the door, he
waits. And Thomas acknowledges his own poverty, his little faith. "My Lord
and my God!": with this simple yet faith-filled invocation, he responds to
Jesus’ patience. He lets himself be enveloped by divine mercy; he sees it
before his eyes, in the wounds of Christ’s hands and feet and in his open side,
and he discovers trust: he is a new man, no longer an unbeliever, but a believer.
[…]
Let us think too of the two disciples on the way to
Emmaus: their sad faces, their barren journey, their despair. But Jesus does
not abandon them: he walks beside them, and not only that! Patiently he
explains the Scriptures which spoke of him, and he stays to share a meal with
them. This is God’s way of doing things: he is not impatient like us, who often
want everything all at once, even in our dealings with other people. God is
patient with us because he loves us, and those who love are able to understand,
to hope, to inspire confidence; they do not give up, they do not burn bridges,
they are able to forgive. Let us remember this in our lives as Christians: God
always waits for us, even when we have left him behind! He is never far from
us, and if we return to him, he is ready to embrace us. […]
God is always waiting for us, he never grows tired. Jesus
shows us this merciful patience of God so that we can regain confidence, hope –
always! A great German theologian, Romano Guardini, said that God responds to
our weakness by his patience, and this is the reason for our confidence, our
hope (cf. Glaubenserkenntnis, Würzburg, 1949, p. 28). It is like a dialogue
between our weakness and the patience of God, it is a dialogue that, if we do
it, will grant us hope.
3. I would like to emphasize one other thing: God’s
patience has to call forth in us the courage to return to him, however many
mistakes and sins there may be in our life. Jesus tells Thomas to put his hand
in the wounds of his hands and his feet, and in his side. We too can enter into
the wounds of Jesus, we can actually touch him. This happens every time that we
receive the sacraments with faith. […]
It is there, in the wounds of Jesus, that we are truly secure; there we
encounter the boundless love of his heart. Thomas understood this. […] This is
important: the courage to trust in Jesus’ mercy, to trust in his patience, to
seek refuge always in the wounds of his love. […] How many times in my pastoral ministry have I
heard it said: "Father, I have many sins"; and I have always pleaded:
"Don’t be afraid, go to him, he is waiting for you, he will take care of
everything". We hear many offers from the world around us; but let us take
up God’s offer instead: his is a caress of love. For God, we are not numbers,
we are important, indeed we are the most important thing to him; even if we are
sinners, we are what is closest to his heart. […]
In my own life, I have so often seen God’s merciful
countenance, his patience; I have also seen so many people find the courage to
enter the wounds of Jesus by saying to him: Lord, I am here, accept my poverty,
hide my sin in your wounds, wash it away with your blood. And I have always
seen that God did just this – he accepted them, consoled them, cleansed them,
loved them.
Dear brothers and sisters, let us be enveloped by the
mercy of God; let us trust in his patience, which always gives us more time.
Let us find the courage to return to his house, to dwell in his loving wounds,
allowing ourselves be loved by him and to encounter his mercy in the
sacraments. We will feel his wonderful tenderness, we will feel his embrace,
and we too will become more capable of mercy, patience, forgiveness and love.
(cited on April 16, 2013 from http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/homilies/2013/documents/papa-francesco_20130407_omelia-possesso-cattedra-laterano_en.html)
HOMILY OF POPE FRANCIS
Basilica of Saint Paul Outside-the-Walls
Third Sunday of Easter, 14 April 2013
Third Sunday of Easter, 14 April 2013
Dear
Brothers and Sisters!
It is a joy for me to celebrate Mass with you in this
Basilica. […] We are at the tomb of Saint Paul, a great yet humble Apostle of
the Lord, who proclaimed him by word, bore witness to him by martyrdom and
worshipped him with all his heart. These are the three key ideas on which I
would like to reflect in the light of the word of God that we have heard:
proclamation, witness, worship.
1. In the First Reading, what strikes us is the strength
of Peter and the other Apostles. In response to the order to be silent, no
longer to teach in the name of Jesus, no longer to proclaim his message, they
respond clearly: “We must obey God, rather than men”. […] Peter and the
Apostles proclaim courageously, fearlessly, what they have received: the Gospel
of Jesus. And we? Are we capable of bringing the word of God into the
environment in which we live? […] Faith
is born from listening, and is strengthened by proclamation.
2. But let us take a further step: the proclamation made
by Peter and the Apostles does not merely consist of words: fidelity to Christ
affects their whole lives, which are changed, given a new direction, and it is
through their lives that they bear witness to the faith and to the proclamation
of Christ. In today’s Gospel, Jesus asks Peter three times to feed his flock,
to feed it with his love, and he prophesies to him: “When you are old, you will
stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do
not wish to go” (Jn 21:18). These words are addressed first and foremost to
those of us who are pastors: we cannot feed God’s flock unless we let ourselves
be carried by God’s will even where we would rather not go, unless we are
prepared to bear witness to Christ with the gift of ourselves, unreservedly,
not in a calculating way, sometimes even at the cost of our lives. But this
also applies to everyone: we all have to proclaim and bear witness to the
Gospel. We should all ask ourselves: How do I bear witness to Christ through my
faith? Do I have the courage of Peter and the other Apostles, to think, to
choose and to live as a Christian, obedient to God? To be sure, the testimony
of faith comes in very many forms, just as in a great fresco, there is a
variety of colors and shades; yet they are all important, even those which do
not stand out. In God’s great plan, every detail is important, even yours, even
my humble little witness, even the hidden witness of those who live their faith
with simplicity in everyday family relationships, work relationships,
friendships. There are the saints of every day, […]. Let us all remember this: one cannot
proclaim the Gospel of Jesus without the tangible witness of one’s life. Those
who listen to us and observe us must be able to see in our actions what they
hear from our lips, and so give glory to God! I am thinking now of some advice
that Saint Francis of Assisi gave his brothers: preach the Gospel and, if
necessary, use words. Preaching with your life, with your witness.
Inconsistency on the part of pastors and the faithful between what they say and
what they do, between word and manner of life, is undermining the Church’s
credibility.
3. But all this is possible only if we recognize Jesus
Christ, because it is he who has called us, he who has invited us to travel his
path, he who has chosen us. Proclamation and witness are only possible if we
are close to him, just as Peter, John and the other disciples in today’s Gospel
passage were gathered around the Risen Jesus; there is a daily closeness to
him: they know very well who he is, they know him. The Evangelist stresses the
fact that “no one dared ask him: ‘Who are you?’ – they knew it was the Lord”
(Jn 21:12). And this is important for us: living an intense relationship with
Jesus, an intimacy of dialogue and of life, in such a way as to recognize him
as “the Lord”. Worshipping him! […] I would like all of us to ask ourselves
this question: You, I, do we worship the Lord? Do we turn to God only to ask
him for things, to thank him, or do we also turn to him to worship him? What
does it mean, then, to worship God? It means learning to be with him, it means
that we stop trying to dialogue with him, and it means sensing that his
presence is the most true, the most good, the most important thing of all. […] Worshipping
the Lord means giving him the place that he must have; worshipping the Lord
means stating, believing – not only by our words – that he alone truly guides
our lives; worshipping the Lord means that we are convinced before him that he
is the only God, the God of our lives, the God of our history.
This has a consequence in our lives: we have to empty
ourselves of the many small or great idols that we have and in which we take
refuge, on which we often seek to base our security. […] Have I considered
which idol lies hidden in my life that prevents me from worshipping the Lord?
Worshipping is stripping ourselves of our idols, even the most hidden ones, and
choosing the Lord as the centre, as the highway of our lives.
Dear brothers and sisters, each day the Lord calls us to
follow him with courage and fidelity; […]. The Lord is the only God of our lives, and he
invites us to strip ourselves of our many idols and to worship him alone. To
proclaim, to witness, to adore. May the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Paul help
us on this journey and intercede for us. Amen.
(cited on April
16, 2013 from http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/homilies/2013/documents/papa-francesco_20130414_omelia-basilica-san-paolo_en.html)
HOMILY OF POPE FRANCIS
Vatican Basilica
Fourth Sunday of Easter, 21 April 2013
Fourth Sunday of Easter, 21 April 2013
Beloved
brothers and sisters: because these our sons, who are your relatives and
friends, are now to be advanced to the Order of priests, consider carefully the
nature of the rank in the Church to which they are about to be raised.
It is
true that God has made his entire holy people a royal priesthood in Christ.
Nevertheless, our great Priest himself, Jesus Christ, chose certain disciples
to carry out publicly in his name, and on behalf of mankind, a priestly office
in the Church. For Christ was sent by the Father and he in turn sent the Apostles
into the world, so that through them and their successors, the Bishops, he
might continue to exercise his office of Teacher, Priest, and Shepherd. Indeed,
priests are established co-workers of the Order of Bishops, with whom they are
joined in the priestly office and with whom they are called to the service of
the people of God.
After
mature deliberation and prayer, these, our brothers, are now to be ordained to
the priesthood in the Order of the presbyterate so as to serve Christ the
Teacher, Priest, and Shepherd, by whose ministry his body, that is, the Church,
is built and grows into the people of God, a holy temple. […]
Now,
my dear brothers and sons, you are to be raised to the Order of the Priesthood.
For your part you will exercise the sacred duty of teaching in the name of
Christ the Teacher. Impart to everyone the word of God which you have received
with joy. Remember your mothers, your grandmothers, your catechists, who
gave you the word of God, the faith ... the gift of faith! They transmitted
to you this gift of faith. Meditating on the law of the Lord, see that
you believe what you read, that you teach what you believe, and that you
practise what you teach. Remember too that the word of God is not your
property: it is the word of God. And the Church is the custodian of the
word of God. […]
Likewise
you will exercise in Christ the office of sanctifying. For by your ministry the
spiritual sacrifice of the faithful will be made perfect, being united to the
sacrifice of Christ, which will be offered through your hands in an unbloody
way on the altar, in union with the faithful, in the celebration of the
sacraments. […]
You
will gather others into the people of God through Baptism, and you will forgive
sins in the name of Christ and the Church in the sacrament of Penance.
Today I ask you in the name of Christ and the Church, never tire of being
merciful. You will comfort the sick and the elderly with holy oil: do not
hesitate to show tenderness towards the elderly. [...] Therefore, carry out the
ministry of Christ the Priest with constant joy and genuine love, attending not
to your own concerns but to those of Jesus Christ. You are pastors, not
functionaries. Be mediators, not intermediaries.
Finally,
dear sons, exercising for your part the office of Christ, Head and Shepherd,
while united with the Bishop and subject to him, strive to bring the faithful
together into one family, so that you may lead them to God the Father through
Christ in the Holy Spirit. Keep always before your eyes the example of the Good
Shepherd who came not to be served but to serve, and who came to seek out and
save what was lost.
(cited
on April 22, 2013 from http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/homilies/2013/documents/papa-francesco_20130421_omelia-ordinazione-presbiterale_en.html)
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