Vatican City, Jun 25, 2017 / 11:38 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In his Angelus address on Sunday, Pope Francis reminded the faithful that following Christ does not mean our lives will be free from all earthly troubles.
“There is no Christian mission in the name of tranquility,” the Pope said, speaking to those gathered in St. Peter’s Square on June 25. “Difficulties and tribulations are part and parcel of evangelization.”
Pope Francis reflected on the day’s Gospel, in which Jesus instructs his followers not to be afraid.
“Jesus’ mission did not guarantee the disciples success, nor did it shield them from failure or suffering,” the Holy Father said.
But Christ did promise them that he would always be with them as they faced the trials that were ahead.
The same is true for us today, the Pope said. We should expect suffering and even persecution if we follow in the path of the crucified Christ, but at the same time, we can take comfort in knowing that “God does not abandon his children during the storm.”
Sometimes this storm comes not in the form of active persecution, but in indifference, through “people who do not want to be awakened from a worldly numbness, who ignore the truth of the Gospel message and build their own ephemeral truth.”
Regardless of the form that trials may take, we should persevere in faithfulness, he said, also reminding those gathered in the square to pray for those facing serious persecution.
“Jesus does not leave us alone because we are precious to Him.”
Following the Angelus, the Pope offered prayers for landslide victims in southwestern China. He also offered a message to members of the Greek-Catholic Ukrainian Church on the 150th anniversary of the canonization of St. Josaphat, as well as to Lithuanians celebrating Blessed Theofilius Matulonius.
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Vatican City, Mar 7, 2018 / 03:24 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Wednesday Pope Francis issued a harsh critique of the trend to ask parishioners for a financial contribution in order to have Mass said for a loved one, saying to make a personal offering is fine, but the liturgy should never have a price tag.
“If I have someone who is in need, relatives and friends, I can name them in that moment, internally in silence,” he said, referring to the moments of silence during the Eucharistic Prayer recited in Mass.
However, alluding to the fact that it’s common in many parishes for faithful to pay, usually somewhere around 10 dollars, for a Mass to be offered for a specific person, Francis asked, “how much should I pay to have my name written there, [in Mass]?”
“The Mass,” he said, “is not paid for, redemption is free. If you want to make an offering okay, but the Mass cannot be paid for.”
Francis spoke off-the-cuff during his March 7 general audience, which this week centered on the Eucharistic Prayer as part of his ongoing catechesis on Mass and the Eucharist.
In his address, the Pope said the Eucharistic Prayer is “the central moment” of the Mass, anticipating the reception of communion.
During this prayer, he said, the Church “expresses what she does when she celebrates the Eucharist and the reason why she celebrates it, which is to make communion with Christ truly present in the consecrated bread and wine.”
After inviting Mass-goers to lift their hearts up to the Lord and to give thanks, the priest recites the Eucharistic Prayer, directing it to God on behalf of everyone present, Francis said. The meaning of this prayer, he added, is that “the entire assembly of faithful unites with Christ to magnify the great works of God in offering the sacrifice.”
To have this unity, “its necessary to understand,” he said in an off-the-cuff comment, explaining that this is the reason that the Church during the Second Vatican Council wanted to translate the liturgy into different languages that “everyone understood.”
Francis then pointed to the different parts of the Eucharistic Prayer, including the Preface, which he said is an “action of grace” for the gifts of God, which concludes with the acclamation of the “Sanctus,” or the “Holy, Holy, Holy.”
This acclamation, which is usually sung, is a time when “the entire assembly unites their own voice to that of the angels and saints to praise and glorify God,” he said, adding that “it’s beautiful when this [is] sung, it’s beautiful.”
During the consecration of the bread and wine, both the action of the Holy Spirit and the recitation of Jesus’ words during the Last Supper make Christ’s body and blood truly present, he said, adding that this is the “mystery of faith” that is celebrated during the liturgy.
The Eucharistic Prayer also asks God to gather all of his children together in “the perfection of love,” and in union with the Pope and the local bishop, who is mentioned by name as a sign that “we celebrate in communion with the universal Church and with the particular Church,” Francis said.
A plea is then made by the priest for all members of the Church, both living and dead, the Pope said, explaining that “no one and nothing is forgotten in the Eucharistic Prayer, as the doxology which concludes it recalls.”
While this “codified formula” can seem a bit “distant,” if the meaning is well understood then “surely we will participate better,” he said, adding that the Eucharistic Prayer not only expresses everything that is done during Mass, but it also cultivates the “three attitudes that should never be lacking in the disciples of Jesus.”
These attitudes, he said, are to give thanks “always and everywhere, not just on certain occasions when everything is going well”; to make our lives a “gift of love”; and to build a concrete communion “in the Church and with everyone.”
The Eucharistic Prayer, then, which is the center of the Mass, teaches faithful “little by little to make our whole lives a ‘eucharist,’” which is an “act of thanksgiving,” he said.
After his address, Pope Francis made an appeal for parishes around the world to join him in participating in this week’s “24 Hours for the Lord” event, which will take place March 9 and is a worldwide initiative launched in 2014 to highlight confession as a primary way to experience God’s mercy.
He also gave a shout-out to the March 9 opening of the Paralympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea, where the ordinary Winter Olympics recently took place.
Having brought together delegations from both North and South Korea despite their ongoing conflict, the games, Francis said, are an example of how “sport can draw bridges between countries in conflict and give a valid contribution to perspectives of peace between people.”
“Sports thus appear as a school of inclusion, but also of inspiration for one’s own life and of commitment to transforming society,” he said, and offered a personal greeting to the International Paralympic Committee and the athletes who will participate in the games.
Pope Francis embraces a man in a wheelchair at the Wednesday general audience in St. Peter’s Square on June 10, 2015. / L’Osservatore Romano.
Vatican City, Nov 25, 2021 / 10:00 am (CNA).
In his message for the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, Pope Francis said that the Catholic Church needs the participation of everyone, and the disabled must not be excluded from the sacraments.
“As we celebrate your International Day, I would like to speak directly to all of you who live with any condition of disability, to tell you that the Church loves you and needs each of you for the fulfillment of her mission at the service of the Gospel,” the pope said on Nov. 25.
Quoting his 2013 exhortationEvangelii gaudium, he said: “The worst form of discrimination … is the lack of spiritual care.”
“Sometimes, as certain of you have unfortunately experienced, this has taken the form of denying access to the sacraments,” he said in his message.
“The Church’s magisterium is very clear in this area, and recently the Directory for Catechesis stated explicitly that ‘no one can deny the sacraments to persons with disabilities.’”
The theme of Pope Francis’ message for the day is friendship with Jesus, which he said is “an undeserved gift” that all have received and that can help those experiencing discrimination.
Friendship with Christ “redeems us and enables us to perceive differences as a treasure. For Jesus does not call us servants, women and men of lesser dignity, but friends: confidants worthy of knowing all that he has received from the Father,” he said.
Antonietta Pantone, 31, a Rome resident who uses a wheelchair, told journalists it was clear to her from the pope’s message that he considers it important that people with disabilities be part of the Church and not leave the Church.
She shared her personal journey of faith, which included finding a community in the Christian disability group Fede e Luce.
Pope Francis meets with Foi et Lumière members on Oct. 2, 2021. Vatican Media/CNA
Fede e Luce is the Italian branch of the French association Foi et Lumière (known as Faith and Light in the English-speaking world), which began 50 years ago with a pilgrimage for people with disabilities to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in France. The movement has now expanded to five continents.
“I always say: In the eyes of God, we are all equal,” Pantone said, noting that in her journey of faith, friendship has been fundamental.
Friendship with others “demonstrates the closeness of God,” she said.
Pantone also explained how losing physical contact with friends because of the COVID-19 pandemic has been very hard for her and other disabled people, especially her friends who live in residences and not with family.
In his message, Pope Francis addressed the difficulty of the coronavirus outbreak for the disabled.
“I think, for example, of your being forced to stay at home for long periods of time; the difficulty experienced by many students with disabilities in accessing aids to distance learning; the lengthy interruption of social care services in a good number of countries; and many other hardships that you have had to face,” he wrote.
He mentioned in particular those who live in residential facilities, separated from loved ones. “In those places, the virus hit hard and, despite the dedication of caretakers, it has taken all too many lives,” he said.
He also emphasized the importance of confronting these challenges by finding consolation in prayer and friendship with Jesus.
“I would like to speak personally to each of you, and I ask that, if necessary, your family members or those closest to you read my words to you, or convey my appeal,” he said. “I ask you to pray. The Lord listens attentively to the prayers of those who trust in him.”
“Prayer is a mission, a mission accessible to everyone, and I would like to entrust that mission in a particular way to you. There is no one so frail that he or she cannot pray, worship the Lord, give glory to his holy Name, and intercede for the salvation of the world. In the sight of the Almighty, we come to realize that we are all equal,” he stressed.
Pope Francis also noted the continued presence of discrimination, ignorance, and prejudice at all levels of society, assuring people with disabilities that through baptism they are “a full-fledged member of the Church community, so that all of us, without exclusion or discrimination, can say: “I am Church!’”
“The Church is truly your home!” he said.
At a Nov. 25 press conference, Fr. Alexandre Awi Mello said that the Vatican’s Dicastery for Laity, Family, and Life is trying to do more to improve pastoral care for those with disabilities.
“This message, in recognizing that people with disabilities have their place in the holy faithful People of God, is a great invitation, for us in the dicastery, but above all for parish, diocesan and associative realities to take new paths with pastoral creativity,” Awi Mello said.
Fr. Alexandre Awi Mello, secretary of the Dicastery for Laity, Family, and Life, speaks at a Vatican press conference, May 18, 2021. Gianluca Teseo/CNA.
“It is a door that opens to think of pastoral care no longer for, but with…”
On Dec. 6, the dicastery will launch a video campaign with the hashtag #IamChurch. In five videos, Catholics with disabilities from different parts of the world will share about their experiences in the Church.
Pantone, who participated in one of the Vatican’s videos, told CNA that she would like to see the Catholic Church do more to develop courses that allow people with all kinds of disabilities to participate in parish life, such as formation courses to become a catechism teacher.
“I still had some ways to study [to become a catechist],” she said, “but it depends on the type of disability, so if another disabled person wants to be a catechist, the Church should give him all the appropriate tools.”
Pantone said that the Church can do a lot for the disabled, but the recently begun Synodal Journey “is already a step forward which the world of disability sees positively.”
Pope Francis said in his message that “having Jesus as a friend is an immense consolation. It can turn each of us into a grateful and joyful disciple, one capable of showing that our frailties are no obstacle to living and proclaiming the Gospel.”
“In fact, a trusting and personal friendship with Jesus can serve as the spiritual key to accepting the limitations that all of us have, and thus to be at peace with them,” he said.
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