Cardinal O’Malley to US bishops: Ask for grace at St. Peter’s tomb

November 7, 2019 CNA Daily News News Briefs 1 Print

Vatican City, Nov 7, 2019 / 10:39 am (CNA).- In St. Peter’s Basilica Thursday, Cardinal Sean O’Malley asked American bishops to pray for the grace to make a profession of faith, hope, and love at the tomb of St. Peter before meeting with Pope Francis.

Cardinal O’Malley, the archbishop of Boston, and the other bishops from New England are in Rome for an ad limina apostolorum visit — a pilgrimage to “the threshold of the apostles” — in which they are meeting the pope and curial officials to discuss the state of their dioceses.

In his homily in the crypt of the basilica, O’Malley touched upon some of the problems currently affecting American Catholics.

“Today many people have lost hope. It is one of the reasons that people are not having children, turning to drugs, and seeking thrills,” he said.

The American cardinal said that bishops need to be evangelizers: “Jesus is our hope. He is reason we trust in his promises.”

He connected a recent Pew survey on American Catholics’ belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist to the decline in Mass attendance in the U.S.

“In today’s world, too many Catholics are quick to dismiss the hard saying about the Eucharist. and as the Pew poll indicates they do not accept the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Hence the diminished Mass attendance, and no sense of urgency to confess our sins to receive worthily,” O’Malley said.

He related this to the crowd’s reaction to Jesus’ bread of life discourse in the Gospel of John chapter 6. After many left because “this saying is hard,” Jesus turned to Peter and asked, “Are you going to abandon me too?”

Peter replied: “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.”

Cardinal O’Malley highlighted this as one of three key questions Christ asked Peter in the Gospels. He said that Christ’s three questions to Peter: “Who do you say that I am?”, “Are you going to abandon me too?”, and  “Do you love me?” correspond to the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love respectively.

“Today before Peter’s tomb, let us bishops ask for the grace to answer those questions as Peter did with a profession of faith, a profession of hope, a  profession of love,” he said.

If you value the news and views Catholic World Report provides, please consider donating to support our efforts. Your contribution will help us continue to make CWR available to all readers worldwide for free, without a subscription. Thank you for your generosity!

Click here for more information on donating to CWR. Click here to sign up for our newsletter.

Related Articles

No Picture
News Briefs

Pope Francis: Saints show the heart’s true desire

August 22, 2018 CNA Daily News 1

Vatican City, Aug 22, 2018 / 05:11 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The lives of the saints are attractive because they demonstrate the radical and authentic relationship with Christ each person is called to, Pope Francis said Wednesday.

“Why are the saints so able to touch the heart?” he asked at the general audience Aug. 22. “Because in the saints we see what our heart deeply desires: authenticity, true relationships, radicalism.”

This example can also be found in those “saints next door,” he noted, such as parents who teach their children to live “coherent, simple, honest, and generous” lives.

Continuing his reflection on the Ten Commandments, Pope Francis spoke about respecting the name of the Lord. He also pointed out a deeper meaning of the commandment, which is the hypocrisy of “using” God’s name while not having a real relationship with him.

“One may ask: is it possible to take upon oneself the name of God hypocritically, as a formality, in a vacuum? The answer is unfortunately positive: yes, it is possible. One can live a false relationship with God,” he said.

Francis drew a comparison to the “doctors of the law” in the Bible, who spoke about God but did not do his will or did not have a relationship with him.

In Exodus, the expression “in vain” is used, meaning emptily or “uselessly,” he explained. This is a characteristic of hypocrisy or lying – using words or the name of God “without truth.”

Thus, the commandment to not use the name of the Lord in vain, is also an invitation “to a relationship with God without hypocrisy, to a relationship in which we entrust ourselves to him with all that we are,” he stated. “This is Christianity that touches hearts.”

He said if Christians all strive to take God’s name upon themselves “without falsehood… the Church’s proclamation is heard more and is more credible.” If the Word of God is spoken in unity with Christ, then it will not be “praying like a parrot,” but “praying with the heart, loving the Lord.”

“If our concrete life manifests the name of God, we see how beautiful baptism is and what a great gift the Eucharist is!” he said. “What a sublime union there is between our body and the Body of Christ, He in us and we in Him!”

Because Christ, through his suffering and death on the cross, has taken the sins of the world, each person’s names are “on the shoulders of Christ,” he said, encouraging Christians to take God’s name upon themselves.

“Anyone can invoke the holy name of the Lord, who is faithful and merciful love, in whatever situation he finds himself,” he concluded. “God will never say ‘no’ to a heart that sincerely invokes it.”

[…]

1 Comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

All comments posted at Catholic World Report are moderated. While vigorous debate is welcome and encouraged, please note that in the interest of maintaining a civilized and helpful level of discussion, comments containing obscene language or personal attacks—or those that are deemed by the editors to be needlessly combative or inflammatory—will not be published. Thank you.


*