PHOTOS: Pope Leo XIV finishes trip to Spain with Mass, meetings in Canary Islands

Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia. / Walter Breitenmoser/CNA

Rome, Italy, Apr 24, 2023 / 08:06 am (CNA).
The Pontifical Academy for Life said Monday its president is against assisted suicide but thinks it is possible to have a “legal initiative” that … […]

Vatican City, Feb 14, 2018 / 05:32 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Wednesday Pope Francis again offered some reflections and tips for the Liturgy of the Word, saying faithful who attend Mass lack a fundamental “right” if they do not receive a well-prepared and well-preached homily.

In the Liturgy of the Word, the Lord speaks for both pastors and faithful, and he “knocks on the door of those who participate in Mass, each one in their condition of life, age and situation,” the Pope said Feb. 14.

Because of this, after the readings are done, people in the pews are entitled to a “well-written, well-preached” homily, he said, explaining that “when the Word of God is not well-read or preached by the priest, deacon or bishop, the faithful lack a right. We have the right to hear the word of God.”

Pope Francis spoke to some 10,000 pilgrims present in St. Peter’s Square during his weekly general audience address on Ash Wednesday, continuing his catechesis on the Mass.

Though the weather was dreary, Francis told attendees that “if the spirit has joy, it’s always a good day.”

He focused his reflections for the day on the Creed and the Prayers of the Faithful, saying that after the brief moment of silence after the homily is finished, “our personal response of faith is included into the profession of faith.”

“There is a vital link between listening and faith, they are united,” he said, adding that faith isn’t the result of a “fantasy of human minds,” but rather comes from “listening, and listening involves the Word of Christ.”

When we recite the Creed, then, it allows the entire congregation to both meditate on and profess “the great mysteries of faith, before their celebration of the Eucharist.”

Francis said that our response to the Word of God is also seen during the Universal Prayer and the Prayers of the Faithful, during which we pray for the needs of both the Church and the world.

He noted how during the Second Vatican Council, the prelates who participated wanted these prayers to take place after the Gospel and the homily, especially on Sunday and feasts, “so that with the participation of the people, they prayed for the Holy Church, for those who govern us, for those who are found in various necessities, for all men and for the salvation of the world.”

Turning to Scripture, he noted how in the Gospels Jesus said that “if you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask what you want and it will be done.”

Many times “we don’t believe this, because we have little faith,” he said. But if we have faith “the size of a mustard seed,” as Jesus said, “we will receive everything.”

When the congregation unites in offering their prayers to God, this is also a time for the faithful to express their own personal desires to God, he said, adding that “it is the strongest time in the liturgy to ask the Lord for what we want, what we desire.”

“It will be done, in one way or another, but it will be done,” he said. And if someone is struggling with faith, he urged them to pray the same prayer as the man in the Gospel who had asked Jesus to heal his child, saying “I believe, Lord, help my unbelief.”

Francis also encouraged priests not to be afraid to be spontaneous with the prayers of the faithful, since they focus on the concrete needs of their community and of the world, and to avoid the use “of conventional and short-sighted formulas.”

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Pope Francis prayed the Regina Caeli in St. Peter’s Square on April 23, 2023. / Vatican Media

Vatican City, Apr 23, 2023 / 05:10 am (CNA).

Pope Francis recommended making an examination of conscience at the end of each day as a way to invite Jesus into the joys and struggles of daily life.

“Indeed, for us to it is important to reread our history together with Jesus: the story of our life, of a certain period, of our days, with its disappointments and hopes,” the pope said April 23.

“There is a good way of doing this, and today I would like to propose it to you: it consists of dedicating time, every evening, to a brief examination of conscience,” he said. “What happened inside of me today? That is the question. It means rereading the day with Jesus.”

Pope Francis addressed a crowd of around 30,000 people on Sunday from a window overlooking St. Peter’s Square.

After his brief message, he prayed the Regina Caeli, a Latin antiphon honoring the Virgin Mary which is usually prayed during the Easter Season.

Francis said making an examination of conscience is a way of “rereading my day, opening the heart, bringing to him people, choices, fears, falls, hopes, and all of the things that took place; to learn gradually to look at things with different eyes, with his eyes and not only our own.”

A nightly examination of conscience is also sometimes known as a daily examen, a part of the spirituality developed by St. Ignatius of Loyola.

The pope spoke about the spiritual practice in the context of the Gospel passage for the Third Sunday of Easter, which recounts Jesus’ appearance to two of his disciples while they were walking from Jerusalem to the village of Emmaus.

At first, the disciples did not recognize the resurrected Lord, who asked them to explain what had happened to make them so sad.

Jesus, the pope said, “wants to listen to their account. Then, while they are walking, he helps them reinterpret the facts in a different way, in the light of prophecy, in the light of the Word of God.”

“We too, like those disciples, faced with what happens to us, can find ourselves lost in the face of these events, alone and uncertain, with many questions and worries, disappointments, many things,” he explained.

“Today’s Gospel invites us to tell Jesus everything,” he continued, “sincerely, without worrying about bothering him — he listens — without fear of saying something wrong, without being ashamed of our struggle to understand.”

Pope Francis explained that the Lord is happy when we open ourselves to him, because he wants to accompany us, and to make our hearts burn within us, like happened with the disciples on the road to Emmaus.

By making an examen, we are able to reread our day and life in the light of Christ’s love, he said.

“Even that which seems wearisome and unsuccessful,” he explained, “can appear in another light: a difficult cross to embrace, the decision to forgive an offense, a lost opportunity, the toil of work, the sincerity that comes at a price, and the trials of family life can appear to us in a new light, the light of the Crucified and Risen, who knows how to turn every fall into a step forward.”

But, he added, we have to drop our defenses and leave space for Jesus.

“We can begin today, to dedicate this evening a moment of prayer during which we ask ourselves: how was my day?” he said.

“What joys, what sadnesses, what monotonies, how was it, what happened?” are some of the questions we can ask ourselves, he said, together with “what were its pearls, possibly hidden, to be thankful for? Was there a little love in what I did? And what are the falls, the sadness, the doubts and fears to bring to Jesus so that he can open new ways to me, to lift me up and encourage me?”

“May Mary, wise Virgin, help us to recognize Jesus who walks with us and to reread, ‘reread’ is the word, every day of our life in front of him,” he said.

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