Pope Francis at Mass in Turin: ‘Found yourselves on the rock of God’s love’
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis celebrated Mass in Piazza Vittorio during his Apostolic Visit to Turin on Sunday, reminding all to found their lives upon the ‘rock’ which is Christ.
The Holy Father based his Sunday homily to the faithful of Turin on the Collect: “you never fail to help and govern those whom you have set upon the sure foundation of the rock of your love”, saying that three important aspects of the love of God are that it is ‘faithful’, it ‘recreates all things’, and is ‘stable and sure’.
Recalling the Psalm ‘His love endures forever’, Pope Francis said that Jesus embodies the faithfulness of God’s love without limits or measure, since he is indeed ‘the face of God’s mercy’.
The love of God recreates all things and renews them. The concrete expression of this is the recognition of one’s limits and weaknesses, which is the ‘door to pardon which renews us’. The sure sign of our transformation by God’s love is the ability to divest ourselves of rancor and hatred by putting on ‘the vest of service and kindness to others’.
‘The love of God’, Pope Francis said, ‘is stable and secure’, as Jesus shows in the Gospel. He calms the storm of our lives by commanding the winds and sea. For the person at the point of surrender, the Lord ‘comes to him and offers him the Rock of His Love’.
The Holy Father also encouraged the residents of Turin to ‘not be paralyzed by fear of the future and to search for security in passing things or in a closed model of society which tends to exclude rather than include’.
Concluding his homily, Pope Francis asked the Holy Spirit ‘to help us be always mindful of this ‘rocky’ love which makes us stable and strong in the little and great sufferings’ and ‘to look to the future with hope’.