(Vatican Radio) In his Angelus address on Sunday, Pope Francis focused on Jesus’ teaching on prayer, from the day’s Gospel. When the Apostles asked the Lord to teach them to pray, Jesus responded, “When you pray, say ‘Father…’” This word, “Father,” the Pope said, is the “secret” of the prayer of Jesus – “it is the key that He Himself gives us so that we too can enter into that relationship of confidential dialogue with the Father.” Moving on to the various petitions addressed to God in the Lord’s Prayer, Pope Francis said the first two petitions, “hallowed be Thy Name,” and “Thy kingdom come” are associated with the name “Father.” Jesus’ prayer – and thus Christian prayer – consists first of all in making room for God, allowing Him to act in our lives. St Luke’s version of the Lord’s Prayer than continues with three more petitions, which express our fundamental needs: for bread, for forgiveness, and for help in temptations. We ask in prayer for bread which is necessary, not superfluous; we ask, in the first place, for forgiveness of our own sins, so that we might be capable of “concrete acts of fraternal reconciliation”; and we ask that we might not be lead into temptation, because we know we are weak, “always exposed to the snares of wickedness and of corruption.” The two parables following the Lord’s Prayer teach us “to have full confidence in God, who is Father.” God does not need our prayer to discover what we need, or to be convinced to give it to us. Rather, Pope Francis said, we pray so that our faith and patience might be strengthened, so that we might “struggle” together with God for those things that are most important and necessary. And that which is most important, but which, the Pope said, we almost never ask for, is the Holy Spirit. The gift of the Holy Spirit helps us to live well, to live with wisdom and love, doing the will of God. “What a beautiful prayer it would be,” Pope Francis said, if in the coming week, “each one of us would ask of the Father, “Father, give me the Holy Spirit.” (from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis expressed his condolences for the victims of the attack that took place in Munich on Friday. In a telegram addressed to Cardinal Reinhard Marx , the Archbishop of Munich, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin said Pope Francis “shares in the pain of the survivors and expresses to them his closeness in suffering,” and “entrusts the departed, in prayer, to the mercy of God.” The Pope also thanked emergency service personnel and security forces for “their attentive and generous service.” Cardinal Parolin concluded the telegram with the Pope’s prayer that Christ “the Lord of Life,” might “give comfort and consolation to all.” Here is the full text of the telegram sent to Cardinal Reinhard Marx: His Eminence
Cardinal Reinhard Marx
Archbishop of Munich and Freising Pope Francis has noted with consternation the news of the terrible act of violence which occurred in Munich, in which several persons, mostly young people, were killed, and many others were gravely wounded. His Holiness shares in the pain of the survivors and expresses to them his closeness in suffering. He entrusts the departed in prayer to the mercy of God. He expresses his deep sympathy to all those who were wounded in this attack, and thanks the rescue service personnel and the security forces for their attentive and generous service. Pope Francis beseeches Christ, the Lord of Life, to give comfort and consolation to all, and imparts his Apostolic Blessing as a pledge of hope. (from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Young people across the US are preparing for the trip of a lifetime when they travel to World Youth Day in Krakow. Over 30,000 pilgrims from the United States alone have fully registered to travel to the event which will be presided over by Pope Francis. Paul Jarzembowski, is World Youth Day USA national coordinator for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, He told Lydia O’Kane that the response has been incredible for the event. Listen:
“ We have more pilgrims going from the United States to this World Youth Day than we’ve had to any other World Youth Day outside of North America, so I have to think that there is something about recapturing that spirit with St John Paul II, with the Jubilee of Mercy, with being able to encounter Pope Francis whom many of our young people are following through social media, the news and the read his writings… so I think all of that put together is getting people excited…” But he also points out that although there are many young people going from the United States, there are those who will not be fortunate enough to attend the celebrations in Poland due to different circumstances. With that in mind, the national coordinator explains that even by staying at home young people will get a real chance to experience World Youth Day. “We have in different cities across the United States, there are going to be gatherings… and then of course people can celebrate in their own home parishes and we’re hearing reports of perhaps one parish getting together with their young people throughout that week, each night gathering their young people to follow what’s happening in Krakow that day…” For Paul Jarzembowski, he is hoping that World Youth Day in Krakow will an opportunity for young people to come back to the United States, not just sharing the Gospel but sharing it with a sense of mercy and compassion. (from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Following the Angelus prayer on Sunday, Pope Francis once again called for prayer for goodness and fraternity in the wake of recent acts of terrorism and violence. “At this time our soul is once again moved by sad news related to deplorable acts of terrorism and of violence, which have caused sorrow and death,” the Pope said. “I think of the dramatic events in Munich in Germany, and in Kabul in Afghanistan, where many innocent people lost their lives.” He assured the family and friends of the victims of his spiritual closeness to them. The Holy Father also called on people to join him in prayer “that the Lord might inspire in everyone intentions of goodness and fraternity.” The more “difficulties might seem insurmountable, and prospects of security and peace seem obscure,” he said, “the more insistent must our prayer be.” Finally, after a few moments of silent prayer, Pope Francis led those gathered in Saint Peter’s Square in the recitation of the Ave Maria . (from Vatican Radio)…