Vatican City, 6 April 2014 (VIS) – At
4 p.m. the Holy Father visited the Roman parish of St. Gregory the
Great, in the Portuense quarter. He greeted faithful and
parishioners, and met with children, catechumens, the sick and the
elderly. The Pontiff encountered various aspects of life in the area,
through organisations such as the association for social integration
for the disabled, “Lamp of Wishes”, and the cooperative “The
Prow”, which deals with the reintegration into the workforce of
ex-detainees and ex-drug addicts. He then visited the House of
Charity, a parish structure served by the Carmelite Sisters of
Charity and various volunteers. He confessed a number of penitents
and celebrated the Eucharist with the faithful.
In his homily, the Pope spoke about
resurrection and life, “the Lord's good promise”. “Today I
invite you to think for a moment in silence: where is my inner
necrosis? Where is the part of my soul that is dead? Where is my
tomb? Let us think, just a moment, all of us, in silence. Let us
think: what is the part of my heart that can be corrupted, because it
is attached to some sin or sins? Remove the tombstone, remove the
tombstone of shame and let the Lord say to us, as he said to Lazarus,
'Come forth!', so that all of our soul might be healed, may be
resurrected through the love and strength of Jesus. He is able to
forgive us. We all need this, all of us. We are all sinners, but we
must be careful not to become corrupt! We are sinners, but He
forgives us. Let us listen to Jesus' voice that, with the power of
God, says to us, 'Come forth! Come out of the tomb you have inside.
Come forth. I will give you life, I will make you happy, I bless you,
I want you with me”.
The Holy Father concluded by giving
pocket-sized copies of the Gospel to the faithful, and he encouraged
them always to keep them at hand and to read a little each day,
wherever they may be.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment