"Let us not take our eyes off Jesus" Francis asks at AngelusAngelus from the Vatican: Pope Francis encourages "not to dialogue with the devil".The Pope at the Angelus: "Humility is Mary's secret".The Vatican, Church institutions such as Caritas and many other people, with Pope Francis at the head, accustomed to inclemencies and wars, have been and continue to be very attentive to the hard situation in the Valencian Community, caused by a cold drop or Dana, which has carried away hundreds of people, their homes, their belongings and their properties, leaving so many families suffering and ruined.
Today at the Angelus, the Roman Pontiff dedicated the last part of the Angelus to ask that "the weapons be silenced, that the talks go forward" (for peace), that "we pray for the martyred Ukraine, Palestine, Israel, Myanmar, South Sudan", and that "we continue to pray for Valencia, and for the other peoples of Spain who suffer so much these days. What am I doing for the people of Valencia? Do I pray, do I offer something? Think about these questions," said the Holy Father.
Videomessage, conversations with the archbishop: closeness
The night of October 29 and the first hours of October 30 marked the life and death of hundreds of Spaniards, victims of the Dana. The Roman Pontiff sent a video message and spoke by telephone with the Archbishop of Valencia, Monsignor Enrique Benavent, in which he reiterated his "deepest sympathy" for the victims of the Dana.proximity to the people of Valencia".
On Friday, All Saints' Day, the 1st, at the prayer At the Angelus, the Pope prayed "for the deceased and their loved ones and for all families. May the Lord sustain those who suffer and those who are helping them. Our closeness to the people of Valencia.
At the same time, thousands of volunteers were on the move to help, as the images show, from many parts of Spain, and also from neighboring France.
Blessed Charles Acutis, our "yes".
Just before praying the Marian prayer of the AngelusIn his address, the Pope had pointed out that "today, the Solemnity of All Saints, in the Gospel Jesus proclaims the Beatitudes, the Christian's identity document and the path to holiness (cf. Apostolic Exhortation Gaudete et exsultate, 63)".
"He shows us a way, the way of love, which He himself first traveled by becoming man, and which for us is both a gift of God and our response. And then, after quoting Blessed Carlo Acutis, Francis said that "this brings us to the second point: our response".
"Indeed, the heavenly Father offers us his holiness, but he does not impose it on us. He sows it in us, makes us taste it and see its beauty, but then he waits for and respects our 'yes'. He leaves us the freedom to follow his good inspirations, to allow ourselves to be involved in his projects, to make his sentiments our own (cf. Dilexit nos, 179), placing ourselves, as he taught us, at the service of others, with an ever more universal charity, open and directed to everyone, to the whole world".
Saint Maximilian Kolbe, Saint Teresa of Calcutta, Saint Oscar Romero...
We see this service in the lives of the saints, the Pope added. "Let us think, for example, of St. Maximilian Kolbe, who in Auschwitz asked to take the place of a father of a family condemned to death; or of St. Teresa of Calcutta, who spent her life in the service of the poorest of the poor; or of Bishop Oscar Romero, murdered on the altar for having defended the rights of the last against the abuses of thugs."
"In them, as in so many other saints - those we venerate on the altars and those 'next door,' with whom we live every day - we recognize brothers and sisters modeled on the Beatitudes: poor, meek, merciful, hungry and thirsty for justice, peacemakers. They are people 'full of God', incapable of remaining indifferent to the needs of their neighbor; witnesses of luminous paths, which are also possible for us".
Then came the questions: "Do I ask God, in prayer, for the gift of a holy life? Do I allow myself to be guided by the good impulses that his Spirit arouses in me? And do I personally commit myself to practice the Beatitudes of the Gospel in the environments in which I live? May Mary, Queen of all Saintshelp us to make our life a path of holiness".
Deceased, prayer for unborn children
This Saturday, the Pope celebrated the liturgy of the November 2 Commemoration of the deceased at the Laurentian Cemetery in Rome. Before, he stopped in the Garden of Angels, an area dedicated to the burial of children who have not seen the light, where he prayed before the tombstones surrounded by games and statuettes and greeted a father who lost his daughter. There was no homily at the Mass, but a moment of meditation and prayer.
Angelus: "the source of everything is love".
In the Gospel of this Sunday XXXI of Ordinary Time, the liturgy presents us with one of the many discussions Jesus had in the Temple in Jerusalem. One of the scribes comes up to him and asks him which is the first of all the commandments, the Pope explained at the beginning of his address prior to the recitation of the Angelus.
"Jesus responds by putting together two fundamental words of the Mosaic law: 'You shall love the Lord your God and love your neighbor'. The question is also essential for us, for our life and for the journey of our faith, where can I find the center of my life," Francis continued.
Recognizing the presence of the Lord in others
"Jesus gives us the answer by uniting two commandments that are the main ones: You shall love the Lord your God and you shall love your neighbor. This is the heart (...) Jesus tells us that the source of everything is love, that we must never separate God from man. Everything must be done with love. The Lord will ask us first of all about love".
"Let us make our daily examination of conscience and ask ourselves: is love for God and neighbor the center of my life? Do I recognize the presence of the Lord in the faces of others? May the Virgin Mary, who bore the law of God imprinted on her immaculate heart, help us to love God and our brothers and sisters," concluded the Pope before praying the Angelus with the Romans and pilgrims in St. Peter's Square.
