In the Angelus of this 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time, the Pope meditated on the passage from the Gospel which recounts "the famous response of St. Peter, who says to Jesus: 'Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life'".
"It is a beautiful expression, which testifies to the friendship and trust that unites him to Christ, together with the other disciples. Lord, to whom we will go. You have the words of eternal life," the Pope stressed.
"Peter pronounces them at a critical moment, because Jesus has finished a discourse in which He said that He is the Bread come down from heaven. Some of the disciples who followed him also left him; the twelve, on the other hand, did not. They stayed, because in him they found words of eternal life: they heard him preach, they saw the miracles he performed, they shared with him the intimacy of daily life, the public moments",
They do not always understand what the Master says and does. "Sometimes it is hard for them to accept the paradoxes of his love, the extreme demands of his mercy, the radical nature of his way of giving himself to everyone," the Holy Father continued. "It is not easy for them to follow Jesus, and yet among the many teachers of that time, Peter and the other apostles found in him alone the answer to their thirst for joy and love; only thanks to him did they experience the fullness of life they seek and which goes beyond the limits of sin."
To be close to Him, to have Him as a friend
"All but one, even among many falls, remain with Him to the end. This also concerns us. Nor is it easy for us to follow the Lord and understand His way of acting and doing, but the closer we are to Him, the more we adhere to His Gospel, and receive His grace in the sacraments, are in His company in prayer, imitate Him in humility and charity, the more we experience the beauty of having Him as our friend and realize that He alone has the words of eternal life."
Finally, the Pope encouraged: "Let us ask ourselves to what extent Jesus is present in my life, to what extent I allow myself to be touched and provoked by his words, and I can say that they are also for me words of life. Brother and sister, I ask you: Are they for you, and also for me, words of eternal life? May Mary help us to listen to him and never leave him".
Courage to the Nicaraguan people, and freedom in Ukraine.
After praying the Angelus, the Pope encouraged the people of Nicaragua "to renew your hope in Jesus, remembering that the Holy Spirit guides history towards higher projects," especially in times of trial. He also referred to the recent decision of the Ukrainian parliament to ban the Russian Orthodox Church. Francis stressed "the freedom of those who pray, who commit no evil, and asked that no Christian church be abolished directly or indirectly".
According to the official Vatican agency, the words of Pope Francis were as follows: "I continue to follow with pain the fighting in Ukraine and in the Russian Federation, and thinking of the norms of law recently adopted in Ukraine I am seized with a fear for the freedom of those who pray, because those who pray in truth always pray for everyone. One does not do wrong by praying. If someone does wrong to his people, he will be guilty of this, but he cannot have done wrong for having prayed. And then let whoever wants to pray be allowed to pray in what he considers his Church. Please, let no Christian Church be abolished, directly or indirectly. Churches are not to be touched!"
In addition, as he always does, he asked for the peace in Palestine and Israel, and in Myanmar. The Pontiff also prayed for those affected by monkeypox, especially in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and asked to facilitate the use of available technology and treatments.
