The Pope led the Angelus prayer on a sunny Sunday marked by the large number of pilgrims in St. Peter's. In his words, he highlighted three gestures that the faithful can imitate of the merchant in the parable in the Gospel of this 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time. In his words he highlighted three gestures that the faithful can imitate of the merchant in the parable in the Gospel of this 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time: to seek, to find, to buy, that precious pearl "which is Himself, it is the Lord!"
"Seek the Lord and find the Lord, find the Lord, live with the Lord" Francis encouraged the faithful gathered under the balcony of the papal apartments. A search that he wanted to summarize by taking inspiration from the Gospel of today's Mass (Matthew 13:44-52).
The merchant in the parable proposed by Christ "does not say: 'I am content with what I have,' but seeks others that are more beautiful. And this invites us not to shut ourselves up in habit, in the mediocrity of those who are content, but to rekindle the desire, so that the desire to seek, to go forward, does not die out; to cultivate dreams of good," the Pope pointed out with regard to this first imitable step of the merchant.
The second act of the merchant is to find. At this point, the Pope wanted to emphasize that "the merchant in the parable has a good eye and knows how to find, he knows how to "discern" in order to find the pearl" An action that, for today's man, means "knowing how to find what matters: training ourselves to recognize the precious gems of life and distinguish them from the garbage".
Finally, the merchant sells everything, "radically changes the inventory of his storehouse; nothing remains but that pearl: it is his only wealth, the meaning of his present and his future". For that pearl is Christ himself and "it is worth investing everything in Him, because when you find Christ, life changes. If you find Christ, your life changes".
Prayers for Ukraine and WYD
The Pope summarized this attitude of the merchant to ask those present how they face this life and to warn about young retirees who have abandoned this process of searching. "Am I, in my life, searching? Do I feel that I have arrived, that I am satisfied, or that I am exercising my desire for the good? Am I in "spiritual retirement"? How many young people are retired!" the Pope asked.
At the end of the Angelus prayer, the Pope wanted to recall so many "exploited people, all living in inhuman conditions and suffering the indifference and rejection of society. There is so much trafficking in the world today. God bless those who work to fight trafficking" and he called for "the Black Sea initiative to be restored and grain to be transported safely", since the problems in this transport are affecting millions of Ukrainians, "Grain is their gift to feed humanity; and the cry of millions of brothers and sisters who suffer from hunger rises to Heaven", Francis emphasized.
At the end, he also asked the faithful to accompany him "with prayer on the trip to Portugal, which I will be making starting next Wednesday, on the occasion of World Youth Day".
