Pope Francis Homilies : Open The Door To Faith
Pope Francis has given two great homilies during masses this week, which have stirred some attention and certainly warmed my heart.
Maybe I can hope too that the words of the revised liturgy of the Eucharist can now be restored to "- He came to save ALL.
Even Pope Benedict writing here as Cardinal Ratzinger favoured the use of all.
The text of both homilies from Pope Francis are below and are taken from the Vatican Radio website.
Culture of Encounter Is The Foundation Of Peace..
“Doing
good” is a principle that unites all humanity, beyond the diversity of
ideologies and religions, and creates the “culture of encounter” that is
the foundation of peace: this is what Pope said at Mass this morning at
the Domus Santae Martae, in the presence of employees of the
Governorate of Vatican City. Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rai, Patriarch of
Antioch of the Maronites, concelebrated at the Mass.
Wednesday’s
Gospel speaks to us about the disciples who prevented a person from
outside their group from doing good. “They complain,” the Pope said in
his homily, because they say, “If he is not one of us, he cannot do
good. If he is not of our party, he cannot do good.” And Jesus corrects
them: “Do not hinder him, he says, let him do good.” The disciples, Pope
Francis explains, “were a little intolerant,” closed off by the idea of
possessing the truth, convinced that “those who do not have the
truth, cannot do good.” “This was wrong . . . Jesus broadens the
horizon.” Pope Francis said, “The root of this possibility of doing good
– that we all have – is in creation”:
"The Lord created us in
His image and likeness, and we are the image of the Lord, and He does
good and all of us have this commandment at heart: do good and do not do
evil. All of us. ‘But, Father, this is not Catholic! He cannot do good.’ Yes, he can. He must.
Not can: must! Because he has this commandment within him. Instead,
this ‘closing off’ that imagines that those outside, everyone, cannot do
good is a wall that leads to war and also to what some people
throughout history have conceived of: killing in the name of God. That
we can kill in the name of God. And that, simply, is blasphemy. To say
that you can kill in the name of God is blasphemy.”
“Instead,”
the Pope continued, “the Lord has created us in His image and likeness,
and has given us this commandment in the depths of our heart: do good
and do not do evil”:
"The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone! ‘Father, the atheists?’ Even the atheists.
Everyone! And this Blood makes us children of God of the first class!
We are created children in the likeness of God and the Blood of Christ
has redeemed us all!
And we all have a duty to do good. And this
commandment for everyone to do good, I think, is a beautiful path
towards peace. If we, each doing our own part, if we do good to others,
if we meet there, doing good, and we go slowly, gently, little by
little, we will make that culture of encounter: we need that so much. We
must meet one another doing good. ‘But I don’t believe, Father, I am an
atheist!’ But do good: we will meet one another there.”
“Doing
good” the Pope explained, is not a matter of faith: “It is a duty, it
is an identity card that our Father has given to all of us, because He
has made us in His image and likeness. And He does good, always.”
This was the final prayer of Pope Francis:
"Today
is [the feast of] Santa Rita, Patron Saint of impossible things – but
this seems impossible: let us ask of her this grace, this grace that
all, all, all people would do good and that we would encounter one
another in this work, which is a work of creation, like the creation of
the Father. A work of the family, because we are all children of God,
all of us, all of us! And God loves us, all of us! May Santa Rita grant
us this grace, which seems almost impossible. Amen.”
Pope Francis Saturday Homily : Open The Door To Faith from the Vatican Radio Website
"Those who approach the Church should find the doors open and not
find people who want to control the faith. This is what the Pope said
this morning during Mass in the Casa Santa Marta.
The day's
Gospel tells us that Jesus rebukes the disciples who seek to remove
children that people bring to the Lord to bless.
"Jesus embraces them,
kisses them, touches them, all of them. It tires Jesus and his disciples
"want it to stop”. Jesus is indignant: "Jesus got angry, sometimes."
And he says: "Let them come to me, do not hinder them. For the Kingdom
of God belongs to such as these."
"The faith of the People of God –
observes the Pope - is a simple faith, a faith that is perhaps without
much theology, but it has an inward theology that is not wrong, because
the Spirit is behind it."
The Pope mentions Vatican I and Vatican II,
where it is said that "the holy people of God ... cannot err in matters
of belief." (Lumen Gentium). And to explain this theological formulation
he adds: "If you want to know who Mary is go to the theologian and he
will tell you exactly who Mary is. But if you want to know how to love
Mary go to the People of God who teach it better. " The people of God -
continued the Pope - "are always asking for something closer to Jesus,
they are sometimes a bit 'insistent in this. But it is the insistence of
those who believe ":
"I remember once, coming out of the city of
Salta, on the patronal feast, there was a humble lady who asked for a
priest's blessing. The priest said, 'All right, but you were at the
Mass' and explained the whole theology of blessing in the church. You
did well: 'Ah, thank you father, yes father,' said the woman. When the
priest had gone, the woman turned to another priest: 'Give me your
blessing!'. All these words did not register with her, because she had
another necessity: the need to be touched by the Lord. That is the faith
that we always look for , this is the faith that brings the Holy
Spirit. We must facilitate it, make it grow, help it grow. "
The
Pope also mentioned the story of the blind man of Jericho, who was
rebuked by the disciples because he cried to the Lord, "Jesus, Son of
David, have mercy on me!"
"The Gospel says that they didn’t want
him to shout, they wanted him not to shout but he wanted to shout more,
why? Because he had faith in Jesus! The Holy Spirit had put faith in his
heart. And they said, 'No, you cannot do this! You don’t shout to the
Lord. Protocol does not allow it. And 'the second Person of the Trinity!
Look what you do... 'as if they were saying that, right? ".
And think about the attitude of many Christians:
"Think
of the good Christians, with good will, we think about the parish
secretary, a secretary of the parish ... 'Good evening, good morning,
the two of us - boyfriend and girlfriend - we want to get married'. And
instead of saying, 'That's great!'. They say, 'Oh, well, have a seat. If
you want the Mass, it costs a lot ... '.
This, instead of receiving a
good welcome- It is a good thing to get married! '- But instead they get
this response:' Do you have the certificate of baptism, all right ...
'.
And they find a closed door. When this Christian and that Christian
has the ability to open a door, thanking God for this fact of a new
marriage ... We are many times controllers of faith, instead of becoming
facilitators of the faith of the people. "
And 'there is always a temptation - said the Pope - "try and take possession of the Lord." And he tells another story:
"Think
about a single mother who goes to church, in the parish and to the
secretary she says: 'I want my child baptized'. And then this Christian,
this Christian says: 'No, you cannot because you're not married!'. But
look, this girl who had the courage to carry her pregnancy and not to
return her son to the sender, what is it? A closed door! This is not
zeal! It is far from the Lord! It does not open doors!
And so when we
are on this street, have this attitude, we do not do good to people, the
people, the People of God, but Jesus instituted the seven sacraments
with this attitude and we are establishing the eighth: the sacrament of
pastoral customs! ".
"Jesus is indignant when he sees these
things" - said the Pope - because those who suffer are "his faithful
people, the people that he loves so much"
"We think today of
Jesus, who always wants us all to be closer to Him, we think of the Holy
People of God, a simple people, who want to get closer to Jesus and we
think of so many Christians of goodwill who are wrong and that instead
of opening a door they close the door of goodwill ...
So we ask the
Lord that all those who come to the Church find the doors open, find the
doors open, open to meet this love of Jesus. We ask this grace. "
Listen to Lydia O'Kane report here 
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