Pope
celebrates Sunday Mass at Roman parish
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Sunday celebrated Mass at the
Roman parish of Regina Pacis (Queen of Peace) in the suburb of Ostia. During
his homily on the day’s Gospel, the Pope focused on the words of Christ at the
Last Supper: “Remain with me.” The Christian life, he said, consists precisely
in remaining in Jesus. “To remain in Jesus means to be united to Him, to
receive life from Him, to receive love from Him, to receive the Holy Spirit
from Him.”
Before the Mass, the Holy Father met with members of the parish,
including they elderly and the sick. He spoke about their wisdom of life, which
comes from experience – an experience the has the wisdom of sorrows, and of
patience. “It is a wisdom we often forget,” he said. But the elderly have an
experience of life that they hand down to their children, giving them “the
memory of our people, the memory of our family.” The sick, he said, are similar
to Jesus in their suffering: they suffer with Him, and bear the Cross as Jesus
did. In that sense, they are privileged. Pope Francis spoke, too, about the
children of the parish, who will carry life forward – with the wisdom, the
patience, the constancy of those who go before them.
As he concluded his visit with the sick and elderly, the Pope
asked for prayers for himself, noting that he too “is a little old, a little
sick – but not too much.”
The Pope also met with families who have had children baptized
within the past year. Baptism, Pope Francis said, is a beautiful step to take.
It is the beginning of the life of faith, which children receive from their
parents. The children recently baptized are the latest in a chain that goes
back all the way to the beginnings of Christianity.
But he warned parents not to drift away from the Church after
their children are baptized. Pope Francis said it is important to be with the
children in their journey of faith, to walk with the children in their new
faith, and to stay close to the local parish. After blessing the families, the
Holy Father said he prayed especially for any problems they may have.
Pope Francis also heard the Confessions of several parishioners
immediately before the Liturgy.
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