Pope at Mass: ‘Jesus prays for
each of us’
Pope Francis celebrates Holy Mass at the Casa Santa Marta
praying for the conversion of usurers who are profiting from the difficulties
stemming from the pandemic and he invites the faithful to trust in Jesus who
prays for us.
By Linda Bordoni
Celebrating morning Mass on Thursday, Pope Francis turned
his thoughts to the many people suffering because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“In many places, one of the effects of this pandemic is that
many families find themselves in need, and they are hungry,” Pope Francis said.
He made these remarks prior to beginning Mass at the Casa Santa Marta on
Thursday morning. He continued, noting that unfortunately unscrupulous
money-lenders are profiting from this situation.
“This is another pandemic, another virus: It's a social
pandemic,” he said.
Many families who are not working and do not have food to
put on the table for their children, the Pope continued, are prey to usurers
who end up taking the little that they have.
“Let us pray,” the Pope said, “for these families, for their
dignity, and let us pray also for the usurers: that the Lord might touch their
hearts and convert them.
Then, during his homily the Pope reflected on the liturgical
readings of the day (Acts 5:27-33).
The courage of Peter
He said the first reading tells of when the Apostles were
brought by soldiers to stand before the Sanhedrin and the high priest
questioned them saying “We gave you strict orders to stop teaching in that
name, the name of Jesus.”
And yet, he continued “you have filled Jerusalem with your
teaching, and want to bring this man’s blood upon us.”
But the Pope said, the Apostles, and especially Peter,
“courageously and boldly” upheld his faith saying “We must obey God. We are
obedient to God and you are guilty.”
Pope Francis noted that Peter, is the same man who had
denied Jesus, “who was full of fear and was even a coward.”
“How in the world did he arrive at this point?” he asked.
It is the Holy Spirit, the Pope explained, citing the Acts
of the Apostles, “whom God has given to those who obey him” (Acts 5:32).
Peter, he continued could have chosen to compromise, to
choose a softer tone when preaching with the people in order to be left in
peace.
But he chose to undertake a journey in which he showed
courage and boldness, the Pope said, noting that “in the history of the Church,
the people of the Church have had to do this often in order to save the people
of God”. At other times, the Church’s leaders have made compromises to save
themselves, rather than “Holy Church”.
Upholding the figure of Peter who refused to compromise his
faith, but chose to be courageous, the Pope said “he loved passionately, but he
was also fearful.”
“He was a man who was open to God to the point that God
reveals to him that Jesus is the Son of God, but then he falls into the
temptation of denying Jesus,” the Pope recalled, but then he moved from
temptation to grace.
Peter's 'secret'
Where did that strength – his secret – the Pope asked come
from?
There is a verse, he explained, that will help us
understand: “Before the passion Jesus says to the apostles ‘Satan desires that
you be sifted like wheat’, this is the moment of temptation, you're going to be
sifted like wheat.”
“And to Peter Jesus says: ‘but I have prayed for you,
so that your faith may not fail’ ” the Pope said.
Pope Francis concluded his homily saying that just as Jesus
prays for Peter, he prays for all of us. Then he encouraged the faithful not
only to pray to Jesus so that He may “give us one grace or another” but also to
contemplate Jesus who shows the Father his wounds.
“Let us think about how Peter was able to progress on this
path from being a coward to becoming a courageous person with the gift of the
Holy Spirit. Thanks to Jesus's prayer, (…) and let us be grateful that He prays
for each of us.”
“We need to have more confidence,” Pope Francis reiterated,
“more than in our own prayers,” in the prayers that Jesus, the intercessor,
says for us: “Let us ask for the grace of allowing the Lord to teach us how to
ask Him for the grace of praying for each one of us.”
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