Pope at Mass: Church called to promote a culture of care
By Christopher Wells
Pope Francis blessed the pallia for the new Metropolitan Archbishops on the feast of Sts Peter and Paul, and presided at the Mass for the Solemnity, which was celebrated by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, Dean of the College of Cardinals.
In his homily at the Mass, the Holy Father focused on two expressions from the day's readings: âGet up quickly,â the command of the angel to St Peter as he languished in prison; and St Paulâs call to Christians to âfight the good fight,â from the Apostleâs Letter to St Timothy.
He reflected on the meaning of these two phrases for "todayâs Christian community, engaged in the synodal processâ.
âGet up quicklyâ
St Peter, the Pope recalled, had been imprisoned by Herod when an angel appeared to him, woke him, and ordered him to âget up quickly.â
Often, however, âwe experience forms of resistance that prevent us from setting out,â including laziness, or fear of change, leading to spiritual mediocrity. We are called by the Synod now in progress âto become a Church that gets up, one that is not turned in on itself, but capable of pressing forward, leaving behind its own prisons and setting out to meet the world.â
âFight the good fightâ
The second phrase comes from St Paulâs Letter to Timothy, where, looking back on his whole life, he says, âI have fought the good fight.â St Paul sees that fight going on throughout history, âsince many people are not disposed to accept Jesus, preferring to pursue their own interests and follow other teachers.â Having fought his own battles, St paul calls on Timothy and the Christians in the community to carry on his work âwith watchful care, preaching, and teaching.â
Pope Francis said Paulâs exhortation âis also a word of life for us,â helping us realize that we are all called to be missionary disciples, with everyone offering their own contribution.
The Pope posed two questions for modern Christians. First, he said, we must ask âWhat can I do for the Church?â He warned against complaining about the Church and invited the faithful to participate in the Churchâs work with passion and humility. This, he said, âis what a synodal Church means: everyone has a part to play, no individual in the place of others or above others.â
Then, âWhat can we do together, as Church, to make the world in which we live more humane, just, and solidary, more open to God and to fraternity among men?â This does not mean retreating into âecclesial circles,â trapped in fruitless debates, but instead, âhelping one another to be leaven in the dough of the world.â
The Church, he said, is called to âfight all forms of corruption and decay⌠so that in the life of every people the joy of the Gospel may shine forth.â This, he said, is our âgood fight.â
Blessing of pallia, greetings to Orthodox delegation
Finally, recalling the âfine traditionâ of the blessing of the pallia â a liturgical vestment worn by Metropolitan Archbishops that symbolizes union with the Pope â Pope Francis reminded the Archbishops that âthey are called to âget up quicklyâ in order to serve as vigilant sentinels over the flock, and to âfight the good fightâ, never alone, but together with the holy and faithful people of God.â
And he invited them to âjourney together, because only together can we be the seed of the Gospel, and witnesses of fraternity.â
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