Vatican City (AsiaNews) - The living bread of Jesus is “not something magical, which suddenly solves all problems, but it is the very Body of Christ, which gives hope to the poor and overcomes the arrogance of those who binge at their expense,” Pope Francis reflected today as he addressed the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square for the Angelus prayer.
Commenting on the Gospel passage in today's liturgy in which Jesus manifests Himself as “the living bread, descended from heaven” (Jn. 6:51), Francis noted how Jesus always surprises us, arousing wonder. “The bread from heaven,” he noted, ”is a gift that exceeds all expectations. Those who do not grasp Jesus' style remain suspicious: it seems impossible, even inhuman to eat the flesh of another. Flesh and blood, instead, are the Savior's humanity, his own life offered as nourishment for ours.”
Wonder opens us to gratitude because “this food is more than necessary for us, because it satiates the hunger for hope, hunger for truth, hunger for salvation that we all feel not in our stomachs but in our hearts. The Eucharist is necessary to us, to everyone.”
Aware of this, the pope invited us to ask ourselves, “Do I hunger and thirst for salvation, not just for myself, but for all my brothers and sisters? When I receive the Eucharist, which is the miracle of mercy, do I know how to marvel before the Body of the Lord, who died and rose again for us?”
After the Angelus prayer, Pope Francis then recalled the three Italian Xaverian missionaries Luigi Carrara, Giovanni Didoné and Vittorio Faccin, and Congolese priest Albert Joubert, who were killed in hatred of the faith in the Democratic Republic of Congo where today they have been proclaimed blessed in a celebration.
“Their martyrdom,” the pontiff said, ”was the crowning of a life spent for the Lord and for their brothers and sisters. May their example and intercession foster paths of reconciliation and peace for the good of the Congolese people.”
Francis then called for continued prayers “that paths of peace may be opened in the Middle East-Palestine, Israel-as well as in the tormented Ukraine, in Myanmar and in every war zone, with a commitment to dialogue and negotiation and refraining from violent actions and reactions.”
