© Vatican Media
Santa Marta Saturday: Pope Francis Prays for Families who Can’t Leave Home
‘We pray for peace in families today during this crisis, and for creativity’
“Today, I would like to remember families who cannot leave their homes,” Pope Francis said at the beginning of the Saturday morning liturgy at the Casa Santa Marta chapel, reported Vatican News.
“Perhaps the farthest they can go is their balcony. …May they know how to find a way of communicating well, of building loving relationships within the family,” the Pope said. “And that they might know how to conquer the anguish of this moment together in the family. We pray for peace in families today during this crisis, and for creativity.”
During his homily, the Pope focused on the two different styles of approaching God presented in the day’s Gospel (Luke 18:9-14) said Vatican News.
“When that ‘return home’ ” from yesterday’s reading “touches the heart, the response is ‘Let’s return to the Lord’,” the Pope said at the beginning of his homily. “Come, let us return to the Lord…He has torn us to pieces, but He will heal us; He has struck us down, but He will bandage our wounds…. Let us set ourselves to know the Lord; that He will come is as certain as the dawn…”, he quoted from the First Reading (Hosea 6:1-6).
“With this hope, the people begin their journey to return to the Lord,” said Pope Francis. “One of the ways to find the Lord is through prayer. We pray to the Lord. We return to Him.”
The Pope then contrasted two styles of approaching the Lord. He provided three examples from the Gospels: the elder son and the prodigal son, the rich man, and Lazarus, and the Pharisee and the tax collector from the day’s Gospel. The Pharisee in the Gospel is the epitome of the presumptuous style.
“He goes to pray, but in order to say how good he is — as if to say to the Lord, ‘See how good I am! If you need anything, let me know and I’ll take care of your problem’. This is how he interacted with God: presumptuously. Perhaps he did everything the law said to do: ‘I fast twice a week,” Francis said. “ I pay tithes on all I have.’ I’m good! …When we go to the Lord too confident in ourselves we will fall into presumption…like the elder son, or the rich man who didn’t need anything.”
The other style, modeled by the tax collector in the day’s Gospel, shows us the right way to approach God, the Pope said. He doesn’t approach the altar but remains at a distance, not even daring to raise his eyes to heaven. Beating his breast, the tax collector says, “Be merciful to me a sinner”.
“In this way, the Lord teaches us how to pray, how to draw near…to the Lord – humbly… Praying with our ‘souls exposed’, without make-up or dressing ourselves up with our own virtue. As we read at the beginning of Mass, He forgives all our sins,” the Pope explained. “But He needs me to show them to Him… I pray face to face with soul exposed…. The way is to lower ourselves. The path is our reality. The only man here in this parable who understood his reality was the tax collector. ‘You are God and I’m a sinner. That’s the reality.’ But I say that I’m a sinner not with my mouth but with my heart.”
“May the Lord teach us to understand this attitude in order to begin praying”, the Pope concluded his homily:
“When we begin praying with our own justifications, with our securities, that’s not prayer. That’s like speaking to a mirror. Instead, when we begin praying with our true reality – I’m a sinner – this is a good step forward in allowing the Lord to look at us. May Jesus teach us this.”
Read the source: https://zenit.org/articles/santa-marta-saturday-pope-prays-for-families-who-cant-leave-home/
© Vatican Media
Full Translation of Pope’s Saturday Homily at Santa Marta
‘We pray to the Lord, we return to Him’
Following is Zenit’s translation of the Holy Father’s March 21, 2020, homily delivered at Mass at Casa Santa Marta in the Vatican. Original text provided by Vatican News.
******
That Word of the Lord, which we heard yesterday: “Return, return home” (Cf. Hosea 14:2); we also find the answer to it in the same Book of the prophet Hosea: “Come, let us return to the Lord” (Hosea 6:1). It’s the response when that “return home” touches the heart: “Let us return to the Lord: for He has torn, that he may heal us; He has stricken, and he will bind us up. [. . .] “Let us press on to know the Lord; His going forth is sure as the dawn” (Hosea 6:1.3). Trust in the Lord is sure. ”He will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth” (v. 3). And, with this hope, the people set out on the way to return to the Lord. It’s one of the ways of finding the Lord in prayer. We pray to the Lord, we return to Him.
In the Gospel (Cf. Luke 18:9-14) Jesus teaches us how to pray. There are two men, one who is presumptuous who goes to pray, but to say that he is good as if he said to God: “Look, I’m so good: if you need anything, tell me I’ll solve your problem.” He turns to God thus. It is presumption. Perhaps he did everything that the Law said, in fact, he says it: “I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I get” (v. 12) . . . I’m good.” This reminds us also of two other men. It reminds us of the elder son of the parable of the Prodigal Son, when he says to his father: “I who am so good don’t have a feast and <for> this one, who is a wretch, you have a feast . . . “ Presumptuous (Cf. Luke 15:29-30). The other, whose story we heard about in these days, is that rich man, nameless, but he was a rich man, unable to make a name for himself, but he was rich, he didn’t care at all about others’ misery (Cf. Luke 16:19-21). These are the ones that have security in themselves or in money or power . . . Then there is the other, the tax collector, who doesn’t go in front of the altar, no, he stays at a distance. “But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to Heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’” (Luke 18:13). This also leads us to the memory of the prodigal son: he is aware of the sins committed, of the awful things he did. He also beat his breast: “ I will go to my father, and I [will say] to him, ‘Father, I have sinned” — humiliation (Cf. Luke 15:17-19). It reminds us of that other one, the beggar, Lazarus, at the rich man’s door, who lived his misery before that man’s presumption (Cf. Luke 16:20-21). There is always this combination of persons in the Gospel. In this case, the Lord teaches us how to pray, how to approach, how we must approach the Lord: with humility. There is a beautiful image in the liturgical hymn of the feast of Saint John the Baptist. It says the people drew near to the Jordan to receive Baptism “naked in soul and barefoot”: to pray with a naked soul, without makeup, without masquerading their virtues. He – we read at the beginning of the Mass – forgives all sins but He needs me to show Him my sins, with my nakedness. To pray thus, naked, with a naked heart, without covering up, without even trusting in what I learned on the way to pray. You and I must pray face to face, with a naked soul. This is what the Lord teaches us. Instead, when we go to the Lord a bit too sure of ourselves, we will fall into the presumption of this [Pharisee} or of the elder brother, or of the rich man who lacked nothing. We will have our security elsewhere. “I go to the Lord . . . , I want to go, to be educated . . . and I speak to Him practically familiarly. No, this isn’t the way. The way is to abase oneself — abasement. That way is reality. And in this parable, the only man that understood the reality was the tax collector. “You are God and I am a sinner.” This is the reality. However, I say I am a sinner not with the mouth <but> with the heart — to feel myself a sinner.
Let’s not forget this, which the Lord teaches us: to justify oneself is arrogance, pride; it’s to exalt oneself. It’s to masquerade being something that I’m not. And the miseries remain inside. The Pharisee justified himself. [It’s necessary] to confess one’s sins directly, without justifying them, without saying: “But no, I did this but it wasn’t my fault . . . “ Have a naked soul, a naked soul.
May the Lord teach us to understand this, this attitude, when we begin our prayer. When we begin prayer with our justifications, with our securities, it won’t be prayer: it will be to speak with the mirror. Instead, when we begin a prayer with the true reality — “I am a sinner, I am a sinner” — it’s a good step forward to let oneself be looked at by the Lord. May Jesus teach us this.
Today also, Pope Francis ended the celebration with Eucharistic Adoration and Benediction, inviting <the faithful> to make a Spiritual Communion.
Here Is the Prayer the Pope Recited
My Jesus, I believe you are really present in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the altar. I love You above all things and desire You ever in my soul. As I cannot receive You sacramentally now, come at least spiritually into my heart. And as You have now come I embrace You and unite myself wholly to You. Do not permit me to be ever separated from You.
Translation by Virginia M. Forrester
Read the source: https://zenit.org/articles/full-translation-of-popes-saturday-homily-at-santa-marta-2/