Today, on the solemnity of the feast of Our Lady of the Angels, the Holy Father Francis encouraged the holy apostles Peter and Paul: “We must allow ourselves to be inspired by their stories, by the apostolic zeal that marked the path of their lives.” In their encounter with the Lord, they lived a true Easter experience: they were freed and the doors of a new life opened before them.
He described them in the following way: Saint Peter, “the fisherman from Galilee whom Jesus transformed into a fisher of men.” Saint Paul, “the Pharisee persecutor of the Church transformed by grace into an evangelizer of the pagans.”
During the solemn Eucharistic celebration in the Vatican Basilica with the cardinals, the new metropolitan archbishops, to whom he gave the pallium, the bishops, the priests and the faithful, and with a delegation from the Patriarchate of Constantinople present at the Holy Mass, the Pope referred in his homily to the liberation of Peter and to the next Jubilee, which will begin in the Church on December 24.
God opens the doors
“The first reading describes the episode of Peter’s liberation from captivity (…). What is told to us is therefore a new exodus: God frees his Church, his chained people, and shows himself once again as the God of mercy who supports their journey. On this night of liberation, the prison doors first miraculously opened. Then it is said of Peter and the angel who accompanied him that “they came to the iron gate that gave access to the city. The gate opened of its own accord before them”. It was not they who opened the gate, but it opened of its own accord”.
“It is God who opens the doors,” the Pontiff stressed. “It is He who liberates and opens the way. To Peter – as we hear in the Gospel – Jesus had entrusted the keys to the Kingdom. But Peter experiences that it is the Lord who opens the doors first, because he always precedes us.
The journey of the Apostle Paul is also, above all, an Easter experience, the Pope stressed. “In fact, he was first transformed by the Risen Lord on the road to Damascus and then, in the incessant contemplation of the crucified Christ, he discovered the grace of weakness; when we are weak, he said, in reality, at that moment, we are strong because we no longer cling to ourselves, but to Christ. Attached to the Lord and crucified with him, Paul writes: ‘It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me’.”
The Jubilee and the Doors of Evangelization
“Let us take the time to examine precisely the image of the door. The JubileeIn fact, it will be a time of grace in which we will open the doors of the European Union. Holy Doorso that everyone may have the opportunity to cross the threshold of this living sanctuary that is Jesus and, in him, to experience the love of God that strengthens hope and renews joy. In the story of Peter and Paul, there are also doors that open. Let us meditate on this.
“Brothers and sisters, the two apostles Peter and Paul had this experience of grace,” he continued. “They experienced, in the first person, the work of God, who opened to them the doors of their interior prison and the royal prisons where they were locked up for the Gospel. He also opened to them the doors of evangelization, so that they can experience the joy of meeting with the brothers and sisters of emerging communities and bringing the hope of the Gospel to all.
“As we prepare to open the Holy Door, this message is also for us. We too need the Lord to open the doors of our hearts – sometimes blocked by fear, closed by selfishness, sealed in indifference or resignation – so that we can open ourselves to the encounter with Him,” the Pope said. “We also need a look capable of recognizing the doors that the Lord opens for the proclamation of the Gospel, of rediscovering the joy of evangelizing and of overcoming the feelings of defeat and pessimism that contaminate pastoral action “.
Message on the imposition of the pallium
In conclusion, Francis spoke of the imposition of the pallium “on the metropolitan archbishops appointed during the past year. In communion with Peter and in the example of Christ, bearer of the sheep, they are called to be diligent pastors who open the doors of the Gospel and who, through their ministry, help to build a Church and a society with open doors.
The Supreme Pontiff also greeted “with fraternal affection the Delegation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate: thank you for having come to express the common desire for full communion between our Churches. May Saints Peter and Paul help us to open the door of our life to the Lord Jesus, may they intercede for us, for the city of Rome and for the whole world. Amen.
Angelus: Authority is service, the liberation of prisoners
At noon, the Pope looked out the window of the Apostolic Palace and prayed the Angelus with the faithful. In his brief meditation, Francis recalled some ideas from his morning homily and stressed, considering Jesus’ promise to give Peter the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven, that “authority is a service, otherwise it is a dictatorship.” Otherwise, it is a dictatorship.
He also stressed that his mission was not to close the doors of the house, but to help everyone find the way inside, “everyone, everyone”, and that he had not entrusted him with the keys because he was not a sinner, but “because he was humble and honest.”
Finally, he remembered the families, the elderly alone, the sick, and asked for prayers for those suffering because of wars, for peace in the world, and for the release of all prisoners, while rejoicing at the victory of the European Union in the release of two Greek Catholic priests.
The authorFrancisco Otamendi
