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Posts Tagged ‘Prayer’

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Really Knowing Jesus

In Uncategorized on 2014/04/03 at 12:00 AM

(Romereports.com) Pope Francis explained during morning Mass at  Casa Santa Marta that to get to know Jesus, means that you must complicate your life. And that you cannot get to know him by flying “first class” in life.

POPE FRANCIS
“You cannot know Jesus without getting oneself involved with Him, without betting your life on Him.”
The Pope added that there are three languages everyone must speak to get to know Jesus. They are the languages of the heart, the mind, and of action.
POPE FRANCIS
“Yes, you have to come to know Jesus in the Catechism – but it is not enough to know Him with the mind: it is a step. However, it is necessary to get to know Jesus in dialogue with Him, talking with Him in prayer, kneeling. If you do not pray, if you do not talk with Jesus, you do not know Him. You know things about Jesus, but you do not go with that knowledge, which He gives your heart in prayer. Know Jesus with the mind – the study of the Catechism: know Jesus with the heart – in prayer, in dialogue with Him. This helps us a good bit, but it is not enough. There is a third way to know Jesus: it is by following Him. Go with Him, walk with Him. To go, to walk along the streets, journeying is to know Jesus in the language of action.”
The Pope also explained that many people ask themselves the same question Herod posed himself on Jesus: “Who is He?” The Pope went on to say that the answer can only be found by walking with Him in our everyday problems.
EXCERPTS FROM POPE’S HOMILY:
(Source: Vatican Radio)
“You cannot know Jesus without having problems. And I dare say, ‘But if you want to have a problem, go to the street to know Jesus – you’ll end up having not one, but many!’ But that is the way to get to know Jesus! You cannot know Jesus in first class! One gets to know Jesus in going out into everyday life. You cannot get to know Jesus in peace and quiet, nor even in the library: Know Jesus.
 
“Yes, you have to come to know Jesus in the Catechism – but it is not enough to know Him with the mind: it is a step. However, it is necessary to get to know Jesus in dialogue with Him, talking with Him in prayer, kneeling. If you do not pray, if you do not talk with Jesus, you do not know Him. You know things about Jesus, but you do not go with that knowledge, which He gives your heart in prayer. Know Jesus with the mind – the study of the Catechism: know Jesus with the heart – in prayer, in dialogue with Him. This helps us a good bit, but it is not enough. There is a third way to know Jesus: it is by following Him. Go with Him, walk with Him. To go, to walk along the streets, journeying is to know Jesus in the language of action.
 
 
“You cannot know Jesus without getting oneself involved with Him, without betting your life on Him. When so many people – including us – poses this question: ‘But, who is He?’, The Word of God responds, ‘You want to know who He is? Read what the Church tells you about Him, talk to Him in prayer and walk the street with him. Thus, will you know who this man is.’ This is the way! Everyone must make his choice.”
Rome Reports & Vatican Radio
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“Saint Joseph, a teacher of the interior life”

In 01 Daily Meditations on 2014/03/21 at 12:00 AM
Saint Joseph, father of Christ, is also your father and your lord. Ask him to help you. (The Way, 559)

Saint Joseph, our father and lord, is a teacher of the interior life. Place yourself under his patronage and you’ll feel the effectiveness of his power. (The Way, 560)

Speaking of Saint Joseph in the book of her life, Saint Teresa says: ‘Whoever fails to find a Master to teach him how to pray, should choose this glorious Saint, and he will not go astray.’–This advice comes from an experienced soul. Follow it. (The Way, 561)

Saint Joseph. One cannot love Jesus and Mary without loving the Holy Patriarch. (The Forge, 551)

There are many good reasons to honour Saint Joseph, and to learn from his life. He was a man of strong faith. He earned a living for his family ‑‑ Jesus and Mary ‑‑ with his own hard work. He guarded the purity of the Blessed Virgin, who was his Spouse. And he respected ‑ he loved! ‑ God’s freedom, when God made his choice: not only his choice of Our Lady the Virgin as his Mother, but also his choice of Saint Joseph as the Husband of Holy Mary. (The Forge, 552)

Saint Joseph, our Father and Lord: most chaste, most pure. You were found worthy to carry the Child Jesus in your arms, to wash him, to hug him. Teach us to get to know God, and to be pure, worthy of being other Christs. And help us to do and to teach, as Christ did. Help us to open up the divine paths of the earth, which are both hidden and bright; and help us to show them to mankind, telling our fellow men that their lives on earth can have an extraordinary and constant supernatural effectiveness. (The Forge, 553)

Love Saint Joseph a lot. Love him with all your soul, because he, together with Jesus, is the person who has most loved our Blessed Lady and been closest to God. He is the person who has most loved God, after our Mother. He deserves your affection, and it will do you good to get to know him, because he is the Master of the interior life, and has great power before the Lord and before the Mother of God. (The Forge, 554)

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Reason for Hope: Meditations for the Advent Season

In 15 Audio on 2013/12/06 at 12:00 AM

http://www.ewtn.com/vondemand/audio/file_index.asp?SeriesId=6621&pgnu=1

1.Be Ready!
Host – The Most Rev. Robert J. Baker, Bishop of Birminghamadvent2010_01.mp3Lord, Watch over your people, who come to you in confidence. Strengthen the hearts of those who hope in You.

Give courage to those who falter because of their failures. Lead them along in this Holy Season of Advent closer to You in Hope by the Power of Your Holy Spirit.

May they one day proclaim Your Saving Acts of Kindness in Your Eternal Kingdom.

Amen.

2.Hope
Host – The Most Rev. Robert J. Baker, Bishop of Birminghamadvent2010_02.mp3Truly, I have set my soul in silence and peace. As a little child rests in its Mother’s arms, even so my soul. O Israel, hopes in the Lord, both now and forever.

-Psalm 131:2-3

3.Confidence
Host – The Most Rev. Robert J. Baker, Bishop of Birminghamadvent2010_03.mp3Psalm 27:1-2
The Lord is my life’s refuge; of whom should I be afraid?… Thogh an army encamp against me, my heart will not fear; though war be waged against me, even then will I trust.

4.In Hope, we were saved
Host – The Most Rev. Robert J. Baker, Bishop of Birminghamadvent2010_04.mp3In Hope we were saved. But hope is not hope if its object is seen; how is it possible for one to hope what he sees? And hoping for what we cannot see means awaiting it with patient endurance… We know that God makes all things work for the good of those who love Him who have been called according to His decree… If God is for us, who can be against us? — Romans 8: 25, 28, 31

5.Trust in God
Host – The Most Rev. Robert J. Baker, Bishop of Birminghamadvent2010_05.mp3This I know. That God is on my side. When I fear, I will trust in You. In God, whose word I praise. – Psalm 56:10

6.The Finish Line
Host – The Most Rev. Robert J. Baker, Bishop of Birminghamadvent2010_06.mp3Philippians 3:12-14

It is not that I have reached it yet, or have already finished my course, but I am racing to grasp the prize, if possible … Brothers, I do not think of myself as having reached the finish line. I give no thought to what lies behind, but push on to what is ahead. My entire attention is on the finish line…

7.Our Exile
Host – The Most Rev. Robert J. Baker, Bishop of Birminghamadvent2010_07.mp3This life we live right now is an exile; Heaven is our real home.

8.My Father’s House
Host – The Most Rev. Robert J. Baker, Bishop of Birminghamadvent2010_08.mp3John 14: 1-3 — “Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”

9.Joys and Hopes
Host – The Most Rev. Robert J. Baker, Bishop of Birminghamadvent2010_09.mp3Gaudiem et Spes — The joys and hopes, the grief and anguish of the people of our time, especially of those who are poor or afflicted, are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anguish of the followers of Christ as well.

10.Heaven
Host – The Most Rev. Robert J. Baker, Bishop of Birminghamadven2010_10.mp3Heaven is the state of supreme and definitive hapiness, the goal of the deepest longings of mankind. Eternal Life with God; communion of life and love with the Trinity and all the blessed. — Catechism of the Catholic Church CV. 1023 and Glossary

11.Prayer makes a difference

Host – The Most Rev. Robert J. Baker, Bishop of Birminghamadvent2010_11.mp3It is You, Oh Lord, Who are my hope, my trust, Oh Lord, since my youth. – My hope has always been in you – As for me, I will always hope and praise you more and more. — Psalm 71:5,14

12.Blessed are the Merciful
Host – The Most Rev. Robert J. Baker, Bishop of Birminghamadvent2010_12.mp3The Church must consider it one of her principal duties – at every stage of history and especially in our modern age – to proclaim and to intoduce into life the Mystery of mercy, supremely revealed in Jesus Christ.

13.Divine Mercy
Host – The Most Rev. Robert J. Baker, Bishop of Birminghamadvent2010_13.mp3Let the greatest sinners place their trust in My Mercy. They have the right before others to trust in the abyss of My Mercy. I cannot punish even the greatest sinner if he makes an appeal to My Compassion, but on the contrary, I justify him in My unfathomable and inscrutable Mercy. Before I come as a Just Judge, I first open wide the door of My Mercy. — Divine Mercy in My Soul: The Diary of St. Maria Faustina Kowalska

14.Why do we hope?
Host – The Most Rev. Robert J. Baker, Bishop of Birminghamadvent2010_14.mp3We hope because of Our Lord’s promise of Divine Mercy. The Parables of the Prodigal Son, the Lost Coin and the Lost Sheep of Luke’s Gospel all point to that reality

15.Gaudete Sunday\

Host – The Most Rev. Robert J. Baker, Bishop of Birminghamadvent2010_15.mp3Rejoice in the Lord always. I say it again, rejoice — Galatians 4:4

16.Hope and our contemporary world

Host – The Most Rev. Robert J. Baker, Bishop of Birminghamadvent2010_16.mp3Seeing so much false security collapse, we realize that what we need most is a trustworthy hope. This is found in Christ alone. If Jesus is present, there is no longer any time that lacks meaning or is empty. If He is present, we may continue to hope, even when others can no longer assure us of any support, even when the present becomes trying. P. Benedcit XVI, December 02, 2009

17.Hope marks humanity’s journey

Host – The Most Rev. Robert J. Baker, Bishop of Birminghamadvent2010_17.mp3For Christians, Hope is envlivened by a certainty: The Lord is present in the passage of our lives. He accompanies us and one day will also dry our tears. One day, not far off, everything will find its fulfillment in the Kingdom of God; a Kingdom of Justice and Peace.

18.A life of Hope
Host – The Most Rev. Robert J. Baker, Bishop of Birminghamadvent2010_18.mp3St. Paul in the book of Romans shows us how to allow Christ to enter into our daily struggles. — As children of God, we are heirs of God, heirs with Christ; if only we suffer with Him so as to be glorified with Him.

19.Fear of Death
Host – The Most Rev. Robert J. Baker, Bishop of Birminghamadvent2010_19.mp3Matthew 25, the Judgement passage points to a basic reality in life: If we want to get ready for death want to be relieved of a fear of death, if we want to obtain Hope in everlasting life, then we can experience that Hope by helping other people.

20.Love
Host – The Most Rev. Robert J. Baker, Bishop of Birminghamadvent2010_20.mp3Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta quietly witnessed to committed love by her example and her life of prayer

21.The Cenaculo Community
Host – The Most Rev. Robert J. Baker, Bishop of Birminghamadvent2010_21.mp3Mother Elvira Petrozzi brings about healing from addiction through the Blessed Sacrament, Confession, devotion to Our Lady, hard physical labor and personal discipline. Mother feels that if a person needs to eat three times a day to nourish the body, they also need to pray three times a day to nourish the soul

22.The Saints
Host – The Most Rev. Robert J. Baker, Bishop of Birminghamadvent2010_22.mp3In the life of each one of us, there are very dear persons to whom we feel particularly close; some are already in God’s arms, others still share with us the journey of life: they are our parents, relatives, educators. They are persons to whom we have done good or from whom we have received good. They are persons we know we can count on. It is important to have travel companions on the journey of our Christian life, a spiritual director, a confessor, persons with whom we can share the experience of faith

23.Guardian Angels
Host – The Most Rev. Robert J. Baker, Bishop of Birminghamadvent2010_23.mp3In this world, the Angels attend to almost everything as they are the messengers of God and invisible

24.The Holy Eucharist
Host – The Most Rev. Robert J. Baker, Bishop of Birminghamadvent2010_24.mp3Christ left to His followers a pledge of hope and food for the journey in the sacraments of faith, in which natural elements, the fruits of human cultivation, are changed into His Glorified Body and , as a supper of brotherly communion and a foretaste of the Heavenly Banquet — Gaudiem et Spes

25.John the Baptist
Host – The Most Rev. Robert J. Baker, Bishop of Birminghamadvent2010_25.mp3John lived in a spirit of penance in anticipation of Our Lord’s coming

26.Simeon and Ana
Host – The Most Rev. Robert J. Baker, Bishop of Birminghamadvent2010_26.mp3Now though dost dismiss Thy servant, Oh Lord, according to Thy Word in peace, because my eyes have seen Thy salvation which Thou didst prepare before the face of all peoples; a light of revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of Thy people, Israel

.27.Joseph and Mary, Mother of Hope

Host – The Most Rev. Robert J. Baker, Bishop of Birminghamadvent2010_27.mp3St. Joseph, thank you for providing for us – Cenaculo Community prayer

28.They shall call Him Emmanuel
Host – The Most Rev. Robert J. Baker, Bishop of Birminghamadvent2010_28.mp3The single-most reason for our Hope is the Advent, the coming of Christ into this world as Emmanuel, as “God with us”.

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“Develop a lively devotion for Our Mother”

In 01 Daily Meditations on 2013/10/03 at 12:00 AM
Invoke the Blessed Virgin. Keep asking her to show herself a Mother to you – monstra te esse Matrem! As well as drawing down her Son’s grace, may she bring the clarity of sound doctrine to your mind, and love and purity to your heart, so that you may know the way to God and take many souls to him. (The Forge, 986)

Develop a lively devotion for Our Mother. She knows how to respond in a most sensitive way to the presents we give her. What is more, if you say the Holy Rosary every day, with a spirit of faith and love, Our Lady will make sure she leads you very far along her Son’s path. (Furrow, 691)

Without Our Mother’s aid, how can we manage to keep up our daily struggle? Do you seek it constantly? (Furrow, 692)

Love for our Mother will be the breath that kindles into a living flame the embers of virtue hidden in the ashes of your indifference. (The Way, 492)

Love our Lady. And she will obtain for you abundant grace to conquer in your daily struggle. And the enemy will gain nothing by those foul things that continually seem to boil and rise within you, trying to engulf in their fragrant corruption the high ideals, the sublime determination that Christ himself has set in your heart.–Serviam, I will serve! (The Way, 493)

We go to Jesus–and we ‘return’ to him–through Mary. (The Way, 495)

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“Mary, teacher of prayer”

In 01 Daily Meditations on 2013/05/08 at 12:00 AM
Love for our Mother will be the breath that kindles into a living flame the embers of virtue hidden in the ashes of your indifference. (The Way, 492)

Love our Lady. And she will obtain for you abundant grace to conquer in your daily struggle. And the enemy will gain nothing by those foul things that continually seem to boil and rise within you, trying to engulf in their fragrant corruption the high ideals, the sublime determination that Christ himself has set in your heart.–Serviam, I will serve! (The Way, 493)

We go to Jesus–and we ‘return’ to him–through Mary. (The Way, 495)

Mary, teacher of prayer. See how she asks her Son, at Cana. And how she insists, confidently, with perseverance. And how she succeeds. Learn from her. (The Way, 502)

Without God’s help it is impossible to live a clean life. God wants us to be humble, and to ask him for his help through our Mother who is his Mother. You should say to Our Lady, right now, speaking without the sound of words, from the accompanied solitude of your heart: “O, my Mother, sometimes this poor heart of mine rebels; but if you help me …” She will indeed help you to keep it clean and to follow the way God has called you to pursue. The Virgin Mary will always make it easier for you to fulfill the Will of God. (The Forge, 315)

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The Church Becomes Fully Visible in the Liturgy

In 06 Scripture & Theology on 2013/02/28 at 11:11 AM

 The time dedicated to liturgical prayer in the life of Christians, especially during Mass, was the central theme of Benedict XVI’s catechesis.

Prayer, the Pope explained, “is the living relationship of the children of God with their immeasurably good Father, with His Son Jesus Christ and with the Holy Spirit. Therefore the life of prayer consists in dwelling habitually in the presence of God and knowing Him. … Such communion of life with the One Triune God is possible through Baptism, by which we are united to Christ, … because only in Christ can we dialogue with God the Father as children”.

For Christians prayer means “constantly gazing at Christ in ways that are ever new”, said the Holy Father. “Yet we must not forget that we discover Christ and know Him as a living Person in the Church. She is ‘His Body’. … The unbreakable bond between Christ and the Church, through the unifying power of love, does not annul ‘you’ and ‘me’ but exalts them to their most intense unity. … Praying means raising oneself to the heights of God, by means of a necessary and gradual transformation of our being”.

By participating in the liturgy “we make the language of mother Church our own, we learn to speak in her and for her. Of course this comes about gradually, little by little. I must progressively immerse myself into the words of the Church with my prayers, life and suffering, with my joy and my thoughts. This is a journey which transforms us”, the Pope said.

The question of “how to pray” is answered by following the Our Father, the prayer which Jesus taught us. “We see that its first two words are ‘Father’ and ‘our’, and the response then becomes clear: I learn to pray and I nourish my prayer by addressing myself to God as Father, and by praying with others, with the Church, accepting the gift of her words, which little by little become familiar and rich in meaning. The dialogue God establishes with each one of us in prayer, and we with Him, always includes a ‘with’. We cannot pray to God individualistically. In liturgical prayer, especially the Eucharist, … in all prayer, we speak not only as single individuals, but enter into that ‘us’ which is the prayerful Church”.

The liturgy, then, “is not some form of ‘self-expression’ of a community. … It means entering into that great living community in which God Himself nourishes us. The liturgy implies universality”, and it “is important for all Christians to feel that they are truly part of this universal ‘us’, which is the foundation and refuge for the ‘me’, in the Body of Christ which is the Church”.

To do this we must accept the logic of the incarnation of God, Who “came close to us, making Himself present in history and in human nature. … This presence continues in the Church, His Body. The liturgy, then, is not the recollection of past events but the living presence of Christ’s Paschal Mystery which transcends and unites time and space”.

“It is not the individual priest or member of the faithful, or the group, which celebrates the liturgy. Rather, the liturgy is primarily the action of God through the Church with all her history, her rich tradition and her creativity. This universality and fundamental openness, which is specific to all the liturgy, is one of the reasons for which it cannot be invented or modified by a single community or by experts, but must remain faithful to the forms of the universal Church”.

The Church becomes fully visible in the liturgy, the Holy Father concluded, “the act by which we believe that God enters our lives and we can encounter Him. The act in which … He comes to us and we are illuminated by Him”.

VIS 121003

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Why Temptations?

In 06 Scripture & Theology on 2013/02/22 at 9:11 AM

In his reflections Benedict XVI commented on the Gospel reading from St. Mark’s narrative of the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness.

“The Lord chose to undergo the attack of the tempter so as to defend us with His help and instruct us with His example”, said the Holy Father quoting a text written by St. Leo the Great. This episode teaches us that man is never free from temptation, but we can become stronger than any enemy “by following the Lord every day with patience and humility, learning to build our lives not without Him or as if He did not exist, but in Him and with Him, because He is the source of true life. The temptation to remove God, to regulate ourselves and the world counting only on our own abilities, has always been present in the history of man”, the Pope said.

In Christ, God addresses man “in an unexpected way, with a closeness that is unique, tangible and full of love. God became incarnate and entered man’s world in order to take sin upon Himself, to overcome evil and to bring man back into God’s world. But His announcement was accompanied by a request to respond to such a great gift. Indeed, Jesus said “repent, and believe in the good news’. This is an invitation to have faith in God and to convert every day of our lives to His will, orienting our every action and our every thought towards what is good. The period of Lent is a good time to renew and strengthen our relationship with God through daily prayer, acts of penance and works of fraternal charity”.

Vatican City (VIS)

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Divine Revelation Does Not Follow Earthly Logic

In 06 Scripture & Theology on 2012/12/21 at 9:11 AM

Benedict XVI dedicated the catechesis to the Messianic Hymn of Jubilee, Jesus’ prayer of praise recorded in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, which constitutes the “apex of a path of prayer in which Jesus’ profound and intimate communion with the Father in the Holy Spirit and His divine filiation clearly emerges “.

Already at the opening of the hymn, the Pope observed, Jesus addresses God by calling him Father, a term that expresses “Jesus’ awareness and certainty of being ‘the Son’ in close and constant communion with Him. This is the central point and the source of Jesus’ every prayer. … The name of ‘Father’ is followed by a second title: ‘Lord of heaven and earth'”, which “recalls the great biblical narration of the history of God’s love for human beings that began with creation. Jesus … is the pinnacle and the fullness of this history of love. … Through the expression ‘Lord of heaven and earth’ we also recognize how, in Jesus, the one who reveals the Father, the possibility of access to God is opened to humanity”.

But, to whom does the Son want to reveal the mysteries of God? “Divine revelation”, the pontiff explained, “does not occur within earthly logic, according to which humans are the wise and powerful who posses important knowledge and transmit it to those who are more simple. … God’s style is another: His communication is addressed precisely to the ‘childlike’. … And what is this childlikeness that opens humans to a filial intimacy with God and to welcoming His will? … It is the pureness of heart that allows us to recognize the face of God in Jesus Christ. It is keeping our hearts as simple as those of children, without the presumptions of those who are locked in themselves, thinking they have no need of anyone, not even God”.

“In Matthew’s Gospel, after the Hymn of Jubilee, we encounter one of Jesus’ most moving pleas: ‘Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.’ Jesus asks that we go to Him, the true wisdom, to the one who is ‘meek and humble of heart’; He proposes His ‘yoke’, the path of evangelical wisdom, which is neither a doctrine to learn nor an ethical proposal, but rather a Person to follow: He himself, the only-begotten Son, in perfect communion with the Father”.

“We also can address God with the confidence of sons and daughters”, Benedict XVI concluded, “calling Him Father when we pray. But we have to keep the heart of a child, the heart of those ‘poor in spirit’, in order to recognize that we are not self-sufficient … that we need God, that we have to seek Him, listen to Him, speak to Him. Prayer opens us to receiving the gift of God, His wisdom who is Jesus himself, in order to accept the will of the Father in our lives and to find consolation in the weariness of our journey”.

Vatican Information Service #20111207

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Pope on Twitter…His First Three Answers to Questions

In 07 Observations on 2012/12/14 at 1:00 AM

 

Vatican City, 13 December 2012 (VIS) – @Pontifex, Pope Benedict XVI’s Twitter account, attracted over a million and a half followers on its first day of existence. The Pope, after his first tweet at the end of the usual Wednesday general audience, responded during the course of the day to three questions posed by members of the public from three different continents.

The first was: “How can we celebrate the Year of Faith better in our daily lives?”.

The Holy Father’s answer was “By speaking with Jesus in prayer, listening to what he tells you in the Gospel and looking for him in those in need”.

Shortly afterwards a second question was added:

“How can faith in Jesus be lived in a world without hope?”.

“We can be certain that a believer is never alone. God is the solid rock upon which we build our lives and his love is always faithful”,

responded Benedict XVI.

The final tweet, posted around 6 p.m., was:

“Offer everything you do to the Lord, ask his help in all the circumstances of daily life and remember that he is always beside you”,

in response to: “Any suggestions on how to be more prayerful when we are so busy with the demands of work, families and the world?”

Vatican Information Service 121213

Pope Benedict XVI hit the 1 million Twitter follower mark on Wednesday.  The 85 year old  pope is tweeting simultaneously in Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese, German, Polish and Arabic. The words the Pope uses are his alone, culled from his speeches, homilies or catechism lessons. For English version, please go to www.twitter.com/pontifex

The Pope blessed his online fans and urged them to listen to Christ.

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“A personal meeting with God”

In 01 Daily Meditations on 2012/11/23 at 9:11 AM
When you receive him, tell him: Lord, I hope in you: I adore you, I love you, increase my faith. Be the support of my weakness: You, who have remained defenseless in the Eucharist so as to be the remedy for the weakness of your creatures. (The Forge, 832)

I will not surprise anyone if I say that some Christians have a very poor concept of the holy Mass. For them it is a purely external rite, if not a mere social convention. This is because our poor hearts are capable of treating the greatest gift of God to man as routine. In the Mass, in this Mass that we are now celebrating, the most Holy Trinity intervenes, I repeat, in a very special way. To correspond to such great love, we must give ourselves completely, in body and in soul. We hear God, we talk to him, we see him, we taste him. And when words are not enough, we sing, urging our tongue — Pange, lingua! — to proclaim to all mankind the greatness of the Lord.

To “live” the holy Mass means to pray continually, and to be convinced that, for each one of us, this is a personal meeting with God. We adore him, we praise him, we give thanks to him, we atone for our sins, we are purified, we experience a unity with Christ and with all Christians. (Christ is passing by, 87-88)