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At Mass in Santa Marta, Francis prays to the Lord that he give the students and teachers the courage to continue in this moment of the pandemic. In his homily, he said that the Christian life is the mystique of a reciprocal “stay”: us in Jesus and Jesus in us
VATICAN NEWS
Francisco presided over the mass in the Casa Santa Marta on Wednesday of the fifth week of Easter and the day the Church celebrates the memory of the Virgin of Fatima. In the introduction, he directed his thoughts to students and teachers:
We pray today for the students, the studying students, and the teachers who must find new ways to advance in teaching: that the Lord help them on this journey, give them courage and also a great success.
In the homily, the Pope commented on today’s Gospel (Jn 15, 1-8) in which Jesus says to his disciples: “I am the true vine and my Father is the farmer. Every branch that does not bear fruit in me He cuts it, and each branch that bears fruit, he prunes it so that it bears more fruit … As the branch cannot bear fruit on its own if it does not remain on the vine, neither will you do it if you do not stay in me. the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him, bears much fruit, because without me you can do nothing. “
“The Lord – said the Pope – returns to ‘abide in him’ and tells us: ‘The Christian life is to abide in me.’ To abide. And use here the image of the vine, how the branches remain on the vine. And this ‘remnant’ is not a passive remnant, a falling asleep in the Lord: this would perhaps be a beatific dream. ” Instead, “this” stay “is an” active “stay, and it is also a mutual” stay “. Why? Because He says:” Stay in me and I in you. “He also remains in us, not only us in it. It is reciprocal remaining. “
This “reciprocal remnant” – he continued – “is a mystery”, “a mystery of life, a beautiful mystery”. “It is true that the branches without the vine cannot do anything because the sap does not come, they need the sap to grow and bear fruit. But also the tree, the vine needs branches, because the fruits are not attached to the tree, to the vine. It is a mutual need, it is a mutual stay to bear fruit. ”
“And this is the Christian life: it is true, the Christian life is to keep the commandments, this must be done. The Christian life must follow the path of the beatitudes: this must be done. The Christian life is to carry out the works of mercy, as the Lord teaches us in the Gospel: and this must be done. But even more: it is this to remain reciprocal. We without Jesus can do nothing, like the branches without the vine. And He, that the Lord allows me to say, without us it seems that he cannot do anything, because the fruit gives him the branch, not the tree, the vine. “In this mutual” stay “there is fertility
And what is, asks the Pope “a little boldly”, the need that the vine of branches has? “It is bearing fruit.” “What is Jesus’ need for us? The witness. When in the Gospel it says that we are light, it says: ‘Be light, so that men can see your good works and glorify the Father’, that is, witness is the need that Jesus has for us. To bear witness to his name, because faith, the Gospel grows through witness ”.
Jesus “needs our witness” for “the Church to grow.” And this is the mutual mystery of ‘staying’. He, the Father and the Spirit remain in us, and we remain in Jesus. “
“It will do us good to think and reflect on this: abide in Jesus and Jesus abides in us. Stay in Jesus to have the sap, the strength, to be justified, free, to be fruitful. And it remains in us to give us the strength of the fruit, to give us the strength of the witness with which the Church grows. “
And the relationship between us and Jesus “is a relationship of intimacy, a mystical relationship, a relationship without words. ‘But father, but this, mystics do it!’ No: this is for all of us. With little thoughts: “Lord, I know you are: give me strength and I will do what you tell me.” That intimate dialogue with the Lord. The Lord is present, the Lord is present in us, the Father is present in us, the Spirit is present in us; they remain in us. But I have to stay in them. “
“May the Lord, is the Pope’s prayer, help us to understand, to feel this mysticism of ‘staying’ on which Jesus insists so much.” “Many times, when we talk about the vine and the branches, we stop before the figure, the profession of the farmer, of the Father, that what bears fruit he cuts, that is, he prunes it and what does not bear fruit he cuts.” “It’s true, it does this, but that’s not all, no. There is the other one. This is the help: the trials, the difficulties of life, even the corrections that the Lord makes for us. But let’s not stop here. Between the vine and the branches is this intimate “permanence”. We, the branches, need the sap, and the vine needs the fruits, the testimony. “
The Pope invited to make spiritual communion with this prayer:
My Jesus, I believe that you are truly present in the Blessed Sacrament on the altar. I love you above all things and I wish you in my soul. Since I cannot receive you sacramentally now, at least spiritually come to my heart. As I come, I embrace you and join you all. Don’t ever let me part from you.
Pope Francis ended the celebration with adoration and Eucharistic blessing. Finally, on the occasion of today’s memory, two verses of the Ave Maria di Fatima were sung:
May 13
Maria appeared
with three shepherd children
in Cova d’Iria.
Ave ave ave Maria,
ave ave ave Maria.
Oh beautiful queen
who reign in heaven
Italy bowed
calls you faithful.
(UPDATE HOURS 8.07)