Dear Parishioners and Friends of St. Mary’s of the Lake:

(Below is Part 3 of Pope Francis’ catechesis on the Holy Mass on Nov 15, 2017 at the weekly Audience at St. Peter’s Square).  

 
[Cont’d] … Because the encounter with the Lord is always a living encounter; it is not a museum encounter. It is a living encounter, and we go to Mass, not to a museum. We go to a living encounter with the Lord.

⬥  The Gospel speaks of a certain Nicodemus (Jn 3:1-21), an elderly man, an authority in Israel, who goes to Jesus to get to know him; and the Lord speaks to him of the need to ‘be born anew’ (cf. v. 3). But what does it mean? Can one be ‘reborn’? Is it possible to return to having the zest, the joy, the wonder of life, even in the face of so much tragedy? This is a fundamental question of our faith, and this is the longing of every true believer: the longing to be reborn, the joy of beginning anew. Do we have this longing? Does each of us have the wish to be born ever anew in order to meet the Lord? Do you have this wish? Indeed, one can easily lose it because, due to so many activities, so many projects to implement, in the end we are short of time and we lose sight of what is fundamental: the inner life of the heart, our spiritual life, our life which is the encounter with the Lord in prayer.

⬥   In truth, the Lord surprises us by showing us that he loves us even in our weaknesses. ‘Jesus Christ ... is the expiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world’ (1 Jn 2:2). This gift, the source of true consolation — but the Lord always forgives us — this consoles; it is a true consolation; it is a gift that we are given through the Eucharist, that wedding feast at which the Bridegroom encounters our frailty. Can I say that when I receive Communion during Mass, the Lord encounters my frailty? Yes! We can say so because this is true! The Lord encounters our frailty so as to lead us back to our first call: that of being in the image and likeness of God. This is the environment of the Eucharist. This is prayer.

◆  The Eucharist is ‘the source and summit of the Christian life.’(cf. Vatican II, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church #11)

◆  At Mass our focus is not just on ourselves; it is on the Lord. We are there as God’s people to praise and thank God for calling us to be His people. We are there to recall and celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus by which we are saved and offered the new life of grace. We are there because we find Jesus Christ there (from Bishop Banks’ Pastoral Letter on the Celebration of the Eucharist 1998).