Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican media
Vatican City (Fides News Agency) – "The Eucharist is necessary, for everyone. Jesus takes care of our greatest need: he saves us, nourishing our lives with his, and does it forever". These are the words of Pope Francis who, at noon, as usual, overlooked St. Peter's Square for the Sunday Angelus prayer.
The Pontiff, in commenting today's Gospel passage, where Jesus affirms I am the living bread, descended from heaven", points out that"before the crowd, the Son of God identifies with the most common and everyday food, bread". How can he feed us? The questions that many people who heard him asked themselves at the time were also asked by us today, but, Francis warns, "with wonder and with gratitude", because these are "two attitudes on which to reflect before the miracle of the Eucharist".
Wonder first and foremost "because Jesus's words surprise us. Jesus always surprises us. Bread from heaven is a gift that exceeds all expectations. Those who do not grasp Jesus's style remain suspicious". And gratitude, because Christ, "having multiplied the earthly bread", "prepares an even greater gift: He himself becomes actual food and actual drink". In the face of this, all we can say is: "Thank you".
And that bread - that is, the Eucharist - "is more than necessary, because – the Bishop of Rome emphasizes – it satiates our hunger for hope, hunger for truth, hunger for salvation that we all feel not in our stomachs, but in our hearts". But we must be careful: "True and living bread is not something magical, no, it is not something that will suddenly solve all problems, but it is the Body of Christ itself, which gives hope to the poor and overcomes the arrogance of those who gorge themselves at their expense".
After the Angelus prayer, the Pope's thoughts turned to Africa, in particular to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where Luigi Carrara, Giovanni Didoné and Vittorio Faccin, Italian Xaverian missionaries, along with Albert Joubert, a Congolese priest, were beatified in Uvira, where they were killed on 28 November 1964: "Their martyrdom – says the Pope – was the culmination of a life spent for the Lord and for their brothers. May their example and their intercession promote pathways of reconciliation and peace for the good of the Congolese people ".
And the unfailing appeal for peace: "We continue to pray that roads to peace may be opened in the Middle East – Palestine, Israel – as well as in tormented Ukraine, Myanmar and in every war zone, with a commitment to dialogue and negotiation, and refraining from violent actions and reactions".
Finally, the ever-present farewell: "I wish everyone a good Sunday. Please don’t forget to pray for me. Have a good lunch and arrivederci!" (F.B.) (Fides News Agency 18/8/2024)
