Pope spends day with poor, prays for welcome of all

“We are the Church of the Lord, a Church of the poor – all precious, all active participants, each one bearing a unique word from God,” the Pope said on August 17 as he celebrated Mass at the Shrine of Santa Maria della Rotonda in Albano Laziale.

At the Mass with the Pope were about 110 clients and volunteers of the Diocese of Albano’s Caritas programmes, including people experiencing homelessness and residents of its shelter for families. 

“Let us not leave the Lord outside of our churches, our homes or our lives,” the Pope said in his homily at the Mass.

“Rather, let us welcome him in the poor – and then we will make peace even with our own poverty, the kind we fear and deny when we seek comfort and security at all costs.”

After the morning Mass, Pope Leo returned to Castel Gandolfo to lead the recitation of the Angelus prayer and then to host lunch for the Caritas clients and some of the volunteers. The lunch was held in the Borgo Laudato Si’, a project for education and training in integral ecology begun by Pope Francis in the gardens of the papal summer villa.

Before blessing the food, the Pope said the setting was a reminder of the beauty of God’s creation, especially God’s creation of human beings in his image and likeness.

“Each one of us represents this image of God,” he said. “How important it is to always remember that we find this presence of God in every person.”

In his homily at the Mass, the Pope had said that whether seeking assistance or providing it, in the Church “each person is a gift for others. Let us tear down walls”.

The day’s Gospel reading, Luke 12:49-53, began with the words, “Jesus said to his disciples: ‘I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!'”

The fire of which Jesus was speaking, the Pope said, was “not the fire of weapons, nor the fire of words that burn others down. No. But the fire of love – a love that stoops to serve, that responds to indifference with care and to arrogance with gentleness; the fire of goodness, which doesn’t cost like weapons do, but freely renews the world.”

FULL STORY

Burn with ‘fire’ of God’s love, pope says at Mass and lunch with the poor (By Cindy Wooden/CNS)