Reflections

Every Holy Mass, heard with devotion, produces in our souls marvellous effects, abundant spiritual and material graces which we, ourselves, do not know … It is easier for the earth to exist without the sun than without the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass!

St Pius of Pietrelcina (1887 – 1968)

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Good friends find pleasure in one another’s company. Let us know pleasure in the company of our best friend, a friend who can do everything for us, a friend who loves us beyond measure. Here in the Blessed Sacrament we can talk to him straight from the heart. We can open our souls to him, tell him what we need, beg him for powerful graces. We are perfectly free to approach the King of the universe with full confidence and without fear.

St Alphonsus Ligouri, 1696-1787

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Having met Jesus and experienced his forgiveness, St Peter & St Paul bore witness to him by living a new life: they no longer held back but gave themselves over completely. They were no longer content with half-measures but embraced the only measure possible for those who follow Jesus: that of boundless love. Let us ask for the grace not to be lukewarm Christians living by half measures, allowing our love to grow cold. Let us rediscover who we truly are through a daily relationship with Jesus and through the power of his forgiveness. Just as he asked Peter, Jesus is now asking us: “Who do you say that I am?”, “Do you love me?” Let us allow these words to penetrate our hearts and inspire us not to remain content with a minimum, but to aim for the heights so that we too can become living witnesses to Jesus.

Pope Francis, St Peter & St Paul 2019, Rome

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In the Sacrament of the altar, there are offered for our contemplation the full depths of the mystery of Christ, the Word and the flesh, the divine glory and his dwelling among men. Before this Sacrament, we are sure that God is “with us”, that in Jesus Christ he assumed all the dimensions of our human nature, except sin, emptying himself of his glory to clothe us with it (cf. ibid., 21-23). The invisible face of Christ, the Son of God, is manifest in his Body and Blood in the simplest and, at the same time, the most exalted way possible in this world.

Pope St John Paul II (Corpus Christ, 2014)

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Holy Spirit, violent wind of God, blow upon us, blow into our hearts and make us breathe forth the tenderness of the Father! Blow upon the Church and impel her to the ends of the earth, so that, brought by you, she may bring nothing other than you. Blow upon our world the soothing warmth of peace and the refreshing cool of hope. Come, Holy Spirit, change us within and renew the face of the earth. Amen.

Pope Francis, Pentecost, 2019

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Regina caeli, laetare! Rejoice, Holy Virgin, because He whom you bore in your womb is risen!

Dear brothers and sisters, let us try to relive the joy of the Resurrection with Mary’s heart. Even in the darkness of Good Friday she prepared herself to receive the light of Easter morning. Let us ask her to obtain for us a deep faith in this extraordinary event, which is salvation and hope for the world.

Pope St John Paul II, Easter 1996

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If Jesus is risen, then – and only then – has something truly new happened, something that changes the state of humanity and the world. Then he, Jesus, is someone in whom we can put absolute trust; we can put our trust not only in his message but in Jesus himself, for the Risen One does not belong to the past, but is present today, alive. Christ is hope and comfort in a particular way for those Christian communities suffering most for their faith on account of discrimination and persecution. And he is present as a force of hope through his Church, which is close to all human situations of suffering and injustice.

Pope Benedict XVI, Easter 2012

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This crisis is affecting us all, rich and poor alike, and putting a spotlight on hypocrisy. I am worried by the hypocrisy of certain political personalities who speak of facing up to the crisis, of the problem of hunger in the world, but who in the meantime manufacture weapons. This is a time to be converted from this kind of functional hypocrisy. It’s a time for integrity. Either we are coherent with our beliefs or we lose everything.

Pope Francis Interview, 2020

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We (have) celebrate(d) Holy Week in a truly unusual way; a way which manifests and sums up the message of the Gospel, the message of God’s boundless love. And in the silence of our cities, the Easter Gospel will resound. The Apostle Paul says: “And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him Who died for them and was raised again” (2 Cor 5:15). In the risen Jesus, life conquered death. This Paschal faith nourishes our hope. I would like to share it with you (at) this (time). It is the hope of a better time, in which we can be better, finally freed from evil and from this pandemic. It is a hope: hope does not disappoint; it is not an illusion, it is a hope.

Pope Francis, Palm Sunday 2020, Rome

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