ANGELUS OF 5/25/08
Here is a translation of the Holy Father's words at Angelus today.
Dear brothers and sisters:
Italy and other countries celebrate today the Solemnity of Corpus Domini, which the Vatican and some places already celebrated last Thursday.
It is the Feast of the Eucharist, a wonderful gift of Christ, who at the Last Supper, wanted to leave us a memorial to his Resurrection, the sacrament of his Body and Blood, pledge of his immense love for us.
One week ago, we honored the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity. Today, we are invited to look at the Sacred Host. It is the same God! The same Love!
This is the beauty of Christian truth: the Creator and Lord of all things made himself into a tiny grain to be sowed on earth, in the furrows of our history. He became bread to be broken, shared and eaten. He made himself our food to give us life, his own divine life.
He was born in Bethlehem - which means 'house of bread' in Hebrew - and when he started to preach, he disclosed that the Father had sent him into the world as 'the living bread descended from heaven', as the 'bread of life'.
The Eucharist is a school of charity and solidarity. Whoever nourishes himself with the Bread of Christ cannot remain indifferent to those who, even in our days, are deprived of their daily bread. So many parents can barely get enough food for themselves and their children. It is a problem that is increasingly serious, which the international community is finding difficult to resolve.
The Church not only prays to "give us this day our daily bread", but following the Lord's example, it tries in every way to "multiply the five loaves and two fishes" with its countless initiatives for human promotion and sharing so that no one may lack the necessities for living.
Dear brothers and sisters, may the Feast of Corpus Domini be an occasion for us to grow in concrete attention to our brothers, especially the poor.
May this grace be obtained for us by the Virgin Mary, from whom the Son of God took flesh and blood, as we repeat in a famous Eucharistic hymn that has been set to music by famous composers: "Ave verum corpus natum de Maria Virgine" [Hail true Body born of the Virgin Mary), which concludes with the invocation, "O Iesu dulcis, o Iesu pie, o Iesu fili Mariae!" (O sweet Jesus, o holy Jesus, O Jesus Son of Mary).
May the Virgin Mary, who bore Jesus in her womb and was the living 'tabernacle' of the Eucharist, communicate to us the same faith in the sacred mystery of the Body and Blood of her divine Son, that he may truly be the center of our life.
Let us find ourselves together again on Saturday, May 30, gathered around her, at 8 p.m., here in St. Peter's Square, for a special celebration to conclude the Marian month.
After the Angelus, he had a special message for the Catholics of China:
I greet with great affection all Chinese-speaking pilgrims who have come to Rome from all parts of Italy on the occasion of the World Day of Prayer for the Church in China.
I entrust to God's merciful love all your fellow citizens who perished as a result of the recent earthquake which hit a vast area of your country. I renew my spiritual closeness to those who are still living through anguish and tribulation.
Thanks to the fraternal solidarity of everyone, many the affected population return to the normality of daily life soon.
Together with you, I ask Mary, Help of Christians, Our lady of Sheshan, to support "the commitment of all in China who, in the midst of daily labors, continue to believe, hope and love, so that they may never be afraid to speak of Jesus to the world, and of the world to Jesus", remaining 'credible witnesses always" of his love and "remaining united to the Rock of Peter on which the Church is built".
In English, he said:
I am happy to greet all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors present for this Angelus.
Today the Church celebrates in different places the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ. On Thursday with many of the faithful, I had the joy of taking part in the Corpus Christi procession and venerating this Holy Sacrament in prayer and adoration.
Our faith invites us to receive the Body and Blood of Christ with pure hearts so as to enter into communion with him.
May his presence always renew our Christian love as we journey with him to Eternal Life. I wish you all a pleasant stay in Rome, and a blessed Sunday!