PRESVETO TIJELO I KRV KRISTOVA. TIJELOVO

lip 15 2022 Miriam

Papa Franjo
Nedjelja, 2. lipnja 2013.

Tijelovo - poziv na vjeru u providnost

Draga braćo i sestre, dobar dan!

Tijelovo je blagdan euharistije, sakramenta Tijela i Krvi Kristove. U Evanđelju čitamo izvješće o čudu s kruhovima (Lk 9, 11-17); želim se zadržati na jednom aspektu koji me pogađa i potiče na razmišljanje. Na obali smo Galilejskog jezera, večer se bliži; Isus se brine za ljude koji su već dugo s njim: ima ih na tisuće i gladni su. Što učiniti? I učenici se to pitaju i kažu Isusu: "Otpusti svijet" da pođe u obližnja sela i ondje nađe nešto za jesti. Isus međutim kaže: "Podajte im vi jesti!" Učenici ostadoše zbunjeni i odgovaraju: "Nemamo više od pet kruhova i dvije ribe", kao da time žele reći: to je jedva dovoljno i za nas.

Isus dobro zna što treba učiniti, ali želi uključiti svoje učenike, želi ih poučiti. Stav učenika je čisto ljudski stav, u kojem se traži realističnije rješenje, u kojem se ne stvara mnogo problema: otpusti mnoštvo – kažu – nekako se svatko snađe kako zna i umije, uostalom već je toliko učinio za njih: propovijedao je, ozdravljao bolesne… Otpusti mnoštvo!

Isusov stav je sasvim različit i diktiran je njegovim jedinstvom s Ocem i suosjećanjem s narodom, onom Isusovom samilošću prema svima nama: Isus osjeća naše probleme, naše slabosti, naše potrebe. Ugledavši pet kruhova, Isus pomisli: evo providnosti! Od toga malo, Bog može izvući ono potrebno za sve. Isus se potpuno uzda u nebeskog Oca, zna da je njemu sve moguće. Zato kaže učenicima da posjedaju narod u skupine po pedeset – to nije slučajno, jer to znači da nisu više neko mnoštvo, već postaju zajednice, koje se hrane Božjim kruhom. Zatim uzima te kruhove i ribe, podiže oči nebu, blagoslovi ih – to jasno upućuje na euharistiju – zatim ih lomi i počinje davati apostolima, a učenici ih dijele mnoštvu… i kruhova i riba ne nestaje, ne nestaje! Eto čuda: više no neko umnažanje to je dijeljenje, nošeno vjerom i molitvom. Svi su blagovali i još je preteklo ulomaka: to je znak Isusa, Božjeg kruha za ljudski rod.

Učenici su vidjeli, ali nisu dobro shvatili poruku. Bili su, poput mnoštva, obuzeti oduševljenjem zbog tog uspjeha. Ponovno slijede ljudsku a ne Božju logiku, koja je logika služenja, ljubavi, vjere. Svetkovina Tijelova traži od nas da se obratimo na vjeru u providnost, da znamo dijeliti i ono malo što imamo i da se nikada ne zatvaramo u same sebe. Molimo se našoj Majci Mariji da nam pomogne u tome obraćenju, da bismo doista više slijedili onoga Isusa kojem se klanjamo u euharistiji. Tako neka bude!

………….

Papa Benedikt XVI.
Nedjelja, 14. lipnja 2009. 

Tijelovo je očitovanje Boga, potvrda da je Bog ljubav

Draga braćo i sestre!

Danas se u mnogim zemljama slavi Tijelovo - Corpus Domini, blagdan Euharistije, na koji se sakrament Gospodinova Tijela svečano nosi u procesiji. Što nama znači taj blagdan? On nas ne navodi samo na razmišljanje o liturgijskom aspektu; zapravo, Corpus Domini je dan koji uključuje kozmičku dimenziju, nebo i zemlju. Ponajprije podsjeća – barem na našoj hemisferi – na ovo tako lijepo i mirisno razdoblje u kojemu proljeće već polako prelazi u ljeto, sunce je na nebu jako a na poljima zori žito. Blagdani Crkve – kao i oni židovski – vezani su uz ritam solarne godine, sijanja i žetve. To je osobito vidljivo na današnji blagdan u čijemu je središtu znak kruha, plod zemlje i neba. Zato je euharistijski kruh vidljivi znak Onoga u kojemu su zemlja i nebo, Bog i čovjek postali jedno. A to pokazuje da odnos s dobima za liturgijsku godinu nije nešto čisto izvanjsko.

Blagdan Tijelova - Corpus Domini - prisno je povezan s Uskrsom i Pedesetnicom: Isusova smrt i uskrsnuće te izlijevanje Duha Svetoga njegove su pretpostavke. Osim toga, neposredno se nadovezuje na blagdan Presvetoga Trojstva, što smo ga proslavili protekle nedjelje. Samo zato što je sam Bog odnos, s Njime može postojati odnos; a samo zato što je ljubav, može ljubiti i biti ljubljen. Tako je Tijelovo očitovanje Boga, potvrda da je Bog ljubav. Na jedinstven i osobit način, taj nam blagdan govori o božanskoj ljubavi, o onome što ona jest i što čini. Govori nam, na primjer, da se ona ponovno rađa u darivanju, da se prima u davanju, da se ne smanjuje i ne troši – kako pjeva jedan himan svetoga Tome Akvinskog: „nec sumptus consumitur". Ljubav preobražava svaku stvar, te se stoga razumije da je u središtu današnjega blagdana Tijelova tajna transupstancijacije, znak Isusa - Ljubavi koja preobražava svijet. Promatrajući Ga i časteći Ga, mi kažemo: da, ljubav postoji, a budući da postoji stvari se mogu promijeniti na bolje i mi se možemo nadati. Upravo nada koja dolazi iz Kristove ljubavi daje nam snagu da živimo i suočavamo se s poteškoćama. Zato pjevamo, dok u procesiji nosimo Presveti sakrament; pjevamo i hvalimo Boga koji se objavio skrivajući se u znaku prelomljenoga kruha. Taj Kruh svi trebamo, jer je duh i težak put prema slobodi, pravdi i miru.

Možemo samo zamisliti s koliko je vjere i ljubavi Majka Božja u svome srcu primila i častila svetu Euharistiju! Svaki je put to za nju bilo kao da ponovno živi cijelo otajstvo svoga Sina Isusa: od začeća do uskrsnuća. „Euharistijskom ženom" nazvao ju je moj časni i ljubljeni prethodnik Ivan Pavao II. Naučimo od nje stalno obnavljati naše zajedništvo s Tijelom Kristovim, da bismo ljubili jedni druge kao što je On nas ljubio.

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OMELIA DEL SANTO PADRE FRANCESCO
4 giugno 2015

Abbiamo ascoltato: nella [Ultima] Cena Gesù dona il suo Corpo e il suo Sangue mediante il pane e il vino, per lasciarci il memoriale del suo sacrificio di amore infinito. E con questo “viatico” ricolmo di grazia, i discepoli hanno tutto il necessario per il loro cammino lungo la storia, per estendere a tutti il regno di Dio. Luce e forza sarà per loro il dono che Gesù ha fatto di sé, immolandosi volontariamente sulla croce. E questo Pane di vita è giunto fino a noi! Non finisce mai lo stupore della Chiesa davanti a questa realtà. Uno stupore che alimenta sempre la contemplazione, l’adorazione e la memoria. Ce lo dimostra un testo molto bello della Liturgia di oggi, il Responsorio della seconda lettura dell’Ufficio delle Letture, che dice così: «Riconoscete in questo pane, colui che fu crocifisso; nel calice, il sangue sgorgato dal suo fianco. Prendete e mangiate il corpo di Cristo, bevete il suo sangue: poiché ora siete membra di Cristo. Per non disgregarvi, mangiate questo vincolo di comunione; per non svilirvi, bevete il prezzo del vostro riscatto».

C’è un pericolo, c’è una minaccia: disgregarci, svilirci. Cosa significa, oggi, questo “disgregarci” e “svilirci”?

Noi ci disgreghiamo quando non siamo docili alla Parola del Signore, quando non viviamo la fraternità tra di noi, quando gareggiamo per occupare i primi posti - gli arrampicatori -, quando non troviamo il coraggio di testimoniare la carità, quando non siamo capaci di offrire speranza. Così ci disgreghiamo. L’Eucaristia ci permette di non disgregarci, perché è vincolo di comunione, è compimento dell’Alleanza, segno vivente dell’amore di Cristo che si è umiliato e annientato perché noi rimanessimo uniti. Partecipando all’Eucaristia e nutrendoci di essa, noi siamo inseriti in un cammino che non ammette divisioni. Il Cristo presente in mezzo a noi, nel segno del pane e del vino, esige che la forza dell’amore superi ogni lacerazione, e al tempo stesso che diventi comunione anche con il più povero, sostegno per il debole, attenzione fraterna a quanti fanno fatica a sostenere il peso della vita quotidiana, e sono in pericolo di perdere la fede.

E poi, l’altra parola: che cosa significa oggi per noi “svilirci”, ossia annacquare la nostra dignità cristiana? Significa lasciarci intaccare dalle idolatrie del nostro tempo: l’apparire, il consumare, l’io al centro di tutto; ma anche l’essere competitivi, l’arroganza come atteggiamento vincente, il non dover mai ammettere di avere sbagliato o di avere bisogno. Tutto questo ci svilisce, ci rende cristiani mediocri, tiepidi, insipidi, pagani.

Gesù ha versato il suo Sangue come prezzo e come lavacro, perché fossimo purificati da tutti i peccati: per non svilirci, guardiamo a Lui, abbeveriamoci alla sua fonte, per essere preservati dal rischio della corruzione. E allora sperimenteremo la grazia di una trasformazione: noi rimarremo sempre poveri peccatori, ma il Sangue di Cristo ci libererà dai nostri peccati e ci restituirà la nostra dignità. Ci libererà dalla corruzione. Senza nostro merito, con sincera umiltà, potremo portare ai fratelli l’amore del nostro Signore e Salvatore. Saremo i suoi occhi che vanno in cerca di Zaccheo e della Maddalena; saremo la sua mano che soccorre i malati nel corpo e nello spirito; saremo il suo cuore che ama i bisognosi di riconciliazione, di misericordia e di comprensione.

Così l’Eucaristia attualizza l’Alleanza che ci santifica, ci purifica e ci unisce in comunione mirabile con Dio. Così impariamo che l’Eucaristia non è un premio per i buoni, ma è la forza per i deboli, per i peccatori. E’ il perdono, è il viatico che ci aiuta ad andare, a camminare.

Oggi, festa del Corpus Domini, abbiamo la gioia non solo di celebrare questo mistero, ma anche di lodarlo e cantarlo per le strade della nostra città. La processione che faremo al termine della Messa, possa esprimere la nostra riconoscenza per tutto il cammino che Dio ci ha fatto percorrere attraverso il deserto delle nostre povertà, per farci uscire dalla condizione servile, nutrendoci del suo Amore mediante il Sacramento del suo Corpo e del suo Sangue.

Tra poco, mentre cammineremo lungo la strada, sentiamoci in comunione con tanti nostri fratelli e sorelle che non hanno la libertà di esprimere la loro fede nel Signore Gesù. Sentiamoci uniti a loro: cantiamo con loro, lodiamo con loro, adoriamo con loro. E veneriamo nel nostro cuore quei fratelli e sorelle ai quali è stato chiesto il sacrificio della vita per fedeltà a Cristo: il loro sangue, unito a quello del Signore, sia pegno di pace e di riconciliazione per il mondo intero.

E non dimentichiamo: «Per non disgregarvi, mangiate questo vincolo di comunione; per non svilirvi, bevete il prezzo del vostro riscatto».

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HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
Thursday, 7 June 2007 

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

We have just sung the Sequence: "Dogma datur christianis, / quod in carnem transit panis, / et vinum in sanguinem - this [is] the truth each Christian learns, / bread into his flesh he turns, to his precious blood the wine".

Today we reaffirm with great joy our faith in the Eucharist, the Mystery that constitutes the heart of the Church. In the recent Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis I recalled that the Eucharistic Mystery "is the gift that Jesus Christ makes of himself, thus revealing to us God's infinite love for every man and woman" (n. 1).

Corpus Christi, therefore, is a unique feast and constitutes an important encounter of faith and praise for every Christian community. This feast originated in a specific historical and cultural context: it was born for the very precise purpose of openly reaffirming the faith of the People of God in Jesus Christ, alive and truly present in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist. It is a feast that was established in order to publicly adore, praise and thank the Lord, who continues "to love us "to the end', even to offering us his body and his blood" (Sacramentum Caritatis, n. 1).

The Eucharistic celebration this evening takes us back to the spiritual atmosphere of Holy Thursday, the day on which in the Upper Room, on the eve of his Passion, Christ instituted the Most Holy Eucharist.

Corpus Christi is thus a renewal of the mystery of Holy Thursday, as it were, in obedience to Jesus' invitation to proclaim from "the housetops" what he told us in secret (cf. Mt 10: 27). It was the Apostles who received the gift of the Eucharist from the Lord in the intimacy of the Last Supper, but it was destined for all, for the whole world. This is why it should be proclaimed and exposed to view: so that each one may encounter "Jesus who passes" as happened on the roads of Galilee, Samaria and Judea; in order that each one, in receiving it, may be healed and renewed by the power of his love. Dear friends, this is the perpetual and living heritage that Jesus has bequeathed to us in the Sacrament of his Body and his Blood. It is an inheritance that demands to be constantly rethought and relived so that, as venerable Pope Paul VI said, its "inexhaustible effectiveness may be impressed upon all the days of our mortal life" (cf. Insegnamenti, 25 May 1967, p. 779).

Also in the Post-Synodal Exhortation, commenting on the exclamation of the priest after the consecration: "Let us proclaim the mystery of faith!", I observed: with these words he "proclaims the mystery being celebrated and expresses his wonder before the substantial change of bread and wine into the body and blood of the Lord Jesus, a reality which surpasses all human understanding" (n. 6).

Precisely because this is a mysterious reality that surpasses our understanding, we must not be surprised if today too many find it hard to accept the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. It cannot be otherwise. This is how it has been since the day when, in the synagogue at Capernaum, Jesus openly declared that he had come to give us his flesh and his blood as food (cf. Jn 6: 26-58).
This seemed "a hard saying" and many of his disciples withdrew when they heard it. Then, as now, the Eucharist remains a "sign of contradiction" and can only be so because a God who makes himself flesh and sacrifices himself for the life of the world throws human wisdom into crisis.

However, with humble trust, the Church makes the faith of Peter and the other Apostles her own and proclaims with them, and we proclaim: "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life" (Jn 6: 68). Let us too renew this evening our profession of faith in Christ, alive and present in the Eucharist. Yes, "this [is] the truth each Christian learns, / bread into his flesh he turns, / to his precious blood the wine".

At its culminating point, in the Sequence we sing: "Ecce panis angelorum, / factus cibus viatorum: / vere panis filiorum" - "Lo! The angel's food is given / to the pilgrim who has striven; / see the children's bread from heaven". And by God's grace we are the children.

The Eucharist is the food reserved for those who in Baptism were delivered from slavery and have become sons; it is the food that sustained them on the long journey of the exodus through the desert of human existence.

Like the manna for the people of Israel, for every Christian generation the Eucharist is the indispensable nourishment that sustains them as they cross the desert of this world, parched by the ideological and economic systems that do not promote life but rather humiliate it. It is a world where the logic of power and possessions prevails rather than that of service and love; a world where the culture of violence and death is frequently triumphant.

Yet Jesus comes to meet us and imbues us with certainty: he himself is "the Bread of life" (Jn 6: 35, 48). He repeated this to us in the words of the Gospel Acclamation: "I am the living bread from Heaven, if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever" (cf. Jn 6: 51).

In the Gospel passage just proclaimed, St Luke, narrating the miracle of the multiplication of the five loaves and two fish with which Jesus fed the multitude "in a lonely place", concludes with the words: "And all ate and were satisfied" (cf. Lk 9: 11-17).

I would like in the first place to emphasize this "all". Indeed, the Lord desired every human being to be nourished by the Eucharist, because the Eucharist is for everyone.

If the close relationship between the Last Supper and the mystery of Jesus' death on the Cross is emphasized on Holy Thursday, today, the Feast of Corpus Christi, with the procession and unanimous adoration of the Eucharist, attention is called to the fact that Christ sacrificed himself for all humanity. His passing among the houses and along the streets of our city will be for those who live there an offering of joy, eternal life, peace and love.

In the Gospel passage, a second element catches one's eye: the miracle worked by the Lord contains an explicit invitation to each person to make his own contribution. The two fish and five loaves signify our contribution, poor but necessary, which he transforms into a gift of love for all.
"Christ continues today" I wrote in the above-mentioned Post Synodal Exhortation, "to exhort his disciples to become personally engaged" (Sacramentum Caritatisn. 88).

Thus, the Eucharist is a call to holiness and to the gift of oneself to one's brethren: "Each of us is truly called, together with Jesus, to be bread broken for the life of the world" (ibid.).

Our Redeemer addressed this invitation in particular to us, dear brothers and sisters of Rome, gathered round the Eucharist in this historical square.

I greet you all with affection. My greeting is addressed first of all to the Cardinal Vicar and to the Auxiliary Bishops, to my other venerable Brother Cardinals and Bishops, as well as to the numerous priests and deacons, men and women religious and the many lay faithful.

At the end of the Eucharistic celebration we will join in the procession as if to carry the Lord Jesus in spirit through all the streets and neighbourhoods of Rome. We will immerse him, so to speak, in the daily routine of our lives, so that he may walk where we walk and live where we live.

Indeed we know, as the Apostle Paul reminded us in his Letter to the Corinthians, that in every Eucharist, also in the Eucharist this evening, we "proclaim the Lord's death until he comes" (cf. I Cor 11: 26). We travel on the highways of the world knowing that he is beside us, supported by the hope of being able to see him one day face to face, in the definitive encounter.

In the meantime, let us listen to his voice repeat, as we read in the Book of Revelation, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me" (Rv 3: 20).

The Feast of Corpus Christi wants to make the Lord's knocking audible, despite the hardness of our interior hearing. Jesus knocks at the door of our heart and asks to enter not only for the space of a day but for ever. Let us welcome him joyfully, raising to him with one voice the invocation of the Liturgy:

"Very bread, Good Shepherd, tend us, / Jesu, of your love befriend us.... /You who all things can and know, /who on earth such food bestow, / grant us with your saints, though lowest, / where the heav'nly feast you show, / fellow heirs and guests to be".

Amen!

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HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
23 June 2011 

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The Feast of Corpus Christi is inseparable from Holy Thursday, from the Mass in Caena Domini, in which the Institution of the Eucharist is solemnly celebrated. Whereas on the evening of Holy Thursday we relive the mystery of Christ who offers himself to us in the bread broken and the wine poured out, today, on the day of Corpus Christi, this same mystery is proposed for the adoration and meditation of the People of God, and the Blessed Sacrament is carried in procession through the streets of the cities and villages, to show that the Risen Christ walks in our midst and guides us towards the Kingdom of Heaven.

What Jesus gave to us in the intimacy of the Upper Room today we express openly, because the love of Christ is not reserved for a few but is destined for all. In the Mass in Caena Domini last Holy Thursday, I stressed that it is in the Eucharist that the transformation of the gifts of this earth takes place — the bread and wine — whose aim is to transform our life and thereby to inaugurate the transformation of the world. This evening I would like to focus on this perspective.

Everything begins, one might say, from the heart of Christ who, at the Last Supper, on the eve of his passion, thanked and praised God and by so doing, with the power of his love, transformed the meaning of death which he was on his way to encounter. The fact that the Sacrament of the Altar acquired the name “Eucharist” — “thanksgiving” — expresses precisely this: that changing the substance of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ is the fruit of the gift that Christ made of himself, the gift of a Love stronger than death, divine Love which raised him from the dead. This is why the Eucharist is the food of eternal life, the Bread of Life. From Christ’s heart, from his “Eucharistic prayer” on the eve of his passion flows that dynamism which transforms reality in its cosmic, human and historical dimensions. All things proceed from God, from the omnipotence of his Triune Love, incarnate in Jesus. Christ’s heart is steeped in this Love; therefore he can thank and praise God even in the face of betrayal and violence, and in this way changes things, people and the world.

This transformation is possible thanks to a communion stronger than division, the communion of God himself. The word “communion”, which we also use to designate the Eucharist, in itself sums up the vertical and horizontal dimensions of Christ’s gift.

The words “to receive communion”, referring to the act of eating the Bread of the Eucharist, are beautiful and very eloquent. In fact, when we do this act we enter into communion with the very life of Jesus, into the dynamism of this life which is given to us and for us. From God, through Jesus, to us: a unique communion is transmitted through the Blessed Eucharist.

We have just heard in the Second Reading the words of the Apostle Paul to the Christians of Corinth: “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread” (1 Cor 10:16-17).

St Augustine helps us to understand the dynamic of Eucharistic communion when he mentions a sort of vision that he had, in which Jesus said to him: “I am the food of strong men; grow and you shall feed on me; nor shall you change me, like the food of your flesh into yourself, but you shall be changed into my likeness” (Confessions, vii, 10, 18).

Therefore whereas food for the body is assimilated by our organism and contributes to nourishing it, in the case of the Eucharist it is a different Bread: it is not we who assimilate it but it assimilates us in itself, so that we become conformed to Jesus Christ, a member of his Body, one with him. This passage is crucial. In fact, precisely because it is Christ who, in Eucharistic communion changes us into him, our individuality, in this encounter, is opened, liberated from its egocentrism and inserted into the Person of Jesus who in his turn is immersed in Trinitarian communion. The Eucharist, therefore, while it unites us to Christ also opens us to others, makes us members of one another: we are no longer divided but one in him. Eucharistic communion not only unites me to the person I have beside me and with whom I may not even be on good terms, but also to our distant brethren in every part of the world.

Hence the profound sense of the Church’s social presence derives from the Eucharist, as is testified by the great social saints who were always great Eucharistic souls. Those who recognize Jesus in the sacred Host, recognize him in their suffering brother or sister, in those who hunger and thirst, who are strangers, naked, sick or in prison; and they are attentive to every person, they work in practice for all who are in need.

Therefore our special responsibility as Christians for building a supportive, just and brotherly society comes from the gift of Christ’s love. Especially in our time, in which globalization makes us more and more dependent on each other, Christianity can and must ensure that this unity is not built without God, that is, without true Love, which would give way to confusion, individualism and the tyranny of each one seeking to oppress the others. The Gospel has always aimed at the unity of the human family, a unity that is neither imposed from the outside nor by ideological or economic interests but on the contrary is based on the sense of reciprocal responsibility, so that we may recognize each other as members of one and the same Body, the Body of Christ, because from the Sacrament of the Altar we have learned and are constantly learning that sharing, love, is the path to true justice.

Let us now return to Jesus’ action at the Last Supper. What happened at that moment? When he said: “this is my body which is given for you, this is the cup of my blood which is poured out for many, what happened? In this gesture Jesus was anticipating the event of Calvary. Out of love he accepted the whole passion, with its anguish and its violence, even to death on the cross. In accepting it in this manner he changed it into an act of giving. This is the transformation which the world needs most, to redeem it from within, to open it to the dimensions of the Kingdom of Heaven.

However, God always wishes to bring about this renewal of the world on the same path followed by Christ, that way which is indeed he himself. There is nothing magic about Christianity. There are no short-cuts; everything passes through the humble and patient logic of the grain of wheat that broke open to give life, the logic of faith that moves mountains with the gentle power of God. For this reason God wishes to continue to renew humanity, history and the cosmos through this chain of transformations, of which the Eucharist is the sacrament. Through the consecrated bread and wine, in which his Body and his Blood are really present, Christ transforms us, conforming us to him: he involves us in his work of redemption, enabling us, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, to live in accordance with his own logic of self-giving, as grains of wheat united to him and in him. Thus are sown and continue to mature in the furrows of history unity and peace, which are the end for which we strive, in accordance with God’s plan.

Let us walk with no illusions, with no utopian ideologies, on the highways of the world bearing within us the Body of the Lord, like the Virgin Mary in the mystery of the Visitation. With the humility of knowing that we are merely grains of wheat, let us preserve the firm certainty that the love of God, incarnate in Christ, is stronger than evil, violence and death. We know that God prepares for all men and women new heavens and a new earth, in which peace and justice reign — and in faith we perceive the new world which is our true homeland.

This evening too, let us start out: while the sun is setting on our beloved city of Rome: Jesus in the Eucharist is with us, the Risen One who said: “I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Mt 28:20). Thank you, Lord Jesus! Thank you for your faithfulness which sustains our hope. Stay with us because night is falling. “Very bread, Good Shepherd, tend us, Jesus, of your love befriend us, You refresh us, you defend us, Your eternal goodness send us in the land of life to see”. Amen.