Pope's 'Angelus' on 'Corpus Christi' Sunday
(June 15, 2009) According to Pope Benedict XVI, we can be sure things can change for the better and we can have hope, all because the Eucharist is love. The Pope said this on Corpus Christi Sunday, reflecting on the Eucharist, the Body of Christ. He was addressing a large crowd gathered in St. Peter's Square before praying the weekly midday “Angelus” prayer with them. The Pontiff illustrated how the feast of Corpus Domini is "intimately linked" to Easter, Pentecost, and the feast of the Trinity. “'Corpus Domini', or the Body of the Lord is a manifestation of God, an attestation that God is love,” the Pope explained. “In a unique and peculiar way,” he said, “this feast speaks to us of divine love, of what it is and what it does.” "Looking upon him and worshiping him, we say: Yes, love exists, and since it exists, things can change for the better and we can hope," the Pope said. "It is the hope that comes from Christ's love that gives us the strength to live and to face every difficulty,” he added.
After reciting the Marian ‘Angelus’ prayer with the faithful in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Benedict reflected further on the Bread of Life, drawing the attention of the international community to the ‘hundreds of millions of persons who suffer from hunger. He called on world leaders to use the economic crisis as an opportunity to tackle rising poverty and hunger, ahead of a United Nations summit this month. Policy-makers from around the globe will gather in New York on June 24 for a two-day U.N. summit on the financial crisis and its impact on development. "In the spirit of wisdom and human solidarity, I urge participants at the conference ... to transform the crisis into an opportunity for greater attention to the dignity of every human and a fairer distribution of power and resources," the Pope said. He called on world leaders and international institutions to take the difficult decisions necessary to ensure sufficient food and a dignified life for everyone. "I want especially to remember the hundreds of millions of people suffering from hunger. This is an absolutely unacceptable reality," the Holy Father added.
Pope Benedict also reminded all of the Year of Priests that will begin on Friday, the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Day of Priestly Sanctification. Pope Benedict entrusted the new spiritual initiative to their prayers, hoping that “this new jubilee year will be a propitious occasion for deepening the value and importance of the priestly mission and to ask the Lord to gift his Church numerous and holy priests”. The start of the Year of Priests has been timed for the 150th death anniversary of the 19th century French saint, John Mary Vianney, the tireless parish priest of Ars, who is regarded as the patron of priests. The Year of Priests begins as the Pauline Year closes.
At the end of his Sunday ‘Angelus’, Pope Benedict addressed English-speaking pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square.
Listen:
I greet all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors present for this Angelus prayer. Today’s Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ invites us to acknowledge the Lord’s saving presence in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. At the Last Supper, on the night before his death on the Cross, Jesus instituted the sacrament of the new and eternal covenant between God and man. May this sacrifice of reconciliation, in which the Risen Lord is truly and substantially present under the appearances of bread and wine, confirm the Church in faith, unity and holiness as she awaits his future coming in glory. Upon you and your families I cordially invoke God’s blessings of joy and peace.
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