Are you enjoying the Pope’s visit as much as I am? I have been glued to EWTN and CatholicTV, listening carefully to the words of the Holy Father.
Do you find as I do that his words are pregnant with meaning? That you need time to process what he has said?
I do. My head is full. Today I took some time to walk outdoors to a favorite spot in the Wellesley College botanical gardens to sit, pray, think and sort out my head. I took pictures of this “outdoor chapel” and I will share them with you, so you can go there too to think on the words of Pope Francis.
I also took pictures recently of the church I often visit during my lunchtime walks. St. Paul’s in Wellesley has a beautiful Eucharistic chapel. It is a quiet and beautiful place to be alone with God in front of the tabernacle housing the Blessed Sacrament.
Before entering the chapel of your choice, here are some words of Pope Francis to ponder, provided by Father Steven LaBaire of Holy Family Parish in Worcester, MA:
Pope Francis to the Bishops of the United States on Wednesday morning:
“It is important that the Church in the United States also be a humble home, a family fire which attracts men and women through the attractive light and warmth of love. As pastors , we know how much darkness and cold there is in this world; we know the loneliness and neglect experienced by many people, even amid great resources of communication and material wealth. We see their fear in the face of life, in their despair in the many forms of escapism to which it gives rise. Consequently, only a Church which can gather around the family fire remains able to attract other. And not any fire, but the one blazed forth on Easter morn, the Risen Lord. It is urgent to grow in the certainty that the embers of his passion precede us and will never die out. Whenever this certainty weakens, we end up being caretakers of ash, and not guardians and dispensers of the true light and the warmth which causes our hearts to burn within us.
Pope Francis at Catholic University of America on Wednesday afternoon:
“Jesus sends his disciples to all nations. Jesus did not provide a short list of who is, or who is not worthy of receiving his message, his presence. Instead, he always life as he saw it. In the faces of pain, hunger, sickness and sin. In the faces of wounds, thirst, of weariness, doubt…Far from expecting a pretty life, smartly dressed and neatly groomed, he embraced life as he found it. Jesus said: Go out and tell the Good news to everyone. Go out in my name and embrace life as it is, not as you think it should be. Go out and proclaim the merciful embrace of the Father. Go out to those who have lost the joy of living. Go out with ointment which sooths wounds and heals hearts. “
Pope Francis to the United States Congress on Thursday:
“Let us remember the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” This Rule points us in a clear direction. Let us treat others with the same passion and compassion with which we want to be treated. Let us seek for others the same possibilities which we seek for ourselves. Let us help others to grow, as we would like to be helped ourselves…The yardstick we use for others will be the yardstick which time will use for us. The Golden rule also reminds us of our responsibility to defend human life at every stage of its development.”
Come now into the Eucharistic Chapel at St. Paul’s:
And the botanical gardens at Wellesley College:
Think. Ponder. Pray. And enjoy the silence.
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