When Pope Francis, on the evening of March 27, summoned us all for a silent prayer, with Eucharistic adoration, he put in the blessing with the monstrance all the faith of the Church, which was able to receive the plenary indulgence from Jesus, God with us in the Eucharist. Even in these difficult times the Eucharist is celebrated in the world, but sacramentally it cannot easily reach the faithful.
Yet there were also those who then protested the absence of the technical formula for plenary indulgence. Come to think of it, I find that Pope Francis simply reminded us of his function as vicar of the One who through the sacraments makes us partakers of His life.
The intensity of the vicar's plea carried the pain and love, bewilderment and needs of the world before the Lord, and granting the faithful "plenary indulgence in the form established by the Church" - as was announced by the voice of card. Comastri - made the gift of mercy to be shared with others flow directly from the heart of Christ: "Freely you have received, give freely" (Mt 10: 8).
Jesus also says to us, as to the Samaritan woman: "It is I who speak to you!" (Jn 4,26). Let's not stop at the external forms, at the places to which we are affectionately linked ("is it here or there that we have to worship?", Cf. v. 20): we might lose sight of the Savior, who wants to speak to us and looks for places and circumstances through which to be close to us even in the anxieties of this time.
The silence of the Eucharist makes to hush up the chatter and the controversies that intoxicate energies and waste time, urges us to be more collaborative in the daily worries and dramas caused by social distancing and more alert in recognizing the voice of Christ in amazing solidarity and self-denial of many heroes of daily duty: "It is I who speak to you!" Indeed, he himself is the "hour" of the meeting "in spirit and truth"; in which, beyond human schemes and words, adoration puts us face to face with the Father, as the Father wants (Jn 4:23): "This is my Son, the beloved: listen to him" ( Mk 9,7).
Yet there were also those who then protested the absence of the technical formula for plenary indulgence. Come to think of it, I find that Pope Francis simply reminded us of his function as vicar of the One who through the sacraments makes us partakers of His life.
The intensity of the vicar's plea carried the pain and love, bewilderment and needs of the world before the Lord, and granting the faithful "plenary indulgence in the form established by the Church" - as was announced by the voice of card. Comastri - made the gift of mercy to be shared with others flow directly from the heart of Christ: "Freely you have received, give freely" (Mt 10: 8).
Jesus also says to us, as to the Samaritan woman: "It is I who speak to you!" (Jn 4,26). Let's not stop at the external forms, at the places to which we are affectionately linked ("is it here or there that we have to worship?", Cf. v. 20): we might lose sight of the Savior, who wants to speak to us and looks for places and circumstances through which to be close to us even in the anxieties of this time.
The silence of the Eucharist makes to hush up the chatter and the controversies that intoxicate energies and waste time, urges us to be more collaborative in the daily worries and dramas caused by social distancing and more alert in recognizing the voice of Christ in amazing solidarity and self-denial of many heroes of daily duty: "It is I who speak to you!" Indeed, he himself is the "hour" of the meeting "in spirit and truth"; in which, beyond human schemes and words, adoration puts us face to face with the Father, as the Father wants (Jn 4:23): "This is my Son, the beloved: listen to him" ( Mk 9,7).
Via Appia Antica 226
+39 06 78 44 11 217