Pope Francis encouraged Catholics at the International
Eucharistic Congress in
“The Eucharist is here to remind us who God is. It does not do so just in words, but in a concrete way, showing us God as bread broken, as love crucified and bestowed.
Today, as in the past, the cross is not fashionable or attractive. Yet it heals us from within. Standing before the crucified Lord, we experience a fruitful interior struggle, a bitter conflict between ‘thinking as God does’ and ‘thinking as humans do.
There
is God’s side and the world’s side. The difference is not between who is
religious or not, but ultimately between the true God and the ‘god of self.
How different is Christ, who presents Himself with love alone, from all the powerful and winning messiahs worshiped by the world. Jesus unsettles us; He is not satisfied with declarations of faith, but asks us to purify our religiosity before His cross, before the Eucharist.
Let us allow Jesus the Living Bread to heal us of our self-absorption, open our hearts to self-giving, liberate us from our rigidity and self-concern, free us from the paralyzing slavery of defending our image, and inspire us to follow Him wherever He would lead us.
The Christian journey is not a race towards ‘success;’ it begins
by stepping back, finding freedom by not needing to be at the center of
everything.
It
is to step out each day ... to an encounter with our brothers and sisters. The
Eucharist impels us to this encounter, to the realization that we are one Body,
to the willingness to let ourselves be broken for others,”
The Holy Father commended the example of Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński and Elizabeth Czacka who
were beatified on Sunday in
“May the
example of these new Blesseds encourage us to transform darkness into light
with the power of love.
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