POPE FRANCIS

ANGELUS

Saint Peter's Square
Trinity Sunday, 27 May 2018

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good morning!

Today, the Sunday after Pentecost, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, a celebration for contemplating and lauding the mystery of the God of Jesus Christ, who is one in the communion of three Persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. To celebrate with ever new wonder God-Love, who freely offers us his life and asks us to spread it throughout the world.

Today’s Bible readings help us understand that God wishes to show us not so much that he exists but rather that he is the ‘God with us’, close to us, who loves us, who walks with us, is interested in our personal life story and takes care of each one, beginning with the least and the neediest. He “is God in heaven above” but also “on the earth beneath” (cf. Dt 4:39). Therefore, we do not believe in a distant entity, no! In an indifferent entity, no! But, on the contrary, in the Love who created the universe and who engendered a people, became flesh, died and rose for us and, as the Holy Spirit, transforms and leads everything to fulfilment.

Saint Paul (cf. Rom 8:14-17), who experienced first hand this transformation brought about by God-Love, tells us of God’s desire to be called Father, indeed, ‘Dad’ — God is ‘Our Father’ —, with the total confidence of a child who abandons himself in the arms of the one who gave him life. Acting in us — the Apostle again recalls — the Holy Spirit ensures that Jesus Christ is not reduced to a character of the past, no, but that we feel he is near, our contemporary, and feel the joy of being children loved by God. Lastly, in the Gospel, the Risen Lord promises to remain with us forever. And thanks precisely to his presence and to the power of his Spirit we can serenely carry out the mission that he entrusts to us. What is the mission? To proclaim to all and witness to his Gospel and thereby expand our communion with him and the joy that comes from it. God, walking with us, fills us with joy and in a way, joy is a Christian’s first language.

Thus, the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity leads us to contemplate the mystery of God who unceasingly creates, redeems and sanctifies, always with love and through love, and enables every creature that welcomes him to reflect a ray of his beauty, goodness and truth. He has always chosen to walk with mankind and forms a people who may be a blessing for all nations and for each person, excluding none. A Christian is not an isolated person; he or she belongs to a people: this people that God forms. One cannot be Christian without this membership and communion. We are a people: the People of God. May the Virgin Mary help us to joyfully fulfil the mission of witnessing to the world, thirsty for love, that the meaning of life is precisely the infinite love, the tangible love of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

After the recitation of the Angelus, the Holy Father added the following remarks:

Dear brothers and sisters, yesterday in Piacenza, Leonella Sgorbati, a Consolata Missionary Sister killed in hatred of the Faith in Mogadishu, Somalia in 2006, was proclaimed Blessed. Her life spent for the Gospel and at the service of the poor, along with her martyrdom, represent a token of hope for Africa and for the entire world. Let us pray together for Africa, that there may be peace there. Hail Mary....

Our Lady of Africa, pray for us.

I greet you all, dear people of Rome and pilgrims: families, parish groups, associations. In particular I greet the faithful of Porto Sant’Elpidio, Naples, Bruzzano of Milan, Padua, the choir of Sappada and the youth choir of Vezza d’Alba. You sang beautifully yesterday in Saint Peter’s, my compliments! I greet the Polish pilgrims and I bless the participants in the great pilgrimage to the Marian Shrine in Piekary Śląskie.

On the occasion of the ‘Day of Solace’, I greet those who have gathered at Gemelli Polyclinic to promote solidarity with the persons afflicted with serious illnesses. I exhort everyone to also recognize the spiritual needs of sick people and to be close to them with tenderness.

I wish everyone a happy Sunday. Please, do not forget to pray for me. Enjoy your lunch. Arrivederci!