"Today we need peace in this war that has spread all over the world.
We must pray for peace", reflected Pope Francis announcing that
September 20, he will travel to Assisi "for the meeting of prayers for
peace, 30 years after the historic one convened by St. John Paul II".Greeting pilgrims gathered in St Peter's Square to pray the Angelus, after the Marian prayer and announcing the meeting in Assisi, the Pope said: "I invite parishes, church associations and individual believers from around the world take part in that day as a day of prayer for peace. Today we need peace in this war that has spread all over the world. We need to pray for peace. Following the example of St. Francis, of brotherhood and meekness, we are all called to offer to the world a strong testimony of our common commitment to peace and reconciliation among peoples. Tuesday we should all unite in prayer; each person choosing a particular time. "
The Assisi meeting will be attended by some 400 religious leaders from around the world, but not the Dalai Lama, present 30 years ago, but who according to his secretary’s response to AsiaNews, has not received "any invitation".
Earlier, the Pope paused to comment on today's Gospel (Luke 16: 1-13), which presents "the parable of the unfaithful and corrupt, who is praised by Jesus despite his dishonesty". Jesus explained the pontiff, praises his craftiness used for "currying the favor of debtors, condoning their part of the debt to secure the future”.
He continued, “we are called to respond to this worldly cunning with Christian cunning, which is a gift of the Holy Spirit. This means leaving aside the spirit and values of the world, which please the devil greatly, to live according to the Gospel. Worldliness is manifested by attitudes of corruption, deception, abuse of power, and is the most wrong road, the road of sin, even if it is more convenient to take. Instead the spirit of the Gospel requires a serious - but joyful - and challenging lifestyle, marked by honesty, fairness, respect for others and their dignity, the sense of duty. This is Christian cunning!
The path of life necessarily involves a choice between two roads: between honesty and dishonesty, between fidelity and infidelity, between selfishness and selflessness, between good and evil. You can not oscillate between one and the other, because they move according to a different and conflicting logic".
Recalling the Gospel phrase that "no servant can serve two masters", Francis concluded: "Jesus now urges us to make a clear choice between Him and the spirit of the world, including the logic of corruption, abuse of power and greed and that of righteousness, meekness and sharing. Some treat corruption like a drug: They think they can use it and stop when they want. They begin gradually: a tip here, a tip there and gradually this generates corruption. Instead, even corruption produces addiction, and generates poverty, exploitation, suffering ... In gratitude and in the gift of ourselves to our brothers, we serve the right master, God. "
After the Marian prayer, the Pope recalled that yesterday in Codrongianos (Sassari) Elisabetta Sanna, mother of a family with seven children was beatified. A widow, she devoted herself entirely to prayer and to the service of the sick and the poor. "Her testimony - said Francis - is a model of evangelical charity animated by faith".
The pontiff then addressed a greeting to the participants in the National Eucharistic Congress which ended today in Genoa. "I address a special greeting - the Pope said - to all the faithful gathered there, and I hope that this event of grace revive the Italian people's faith in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist, in which we worship Christ, the source of life and hope for all man".