Pope to altar servers: ‘Share Jesus with others’

By Lisa Zengarini

In his speech to nearly 50,000 choirboys gathered in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis underlined the profound meaning of the motto chosen for the international event: “With you” (Is 41:10).

This expression, he noted, “sums up the mystery of love,” which is the “mystery of our lives.”

Altar servers had gathered in the square with the pope as part of their week-long pilgrimage to Rome, now in its second day.

Being with God

The Pope noted that in the liturgy they celebrate, these two words refer above all to God who, in the Eucharist, “becomes a real and concrete presence in the Body and Blood of Christ.”

“When we receive Holy Communion,” Pope Francis explained, “we experience that Jesus is ‘with us’ both spiritually and physically,” not in words, but with that “act of love that is the Eucharist.”

Because Jesus is with us, we can truly be with Him

In communion, the Pope continued, altar servers too “can say to the Lord Jesus: ‘I am with you'”, not with words, “but with their hearts and bodies, with their love”.

By ministering with an attentive mind, heart and body, “the mystery of God that is with you empowers you to be with others in a new way,” thus fulfilling “his command to ‘love one another as I have loved you,’” he said.

Being close to our neighbors

Being with Jesus therefore also means being close to our neighbor, “not in words, but in deeds, with gestures, with the heart”, even to “those we do not like”, who are different from us; to strangers; to those “whom we feel do not understand us”; who never come to church; and who say they do not believe in God.

In conclusion, Pope Francis thanked the organizers for choosing such a meaningful motto, and the pilgrims for coming to Rome “to share the joy of belonging to Jesus, of being servants of his love, servants of his wounded heart that heals our wounds, that saves us from death and that gives us eternal life.”

Introduction by Cardinal Hollerich

The public was introduced to Cardinal Jean Claude Hollerich who accompanies the pilgrims throughout the week.

The Archbishop of Luxembourg stressed that the motto “With you” is an invitation to be “true friends of all men with the help of Christ.” However, he noted, we are only true friends when we reach out to serve and help those in need: “the poor, the persecuted, the oppressed, the homeless, the unemployed, the refugees or the homeless.”

Celebration

The Pope’s message was followed by a Liturgy of the Word with six prayer intentions of the faithful introduced by Cardinal Hollerich in German, French, Hungarian and Portuguese, during which the participants also prayed for world peace. At the end of the celebration, Pope Francis greeted each of the bishops accompanying the altar boys, and then went to St. Peter’s Square to greet the young pilgrims.