Pope: the Lord is our companion in good and bad times, forgiving

(Vatican Radio) Jesus is always by our side, accompanying us in the good and the bad times. That’s what Pope Francis told those gathered in the Vatican guest house, Santa Marta Tuesday for a private early morning liturgy. 
Tracey McClure reports. 


In his homily, Pope Francis drew from this morning’s reading from the passage in Psalms: “We will go with joy to the House of the Lord,” saying the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist is not a “magic rite” but an encounter with Jesus, our companion in life.

Throughout the history of the People of God, the Pope said, there have been “beautiful moments which bring joy” but also ugly moments “ of pain, martyrdom and sin.”

“God, who has no History because He is eternal,” the Pope said, “desired to make History by walking alongside His people.” But even more than that, Pope Francis said “He decided to become one of us, and as one of us, to walk with us through Jesus.”

This shows us God’s greatness, he noted, but at the same time, it also illustrates His humility. And when his People strayed from Him “in sin and idolatry,” the Pope continued, “He was there” waiting. And Jesus shows the same humility: “he walks with the People of God, walks with the sinners; walks also with the arrogant.” The Lord, said Pope Francis, did much to “help these arrogant hearts of the Pharisees.” 

The Church, the Pope said, rejoices in God’s humility, that humility which accompanies us as “We go with joy to the House of the Lord.” “We go with joy,” the Holy Father said, “because He accompanies us, He is with us… and the Lord Jesus, even in our personal lives, accompanies us with the Sacraments. The Sacrament is not a magic rite: it is an encounter with Jesus Christ; we encounter the Lord – it is He who is beside us and acco