The joy of encountering Jesus makes us missionaries, Pope tells altar servers

August 05, 2015

Pope Francis celebrated Vespers in St. Peter’s Square on August 4 for thousands of European altar servers who were making a pilgrimage to Rome.

The pilgrimage, organized by the German-based Coetus Internationalis Ministrantium (the International Union of Ministers), takes place every five years.

Recalling the prophet Isaiah’s encounter with God, Pope Francis said that “you too have experienced that it is always God who takes the lead, because it is he who created you and willed you into being. It is he who, in your baptism, has made you into a new creation; he is always patiently waiting for your response to his initiative, offering forgiveness to whoever asks him in humility.”

“If we do not resist him, Jesus will touch our lips with the flame of his merciful love, as he did to the prophet Isaiah,” the Pope continued. “This will make us worthy to receive him and to bring him to our brothers and sisters. Like Isaiah, we too are invited to not remain closed in on ourselves, protecting our faith in an underground bunker to which we flee in difficult moments. Rather, we are called to share the joy of knowing we are chosen and saved by God’s mercy, the joy of being witnesses to the fact that faith gives new direction to our steps, that it makes us free and strong so as to be ready and able for mission.”

Pope Francis added:

How beautiful it is to realize that faith brings us out of ourselves, out of our isolation. Precisely because we are filled with the joy of being friends with Jesus Christ, faith draws us towards others, making us natural missionaries!

 

---

For all current news, visit our News home page.

---

 
Further information:

• Incontro del Santo Padre con i partecipanti al Pellegrinaggio Internazionale dei Ministranti a Roma (3-6 agosto 2015) (Holy See Press Office)
• Celebration of Vespers with the Altar Servers - 2015.08.04 (Vatican YouTube)
• Pope meets with altar servers in St Peter's Square (YouTube)
• Coetus Internationalis Ministrantium