Pope Francis tells German national Eucharistic Congress: ‘learn to live the Holy Mass’

June 10, 2013

An estimated 45,000 people attended Germany’s national Eucharistic Congress, which took place in Cologne from June 5 to June 9. Pope Francis appointed Cardinal Paul Josef Cordes, president emeritus of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum, as his special envoy to the event.

Seven cardinals were among the concelebrants at the closing Mass, which was held at a stadium. Bishop Klaus Dick, a retired Cologne auxiliary bishop, offered Mass in the extraordinary form during the course of the Congress.

In his message to the Eucharistic Congress, Pope Francis wrote:

May the Holy Mass never become a superficial routine for us! May we draw more and more from its profundity! It is precisely the Mass that inserts us in Christ’s immense work of salvation, to sharpen our spiritual vision by his love: by his “prophecy in act” with which, at the Last Supper, he initiated the gift of self on the cross; by his irrevocable victory over sin and death, which we boldly and festively proclaim.

“We need to learn how to live the Holy Mass,” Bl. John Paul II said once to young men at a Roman seminary who had asked him about the deep concentration with which he celebrated the sacred liturgy. “Learn to live the Holy Mass!” We are helped to do this by pausing in adoration before the Eucharistic Lord in the tabernacle and receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

 

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Further information:

• Cardinal Cordes, Special Envoy to Eucharistic Congress of Germany (VIS)
• Fotogalerien Eucharistischer Kongress 2013
• Fortsetzung erwünscht! (Kath.net)
• Gott braucht Menschen! (Kath.net)
• Großer Gottesdienst zum Schluss (Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger)
• Pope Francis' Message to the German National Eucharistic Congress (Zenit)