This Friday, August 23, Pope Francis addressed a message to the participants of the National Eucharistic Congress of Madagascar, whom he encouraged to be witnesses and missionaries of the love of Christ.
The Holy Father expressed his closeness with his prayer and encouraged this initiative, which aims to bring the faithful “back to what is essential, helping them rediscover the meaning of Eucharistic adoration and the desire to spend time with Christ.”
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“It is a step that will help each one of you to grow as the Christian that you are increasingly called to be,” the Pontiff specified.
Pope Francis also invited us to rediscover “the importance of meeting, praying and committing ourselves to and for others as followers of Jesus in the Eucharist.”
Once you have encountered Christ in adoration, once you have touched and received him in the celebration of the Eucharist, Pope Francis assured, “you can no longer keep him to yourself, but become a missionary of his love for others.” .
He also specified that “the Eucharist drives us to a strongly committed love for our neighbor, because we cannot truly understand and live its meaning if we keep our hearts closed to our brothers and sisters.”
He also encouraged people to experience Jesus in the Eucharist and to help their neighbors “to make their own lives an offering to God, united with that of Jesus on the altar, so that He may be better known, loved and served.”
“May this Eucharistic Congress help each and every one of you to cultivate feelings of charity and solidarity towards everyone, and especially towards those who find themselves in difficulty, for whom the path of life becomes more difficult every day,” said the Saint. Father.
Finally, he asked to bring “the hope of the Lord,” and to be “witnesses of his compassion and merciful love,” in the face of those who see the future without hope.
“Wishing you a fruitful Congress, I entrust each of you to the maternal protection of the Virgin Mary. May she intercede for you so that you may deepen your relationship with Christ every day,” Pope Francis concluded.
Almudena Martínez-Bordiú
I am a graduate in Journalism and Advertising from the CEU San Pablo University in Madrid. Specialized in religious information in Spain since 2015. I have been a senior correspondent for ACI Prensa and EWTN Noticias in the Vatican for two years and I am currently a European correspondent based in Spain.