By Cindy Wooden, OSV
Spending the day with the poor, Pope Leo XIV prayed that Catholics will ensure that their parishes are welcoming to all people and are "on fire" with God's love.
"We are the Church of the Lord, a Church of the poor, all valuable, all active participants, each one a bearer of a unique word from God," the Pope said Aug. 17 as he celebrated Mass at the Shrine of Santa Maria della Rotonda in Albano Laziale with some 110 clients and volunteers of Caritas programs of the Albano Diocese, including homeless people and residents of its shelter for families.
"Let us not keep the Lord out of our churches, our homes or our lives," the Pope said in his homily at Mass. "Let us rather welcome him in the poor, and thus make peace even with our own poverty, that which we fear and deny when we seek comfort and security at all costs."
After the morning Mass, Leo XIV returned to Castel Gandolfo, less than two miles away, to lead the Angelus prayer and then offer lunch for Caritas clients and some of the volunteers.
A special lunch
The luncheon was held at Borgo Laudato Si', an integral ecology education and formation project initiated by Pope Francis in the gardens of the papal summer residence. Waiters in white shirts and black pants served guests a meal that included vegetable lasagna, eggplant parmesan or roast veal, fruit salad and desserts provided by local restaurants.
Cardinal Fabio Baggio, CEO of Borgo Laudato Si', welcomed the Pope and said the lunch with the poor was a beautiful way to celebrate Pope Leo XIV's first 100 days in office and affirm the Catholic teaching that "unites care for creation with care for each person."
Leo XIV was seated at a round table situated at the junction of two long tables forming an "L" shape, under an awning to protect guests from the sun. Next to him were Rosabal Leon, a Peruvian migrant, whose husband and two children were seated nearby; and Gabriella Oliveiro, 85, who lives alone on the outskirts of Rome.
Before blessing the food, the Pope said that the environment was a reminder of the beauty of God's creation, especially the creation of human beings in his image and likeness: "all of us. Each one of us represents this image of God. How important it is to always remember that we find this presence of God in each person."
Homily at Mass
In his homily during the Mass, the Pope had said that whether asking for help or giving it, in the Church "every person is a gift to others. Let us break down walls.
Pope Leo XIV thanked the people of Catholic communities throughout the world who "work to facilitate the encounter between people of different backgrounds and economic, psychological or affective situations: only together, only by becoming one body in which even the most fragile have full dignity, do we truly become the body of Christ, the Church of God."
The Gospel of the day, Luke 12:49-53, begins with the words, "Jesus said to his disciples, "I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already burning!"
The fire of which Jesus spoke, the Pope said, was not "the fire of weapons, nor the fire of words that burn others, but the fire of love: a love that is inclined to serve, that responds to indifference with care and arrogance with gentleness. No. But the fire of love: a love that is inclined to serve, that responds to indifference with care and to arrogance with gentleness; the fire of goodness, which does not cost like weapons, but freely renews the world."
The price may be "misunderstanding, ridicule, even persecution, but there is no greater peace than to have its flame within us," the Pope affirmed.
The Sanctuary of Santa Maria della Rotonda is built in a circular shape on the site of a pagan temple of the first century. Its shape, according to Pope Leo XIV, "makes us feel welcomed into the bosom of God".
From the outside, the Church, like every human reality, can appear rigid. But her divine reality is revealed when we cross her threshold and experience her welcome," the Pope said. Then our poverty, our vulnerability and, above all, our failures - for which we can be despised and judged, and sometimes we ourselves despise and judge - are finally welcomed by God's gentle strength, a love without edges or conditions.
"Mary, the mother of Jesus, is for us a sign and foretaste of the motherhood of God," he said. "In her, we become a maternal church, which generates and regenerates not by worldly power, but by the virtue of charity."
Pope Leo XIV prayed that Catholics would allow the fire of Jesus to burn away "the prejudices, cautions and fears that still marginalize those who carry the poverty of Christ written in their lives."
