(ZENIT News / Vatican City, 07.14.2024).
- Around 12,000 people joined Pope Francis for the recitation of the Angelus, as usual, in St. Peter’s Square. Appearing from the window of the papal apartment, the Pope began with the traditional Sunday address centered on the day’s Gospel.
We offer below the English translation of the Pope’s words: *** Dear brothers and sisters, happy Sunday! Today the Gospel tells us about Jesus who sends His disciples on the mission (cf. Mk 6:7-13). He sends them “two by two”, and recommends something important: to take with them only what is necessary.
Let us pause a moment on this image: the disciples are sent together, and must take with them only what is necessary. We do not proclaim the Gospel alone, no: it is proclaimed together, as a community, and to do this it is important to know how to preserve sobriety: to know how to be sober in the use of things, sharing resources, capacities and gifts, and doing without the superfluous. Why? In order to be free: the superfluous enslaves you , and also so that we all have what we need to live in a dignified way and to contribute actively to the mission; and then to be sober in thoughts, to be sober in feelings, abandoning our preconceived ideas and abandoning the inflexibility that, like pointless baggage, weigh us down and hinder the journey, fostering discussion and listening instead, and thus making witness more effective.
Let us think, for example, of what happens in our families and our .