Pope Francis offered his daily morning Mass at Casa Santa Marta for the 12 victims of yesterday's deadly terrorist attack in Paris. In his homily, the Pope reflected on the nature of such attack.
POPE FRANCIS
'Wednesday's attack in Paris makes us think on cruelty, human cruelty, and on terrorism, be its isolated cases as well as State terrorism. How much cruelty human beings are capable of. Let's pray in this Mass for the victims of this cruel act. So many. And let's pray also for the perpetrators of such cruelty, that the Lord might change their hearts.â?
The Pope sent a message to the Archbishop of Paris, French Cardinal André Vingt-Trois. He also asked for prayers in Twitter, using the hashtag #PrayersforParis.
EXCERPT OF THE POPE'S HOMILY
Source: Vatican Radio
'God is love! It is only on the path of love that you can know God. â??Reasonable loveâ??, â??love accompanied by reasonâ??. But love! And how can we love what we do not know? Love your neighborsâ?. This, the Pope said, is the doctrine of two Commandments: the most important is â??You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourselfâ??. And he pointed out that 'to get to the first we must ascend the steps of the second: that means that through our love for our neighbor we can get to know God, who is love. Only through loving can we reach love.â?
'He who loves knows God; he who does not love has no knowledge of God because God is loveâ?. But, Francis stressed: 'itâ??s not the love of a â??soap operaâ??. No, it is solid, strong and eternal. 'It â??manifestsâ?? itself in the Son, in the Son of God who has come to save us. It is a concrete love made of works and not of words. To know God we must walk through life in love, love for our neighbor, love for those who hate us, love for all.â?
'Wednesday's attack in Paris make us think on all the cruelty, human cruelty, and on all the terrorism, the isolated one as well as State terrorism. How much cruelty are human beings capable of. Let's pray in this Mass for the victims of this cruel act. So many. And let's pray also for the the perpetrators of such cruelty, that the Lord might change their heart.â?
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