Pope Francis in the Philippines Read Free Page A

offer the witness of your family life ! Dear friends in Christ , know that I pray for you always ! I pray that the Lord may continue to deepen your love for him , and that this love may manifest itself in your love for one another and for the Church . Pray often and take the fruits of your prayer into the world , that all may know Jesus Christ and his merciful love . Please pray also for me , for I truly need your prayers and will depend on them always !
     

Pope Francis Homily , Tacloban Airport , Jan . 17, 2015

    I prefer today to speak in Spanish . I have a translator , a good translator . May I do it ? [ crowd responds ‘ yes ’] Thank you very much .

( As delivered by the Pope ' s translator , Msgr Mark Gerard Miles .) We have a high priest who is capable of sympathizing with our weaknesses . Jesus is like us . Jesus lived like us and is the same us in every respect , except sin because he was not a sinner . But to be more like us he assumed our condition and our sin . He made himself into sin . This is what St Paul tells us . And Jesus always goes before us and when we pass an experience , a cross , he passed there before us . And if today we find ourselves here 14 months afterwards , 14 months precisely after the Typhoon Yolanda hit , it is because we have the security of knowing we will not weaken in our faith because Jesus has been here before us . In his Passion he assumed all our pain . Therefore he is capable of understanding us , as we heard in the first reading . I ’ d like to tell you something close to my heart . When I saw from Rome that catastrophe I had to be here . And on those very days I decided to come here . I am here to be with you – a little bit late , but I ’ m here . I have come to tell you that Jesus is Lord . And he never lets us down . Father – you might say to me – I was let down because I have lost so many things , my house , my livelihood . It ’ s true if you say that and I respect those sentiments . But Jesus is there , nailed to the cross , and from there he does not let us down . He was consecrated as Lord on that throne and there he experienced all the calamities that we experience . Jesus is Lord . And the Lord from the cross is there for you . In everything the same as us . That is why we have a Lord who cries with us and walks with us in the most difficult moments of life . So many of you have lost everything . I don ’ t know what to say to you . But the Lord does know what to say to you . Some of you have lost part of your families . All I can do is keep silence and walk with you all with my silent heart . Many of you have asked the Lord – why lord ? And to each of you , to your heart , Christ responds with his heart from the cross . I have no more words for you . Let us look to Christ . He is the Lord . He understands us because he underwent all the trials that we , that you , have experienced . And beside the cross was his Mother . We are like a little child in the moments when we have so much pain and no longer understand anything . All we can do is grab hold of her hand firmly and say “ Mommy ” – like a child does when it is afraid . It is perhaps the only words we can say in difficult times – “ Mommy ”. Let us respect a moment of silence together and look to Christ on the cross . He understands us because he endured everything . Let us look to our Mother and , like a little child , let us hold onto her mantle and with a true heart say – “ Mother ”. In silence , tell your Mother what you feel in your heart . Let us know that we have a Mother , Mary , and a great Brother , Jesus . We are not alone . We also have many brothers who in this moment of catastrophe came to help . And we too , because of this , we feel more like brothers and sisters because we helped each other . This is what comes from my heart . Forgive me if I have no other words to express myself . Please know that Jesus never lets you down . Know that the tenderness of Mary never