Pope Francis

LEAP OF FAITH rejoices at the election of Pope Francis. According to the news, he selected his name because of St. Francis of Assisi.

Pope Francis’ Homily at His First Mass at the Vatican

Readings at Mass were in Italian, below are the readings from the New American Bible:

Isa 2:2-5

2 In days to come, The mountain of the LORD'S house shall be established as the highest mountain and raised above the hills. All nations shall stream toward it; 3 many peoples shall come and say: "Come, let us climb the LORD'S mountain, to the house of the God of Jacob, That he may instruct us in his ways, and we may walk in his paths." For from Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 4 He shall judge between the nations, and impose terms on many peoples. They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; One nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again. 5 O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the LORD!

Psalm 97

1 The LORD is king; let the earth rejoice; let the many islands be glad. 2 Cloud and darkness surround the Lord; justice and right are the foundation of his throne. 3 Fire goes before him; everywhere it consumes the foes. 4 Lightning illumines the world; the earth sees and trembles. 5 The mountains melt like wax before the LORD, before the Lord of all the earth. 6 The heavens proclaim God's justice; all peoples see his glory. 7 All who serve idols are put to shame, who glory in worthless things; all gods bow down before you. 8 Zion hears and is glad, and the cities of Judah rejoice because of your judgments, O LORD. 9 You, LORD, are the Most High over all the earth, exalted far above all gods. 10 The LORD loves those who hate evil, protects the lives of the faithful, rescues them from the hand of the wicked. 11 Light dawns for the just; gladness, for the honest of heart. 12 Rejoice in the LORD, you just, and praise his holy name.

Psalm 98

1 Sing a new song to the LORD, who has done marvelous deeds, Whose right hand and holy arm have won the victory. 2 The LORD has made his victory known; has revealed his triumph for the nations to see, 3 Has remembered faithful love toward the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God. 4 Shout with joy to the LORD, all the earth; break into song; sing praise. 5 Sing praise to the LORD with the harp, with the harp and melodious song. 6 With trumpets and the sound of the horn shout with joy to the King, the LORD. 7 Let the sea and what fills it resound, the world and those who dwell there. 8 Let the rivers clap their hands, the mountains shout with them for joy, 9 Before the LORD who comes, who comes to govern the earth, To govern the world with justice and the peoples with fairness.

1 Peter 2:4-9

4 For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but condemned them to the chains of Tartarus and handed them over to be kept for judgment; 5 and if he did not spare the ancient world, even though he preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, together with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the godless world; 6 and if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah (to destruction), reducing them to ashes, making them an example for the godless (people) of what is coming; 7 and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man oppressed by the licentious conduct of unprincipled people 8 (for day after day that righteous man living among them was tormented in his righteous soul at the lawless deeds that he saw and heard), 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the devout from trial and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment,

Matthew 16:13-19

13 When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" 14 They replied, "Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." 15 He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" 16 Simon Peter said in reply, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." 17 Jesus said to him in reply, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. 18 And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."

Below from www.zenit.org, First Homily of Pope Francis:

Vatican City, March 14, 2013 (Zenit.org) |

Here is a translation of the homily Francis gave this morning at Mass with the cardinals in the Sistine Chapel. He spoke in Italian without a text.

* * *

There is something that I see that these three readings have in common: movement. In the first reading it is the movement of a journey; in the second reading it is the movement in building the Church; in the third, the Gospel, it is the movement of confession. Journeying, building, confessing.

Journeying. “House of Jacob, come, let us walk together in the light of the Lord” (Isaiah 2:5). This is the first thing that God said to Abraham: Walk in my presence and you will be blameless. Journey: our life is a journey and when we stop it does not go on. Journey always in the presence of the Lord, in the light of the Lord, seeking to live with that blamelessness that God asked of Abraham in his promise.

Building. Building the Church. Stones are spoken of: the stones have a consistency, but they are the living stones, stones anointed by the Spirit. Building the Church, the Bride of Christ, upon that cornerstone that is the Lord himself. Building is another form of movement in our life.

Third, confessing. We can journey as much as we want, we can build many things, but if we do not confess Jesus Christ, the thing does not work. We will become a welfare NGO but not the Church, the Bride of Christ. When we do not journey, we stop. When we do not build upon the stones, what happens? Everything collapses, loses its consistency, like the sandcastles that children build on the beach. When we do not confess Jesus Christ, I am reminded of the words of Léon Bloy: “Whoever does not pray to the Lord, prays to the devil.” When we do not confess Jesus Christ, we confess the worldliness of the devil, the worldliness of the demon.

Journeying, building-constructing, confessing. But it is not that easy, because in journeying, in constructing, in confessing, there are problems, there are movements antithetical to the journey: they are movements that take us backward.

This Gospel continues with an important moment. The same Peter who had confessed Jesus Christ said to him: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. I will follow you, but let’s not talk about the cross. This is not a part of it. I will follow you in other directions, but not to the cross. When we journey without the cross, when we build without the cross and when we confess a Christ without the cross, we are not disciples of the Lord: we are worldly, we are bishops, priests, cardinals, popes, but not disciples of the Lord.

I would like for us all, after these days of grace, to have courage, precisely the courage, to walk in the Lord’s presence, with the cross of the Lord; to build the Church upon the blood of the Lord, which was poured out on the cross; and to confess the only glory there is: Christ crucified. And in this way the Church will go forward.

It is my wish for all of us that the Holy Spirit – through the prayer of Our Lady, our Mother – bestow upon us the grace of journeying, building, confessing Jesus Christ crucified. Amen.

[Translation by Joseph G. Trabbic]

Summary of Pope Francis’s Homily at First Mass on March 14, 2013 by Marta Alves

Our life is a journey… To walk, to build up and to confess Jesus Christ Crucified. Amen. Yes, I believe.