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Pope Francis Masses 2021:
2nd Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday), 11 April 2021 Holy Mass and Regina Coeli Pope Francis (video) Mass Readings, Past Homilies and Regina Caeli Extracts only, please read more by clicking above 8-): Jesus arrives and says to them twice, “Peace be with you!” He does not bring a peace that removes the problems without, but one that infuses trust within. It is no outward peace, but peace of heart. He tells them “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, even so I send you” (John 20:21). It is as if to say, “I am sending you because I believe in you”. Those disheartened disciples were put at peace with themselves. The peace of Jesus made them pass from remorse to mission. The peace of Jesus awakens mission. It entails not ease and comfort, but the challenge to break out of ourselves. The peace of Jesus frees from the self-absorption that paralyzes; it shatters the bonds that keep the heart imprisoned. The disciples realized that they had been shown mercy: they realized that God did not condemn or demean them, but instead believed in them. God, in fact, believes in us even more than we believe in ourselves. “He loves us better than we love ourselves (cf. SAINT JOHN HENRY NEWMAN, Meditations and Devotions, III, 12, 2). As far as God is concerned, no one is useless, discredited or a castaway. Today Jesus also tells us, “Peace be with you! You are precious in my eyes. Peace be with you! You are important for me. Peace be with you! You have a mission. No one can take your place. You are irreplaceable. And I believe in you”. Pope Francis I (Homily, 11 April 2021)
4 April 2021 Easter Sunday Mass: Video (with English translation). Mass Readings, Past Homilies and Regina Caeli
3 April 2021 Easter Vigil Mass Mass Readings, Past Homilies and Regina Caeli Extracts: This, then, is the second message of Easter: faith is not an album of past memories; Jesus is not outdated. He is alive here and now. He walks beside you each day, in every situation you are experiencing, in every trial you have to endure, in your deepest hopes and dreams. He opens new doors when you least expect it, he urges you not to indulge in nostalgia for the past or cynicism about the present. Even if you feel that all is lost, please, let yourself be open to amazement at the newness Jesus brings: he will surely surprise you. Pope Francis I (Homily, 3 April 2021)
April 02 2021, Celebration of the Passion of the Lord Pope Francis (Scripture Readings EWTN, USCCB). 1 April 2021 Holy Thursday Chrism Mass Mass Readings, Past Homilies and Angelus Jesus’ words have the power to bring to light whatever each of us holds in the depths of our heart, often mixed like the wheat and the tares. And this gives rise to spiritual conflict. Seeing the signs of the Lord’s superabundant mercy and hearing the “beatitudes” but also the “woes” found in the Gospel, we find ourselves forced to discern and decide. In this case, Jesus’ words were not accepted and this made the enraged crowd attempt to kill him. But it was not yet his “hour”, and the Lord, so the Gospel tells us, “passing through the midst of them, went away”. It was not his hour, yet the swiftness with which the crowd’s fury was unleashed, and the ferocity of a rage prepared to kill the Lord on the spot, shows us that it is always his hour. That is what I would like to share with you today, dear priests: that the hour of joyful proclamation, the hour of persecution and the hour of the cross go together.
The preaching of the Gospel is always linked to the embrace of some particular cross. The gentle light of God’s word shines brightly in well-disposed hearts, but awakens confusion and rejection in those that are not. We see this over and over again in the Gospels. The good seed sown in the field bears fruit – a hundred, sixty and thirty-fold – but it also arouses the envy of the enemy, who is driven to sow weeds during the night (cf. Matthew 13:24-30.36-43). The tender love of the merciful father irresistibly draws the prodigal son home, but also leads to anger and resentment on the part of the elder son (cf. Luke 15:11-32). The generosity of the owner of the vineyard is a reason for gratitude among the workers called at the last hour, but it also provokes a bitter reaction by one of those called first, who is offended by the generosity of his employer (cf. Matthew 20:1-16). The closeness of Jesus, who dines with sinners, wins hearts like those of Zacchaeus, Matthew and the Samaritan woman, but it also awakens scorn in the self-righteous. The magnanimity of the king who sends his son, thinking that he will be respected by the tenant farmers, unleashes in them a ferocity beyond all measure. Here we find ourselves before the mystery of iniquity, which leads to the killing of the Just One (cf. Matthew 21:33-46). All this, dear brother priests, enables us to see that the preaching of the Good News is mysteriously linked to persecution and the cross.
…A second thought: true, there is an aspect of the cross that is an integral part of our human condition, our limits and our frailty. Yet it is also true that something happens on the Cross that does not have to do with our human weakness but is the bite of the serpent, who, seeing the crucified Lord defenceless, bites him in an attempt to poison and undo all his work. A bite that tries to scandalize – and this is an era of scandals – a bite that seeks to disable and render futile and meaningless all service and loving sacrifice for others. It is the venom of the evil one who keeps insisting: save yourself. It is in this harsh and painful “bite” that seeks to bring death, that God’s triumph is ultimately seen. Saint Maximus the Confessor tells us that in the crucified Jesus a reversal took place. In biting the flesh of the Lord, the devil did not poison him, for in him he encountered only infinite meekness and obedience to the will of the Father. Instead, caught by the hook of the cross, he devoured the flesh of the Lord, which proved poisonous to him, whereas for us it was to be the antidote that neutralizes the power of the evil one.[3] These are my reflections. Let us ask the Lord for the grace to profit from this teaching. It is true that the cross is present in our preaching of the Gospel, but it is the cross of our salvation. Thanks to the reconciling blood of Jesus, it is a cross that contains the power of Christ’s victory, which conquers evil and delivers us from the evil one. To embrace it with Jesus and, as he did before us, to go out and preach it, will allow us to discern and reject the venom of scandal, with which the devil wants to poison us whenever a cross unexpectedly appears in our lives…
The way we embrace the cross in our preaching of the Gospel – with deeds and, when necessary, with words – makes two things clear. That the sufferings that come from the Gospel are not ours, but rather “the sufferings of Christ in us” (2 Corinthians 1:5), and that “we do not preach ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as servants of all for the love of Jesus” (2 Corinthians 4:5). Pope Francis I (Homily for Chrism Mass, 1 April 2021)
28 March 2021 Palm Sunday Mass and Angelus led by Pope Francis Mass Readings, Past Homilies and Angelus Jesus did it for us, to plumb the depths of our human experience, our entire existence, all our evil. To draw near to us and not abandon us in our suffering and our death. To redeem us, to save us. Jesus was lifted high on the cross in order to descend to the abyss of our suffering. He experienced our deepest sorrows: failure, loss of everything, betrayal by a friend, even abandonment by God. By experiencing in the flesh our deepest struggles and conflicts, he redeemed and transformed them. His love draws close to our frailty; it touches the very things of which we are most ashamed. Yet now we know that we are not alone: God is at our side in every affliction, in every fear; no evil, no sin will ever have the final word. God triumphs, but the palm of victory passes through the wood of the cross. For the palm and the cross are inseparable… Today’s Gospel shows us, immediately after the death of Jesus, a splendid icon of amazement. It is the scene of the centurion who, upon seeing that Jesus had died, said: “Truly this man was the Son of God!” (Mark 15:39). He was amazed by love. How did he see Jesus die? He saw him die in love, and this amazed him. Jesus suffered immensely, but he never stopped loving. This is what it is to be amazed before God, who can fill even death with love. In that gratuitous and unprecedented love, the pagan centurion found God. His words – Truly this man was the Son of God! – “seal” the Passion narrative… Pope Francis I (Homily, 28 March 2021)
4th Sunday of Lent, Year B 14 March 2021, Holy Mass for the Filipino Community, Pope Francis Mass Readings, Past Homilies and Angelus We now come to the second aspect: God “gave” his Son. Precisely because he loves us so much, God gives himself; he offers us his life. Those who love always go out of themselves. Don’t forget this: those who love go out of themselves. Love always offers itself, gives itself, expends itself. That is the power of love: it shatters the shell of our selfishness, breaks out of our carefully constructed security zones, tears down walls and overcomes fears, so as to give freely of itself. That is what loves does: it gives itself. And that is how lovers are: they prefer to risk self-giving over self-preservation. That is why God comes to us: because he “so loved” us. His love is so great that he cannot fail to give himself to us. When the people were attacked by poisonous serpents in the desert, God told Moses to make the bronze serpent. In Jesus, however, exalted on the cross, he himself came to heal us of the venom of death; he became sin to save us from sin. God does not love us in words: he gives us his Son, so that whoever looks at him and believes in him will be saved (cf. John 3:14-15).
The more we love, the more we become capable of giving. That is also the key to understanding our life. It is wonderful to meet people who love one another and share their lives in love. We can say about them what we say about God: they so love each other that they give their lives. It is not only what we can make or earn that matters; in the end, it is the love we are able to give. Pope Francis I (Homily, 14 March 2021)
3rd Sunday of Lent, Year B Erbil, Holy Mass, 7 March 2021 Pope Francis Video , Homily Text. Mass Readings, Past Homilies & Angelus In the Gospel reading we have just heard (John 2:13-25), we see how Jesus drove out from the Temple in Jerusalem the moneychangers and all the buyers and sellers. Why did Jesus do something this forceful and provocative? He did it because the Father sent him to cleanse the temple: not only the Temple of stone, but above all the temple of our heart. Jesus could not tolerate his Father’s house becoming a marketplace (cf. John 2:16); neither does he want our hearts to be places of turmoil, disorder and confusion… How do we purify our hearts? By our own efforts, we cannot; we need Jesus. He has the power to conquer our evils, to heal our diseases, to rebuild the temple of our heart. Pope Francis I (Homily, 7 March 2021)
Baghdad, Holy Mass, 6 March 2021 Pope Francis Scripture Readings Extracts from: Wisdom 6, Responsorial Psalm, 1 Corinthians 13, Matthew 5:1-12. Promises. The wisdom of Jesus, embodied in the Beatitudes, calls for witness and offers the reward contained in the divine promises. For each Beatitude is immediately followed by a promise: those who practise them will possess the kingdom of heaven, they will be comforted, they will be satisfied, they will see God… (cf. Matthew 5: 3-12). God’s promises guarantee unrivalled joy and never disappoint. But how are they fulfilled? Through our weaknesses. God makes blessed those who travel the path of their inner poverty to the very end. Pope Francis I (Homily, 6 March 2021)
17 February 2021 Holy Mass and imposition of the ashes Pope Francis Mass Readings, Past Homilies & Angelus Today we bow our heads to receive ashes. At the end of Lent, we will bow even lower to wash the feet of our brothers and sisters. Lent is a humble descent both inwards and towards others. It is about realizing that salvation is not an ascent to glory, but a descent in love. It is about becoming little. Lest we go astray on our journey, let us stand before the cross of Jesus: the silent throne of God. Let us daily contemplate his wounds, the wounds that he brought to heaven and shows daily to the Father in his prayer of intercession. Let us daily contemplate those wounds. In them, we recognize our emptiness, our shortcomings, the wounds of our sin and all the hurt we have experienced. Yet there too, we see clearly that God points his finger at no one, but rather opens his arms to embrace us. His wounds were inflicted for our sake, and by those wounds we have been healed (cf. 1 Peter 2:25; Isaiah 53:5). By kissing those wounds, we will come to realize that there, in life’s most painful wounds, God awaits us with his infinite mercy. Because there, where we are most vulnerable, where we feel the most shame, he came to meet us. And having come to meet us, he now invites us to return to him, to rediscover the joy of being loved. Pope Francis I (Homily, 17 February 2021)
02 February 2021, Feast of the Presentation of the Lord Holy Mass for Consecrated persons Pope Francis
3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B, 24 January 2021 Holy Mass to mark the Sunday of the Word of God Mass Readings, Past Homilies and Angelus
06 January 2021 Holy Mass for the Epiphany of the Lord Mass Readings, Past Homilies & Angelus.
01 January 2021 Holy Mass for the Solemnity of Mary Mother of God
Pope Francis Masses 2020:
31 December 2020 Vespers and Te Deum Pope Francis
24 December 2020 Holy Mass of the Christmas Vigil Mass Readings, Past Homilies & Angelus.
12 December 2020 Holy Mass on the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe
Holy Mass with Pope Francis for the Consistory | November 28th 2020
29 November 2020 Holy Mass on the 1st Sunday of Advent, Year B Mass Readings, Past Homilies & Angelus.
22 November 2020 Holy Mass on the Solemnity of Christ the King Mass Readings, Past Homilies & Angelus.
15 November 2020 Holy Mass on World Day of the Poor (33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time). Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9d8ozociMk Homily (text). Mass Readings, Past Homilies & Angelus.
02 November 2020 Holy Mass for the deceased (All Souls’ Day) Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdJg1aVQ-UI Mass Readings, Past Homilies & Angelus.
05 November 2020 Holy Mass for deceased Cardinals and Bishops Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9O0mN5Ueulw
Encyclical Letter FRATELLI TUTTI of the Holy Father Francis I on the Fraternity and Social Friendship 3 October 2020 Holy Mass and signing of the Encyclical: Video, Mass Readings. From the Summary of Bulletin: http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2020/10/03/201003a.html 4 October 2020 Conference on the Encyclical Letter “Fratelli tutti” (video).
Holy Mass on 10 October 2020 with the rite of Beatification of Carlo Acutis, presided over by Cardinal Agostino Vallini. Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFrl-PjgdR8
See earlier record below:
(MR means Mass Readings) 05/04 (Mass Readings) Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion 06/04 (MRs), 07/04 (MRs), 08/04 (MRs), 09/04 (MRs), 10/04 (MRs), 11/04 (MRs)
12/4 (MRs) Easter Sunday Mass with “Urbi et Orbi” Blessing from Pope Francis 13/4 (MRs), 14/04 (MRs), 15/04 (MRs), 16/04 (MRs), 17/04 (MRs), 18/04 (MRs).
19/4 (Mass Readings) Divine Mercy Sunday Mass and Regina Caeli. 20/4 (MRs), 21/4 (MRs), 22/4 (MRs), 23/4 (MRs), 24/4 (MRs), 25/04 (MRs).
26/4 (Mass Readings) 3rd Sunday of Easter. 27/4 (MRs), 28/4 (MRs), 29/4 (MRs), 30/4 (MRs), 1/5 (MRs) St Joseph the Worker, 2/5 (MRs) Pray for World Leaders.
3/5 (Mass Readings) 4th Sunday of Easter (Good Shepherd Sunday). 4/5 (MRs) Pray for Families, 5/5 (MRs) Pray for the Deceased, 6/5 (MRs) Pray for All who work in the Media Industry, 7/5 (MRs) Pray for Artists, 8/5 (MRs) World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day 2020, 9/5 (MRs) Pope Francis talks on “Jealousy”. 8-D
10/5 (Mass Readings) 5th Sunday of Easter. Mothers’ Day. Pray for Europe. 11/5 (MRs) The Holy Spirit. Pray for Job Seekers/ the Jobless. 12/5 (MRs) Pray for Nurses. He gives us the Peace that makes us progress & fruitful… 13/5 (MRs) Pray for Students, Teachers & the Philippines. When we remain in Him, we will have the strength and be fruitful… 14 May 2020 Feast of Saint Matthias, Apostle (Mass Readings, 1st Reading from Jonah 3) Day of Prayer, Fasting & Charity. 15/5 (MRs) Pray for Families (International Day of Families). Where there is rigidity, the Holy Spirit is not there because the Holy Spirit is Liberty. Pope Francis I 16/5 (MRs) Pray or All who bury the Dead during this COVID-19 time. Pope Francis talks on the culture of “worldliness”: use and throw, no fidelity; even a way of living Christianity.
17/5 (Mass Readings) 6th Sunday of Easter. Pray for Cleaners. Pope Francis tells us how not to live like orphans…8-D 18/5 (MRs) (Celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Saint John Paul II) Pope John Paul II: Pray + Nearness to the People + Love of Justice + etc...=> Saint John Paul II The body of Saint John Paul II is incorrupt! See his baby face! 8-D The last days of Pope John Paul II - The untold stories (CNN) Pope's video message to the young people of Krakow on the centenary of the birth of John Paul II
Pentecost Sunday (31 May 2020) Mass (Mass Readings, Homily)
Holy Trinity Sunday (14 June 2020) Mass (Mass Readings, Homily) The Lord knows that evil and sins do not define us; they are diseases, infections. And he comes to heal them with the Eucharist, which contains the antibodies to our negative memory. With Jesus, we can become immune to sadness. The Lord, offering himself to us in the simplicity of bread, invites us not to waste our lives in chasing the myriad illusions that we think we cannot do without, yet that leave us empty within. The Eucharist satisfies our hunger for material things and kindles our desire to serve. Pope Francis I (Homily, 14 June 2020)
SOLEMNITY OF THE HOLY APOSTLES PETER AND PAUL (29 June 2020): (Video, Mass Readings, Homily Text) Prophecy is not born from my thoughts, from my closed heart. It is born if we allow ourselves to be challenged by God. When the Gospel overturns certainties, prophecy arises. Only someone who is open to God’s surprises can become a prophet. And there they are: Peter and Paul, prophets who look to the future. Peter is the first to proclaim that Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16). Paul, who considers his impending death: “From now on there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord will award to me” (2 Timothy 4:8). Today we need prophecy, but real prophecy: not fast talkers who promise the impossible, but testimonies that the Gospel is possible. What is needed are not miraculous shows. It makes me sad when I hear someone say, “We want a prophetic Church”. All right. But what are you doing, so that the Church can be prophetic? We need lives that show the miracle of God’s love. Not forcefulness, but forthrightness. Not palaver, but prayer. Not speeches, but service. Do you want a prophetic Church? Then start serving and be quiet. Not theory, but testimony. We are not to become rich, but rather to love the poor. We are not to save up for ourselves, but to spend ourselves for others. To seek not the approval of this world, of being comfortable with everyone - here we say: “being comfortable with God and the devil”, being comfortable with everyone -; no, this is not prophecy. We need the joy of the world to come. Pope Francis I (Homily, 29 June 2020)
8 July 2020 Holy Mass on anniversary of Lampedusa visit Pope Francis Today marks the seventh year, the seventh anniversary of my visit to Lampedusa. In the light of God’s word, I would like to repeat what I said to those taking part in the meeting “Free from Fear” in February last year: “The encounter with the other is also an encounter with Christ. He himself told us this. He is the one knocking on our door, hungry, thirsty, naked, sick, imprisoned; he is the one seeking an encounter with us, asking our help, asking to come ashore. And lest we have any doubt, he tells us categorically: ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did to one of the least of these my brethren, you did to me’” (Matthew 25:40).
“Whatever you did...” for better or for worse! This admonition is all the more timely today. We ought to use it as a basic starting point for our daily examination of conscience. Here I think of Libya, detention camps, the abuses and violence to which migrants are subjected; I think of journeys of hope, rescue operations, and cases of rejection. “Whatever you did… you did to me.”
I remember that day, seven years ago, in the very south of Europe, on that island… A number of people told me their stories and all that they had gone through to get there. There were interpreters present. One person was telling me about terrible things in his language, and the interpreter seemed to translate well, but this person spoke so long and the translation was brief. “Well”, I thought, “their language must require more words to express an idea”. When I returned home that afternoon, in the reception area there was a lady – God bless her, she has since passed away - who was a daughter of Ethiopians. She understood the language and she had seen our conversation on television. She said this to me. “Listen, what the Ethiopian translator told you is not even a quarter of the torture and suffering that those people experienced”. They gave me the “distilled” version. This is what is happening today with Libya: they are giving us a “distilled version”. The war is indeed horrible, we know that, but you cannot imagine the hell that people are living there, in that detention camp. And those people came only with hope of crossing the sea.
May the Virgin Mary, Solacium migrantium, “Solace of Migrants”, help us discover the face of her Son in all our brothers and sisters forced to flee their homeland because of the many injustices that continue to afflict our world. Pope Francis (Homily, 8 July 2020)
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