More than one million pilgrims gathered on Philadelphia’s Benjamin Franklin Parkway for the closing Mass of the World Meeting of Families and his final public appearance on this trip. Here, he encouraged families to focus on the small, simple things that lead to holiness. He praised the family as an essential part of experiencing the joy of the gospel. At the end of the Mass, Archbishop Paglia of the Pontifical Council for the Family announced that the next World Meeting of Families in 2018 would take place in Dublin, Ireland.
Some quotes from the homily:
“Faith opens a ‘window’ to the presence and working of the Spirit. It shows us that, like happiness, holiness is always tied to little gestures.”
“Love is shown by little things, by attention to small daily signs which make us feel at home. Faith grows when it is lived and shaped by love. That is why our families, our homes, are true domestic churches. They are the right place for faith to become life, and life to grow in faith.”
“Our common house can no longer tolerate sterile divisions. The urgent challenge of protecting our home includes the effort to bring the entire human family together in the pursuit of a sustainable and integral development, for we know that things can change.”
“May God grant that all of us may be prophets of the joy of the Gospel, the Gospel of the family and family love, as disciples of the Lord. May he grant us the grace to be worthy of that purity of heart which is not scandalized by the Gospel!”
Click here for the full text of the homily.
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