Pope: let us pray for the innocent who suffer unjust sentences

“Let us each think of this, as part of the people of God: we are servants, our vocation is to serve, not to take advantage of our place in the Church. To serve. Always in service."

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - Pope Francis introduced today’s Mass at Casa Santa Marta asking for prayers for those who suffer unjust sentences.

"In these days of Lent - he said - we have seen the persecution that Jesus suffered and how the doctors of the Law raged against him: he was judged under fury, with rage, being innocent. I would like to pray today for all the people who suffer an unfair sentence because of rage."

“The servant of Yahweh, Jesus, served until death: it seemed a defeat, but it was the way of serving. And this underlines how each of us must undertake to serve in our own life. To serve is to give oneself, to give oneself to others. To serve is not to demand some benefit for ourselves, but to serve others. It is glory, to serve; and Christ’s glory is to serve until self-annihilation, until death, death on the Cross. Jesus is the servant of Israel. The people of God are servants, and when the people of God move away from this attitude of serving, they are a people of apostates: they move away from the vocation that God has given them. And when anyone of us move away from this vocation to serve, we move away from the love of God. We build our life on other loves, often as idolaters ".

“The Lord has chosen us from the womb. There are, in life, falls: we are all sinners, we can fall and have fallen. Only Our Lady and Jesus: all the rest of us have fallen, we are sinners. But what matters is my attitude before God who elected me, who anointed me as a servant; is it the attitude of a sinner who is capable of seeking forgiveness, like Peter, who swears that 'no, I will never deny you, Lord, never, never, never!', then, when the cock crows, he cries. Repent. This is the attitude of the servant: when he slips, when he falls, he asks for forgiveness. Instead, when the servant is unable to understand that he has fallen, when passion takes him in such a way that it leads him to idolatry, he opens his heart to Satan, he enters the night: this is what happened to Judah ".

“Today we think of Jesus, the servant, faithful in service. His vocation is to serve, until death on the Cross. Let us think of each of us, part of the people of God: we are servants, our vocation is to serve, not to take advantage of our place in the Church. To serve. Always in service."

“We ask for grace - the final prayer - to persevere in service. Sometimes with slips, falls, but the grace of at least crying like Peter cried”.

The Pope ended the celebration with Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and a blessing, inviting all faithful to spiritual communion.

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• betrayal
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