Don't hold back when
praying to God -- tell him exactly what's wrong and insist on holding
him to his promises, Pope Francis said. Prayer should be like speaking
face-to-face with a friend: "without fear, freely and also with
insistence," the pope said in his homily April 3 during an early morning
Mass in the chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae. Pope Francis' homily
focused on the day's reading from the Book of Exodus (32:7-14), in which
Moses begs God to spare his people, even though they have created a
golden calf to worship as their god. God says he's going to let his
wrath "blaze up against them to consume them," but Moses reminds the
Lord that these are his own people he has saved before and has promised
to make their descendants "as numerous as the stars in the sky." Pope
Francis said that, in the day's reading, Moses shows what praying to God
should really feel and sound like: not filled with empty words, but a
heartfelt, "real fight with God." Moses is courageously insistent and
argues his point, the pope said, and prayer must also be "a negotiation
with God, presenting arguments" supporting one's position.
Born during the turbulent era of the French Revolution, Saint Jeanne Jugan rose above hardship and a lack of formal schooling to become a profound vessel of Christ’s mercy. After losing her father at a young age and working through her youth as a kitchen maid and nurse, her life radically changed one freezing night when she encountered a blind, paralyzed elderly woman with nowhere to go. Jeanne carried the woman back to her own home, placed her in her own bed, and began a lifelong mission of radical hospitality. This act of profound love blossomed into the Little Sisters of the Poor , a thriving community dedicated to sheltering and honoring the destitute elderly. Despite later facing heavy trials—including being unjustly sidelined and stripped of her leadership by a controlling chaplain—Jeanne accepted her obscurity and exile with a joyful spirit, resting her complete trust in God's hidden providence until her death in 1879. In our daily lives, Saint Jeanne Jugan invites us to lo...