Buenos Aires, Argentina, Sep 5, 2004 / 22:00 pm
During a Mass for the National Eucharistic Congress in Argentina, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Archbishop of Buenos Aires, called on Argentineans last week to “open wide our hearts” and “be reconciled with our Father God.”
During the celebration, the Cardinal exhorted the faithful, “Open your hearts, keeping your eyes on the Blessed Virgin and feeling the presence of Jesus in Eucharist, who has silently accompanied humanity during two thousand years.”
“Let us also open the hearts of our families, and feel the heartbeat of parents, spouses and young people, children and grandparents. Let us open our hearts as the faithful people of God on pilgrimage in Argentina under the mantel of the Virgin Mary of Itati,” the Cardinal added.
“Be reconciled with God, with yourself and with your brothers and sisters!” the Cardinal explained, saying, “The Eucharist is the bread of reconciliation which penetrates the deepest corners of our hearts. And it nourishes and reconciles that interior place where a person is himself, and more than himself, because it is the dwelling place of God, where each heart is the heart of his entire family and his entire people.”
“A few hearts like this, which allow themselves to be fully reconciled, are enough, so that reconciliation might spread among all people.”
“Rebellious and prodigal people, people that have suffered at the hands of robbers, people with a strong spiritual reserve, be reconciled with God!” he said. The Cardinal concluded entrusting “this reconciliation which transforms the heart of individuals and peoples” to Mary of Itati. “She invites you…Be reconciled with God,” he concluded.