The Pope celebrated Mass with the bishops, priests, religious and seminarians
of the Philippines, during which he pronounced the following homily:
 "'Do you love me? ... Tend my sheep'. Jesus' words to Peter in today's Gospel
are the first words I speak to you, dear brother bishops and priests, men and
women religious, and young seminarians. These words remind us of something
essential. All pastoral ministry is born of love. All pastoral ministry is
born of love! All consecrated life is a sign of Christ's reconciling love.
Like St. Therese, in the variety of our vocations, each of us is called, in
some way, to be love in the heart of the Church.
 "I greet all of you with great affection. And I ask you to bring my affection
to all your elderly and infirm brothers and sisters, and to all those who
cannot join us today. As the Church in the Philippines looks to the fifth
centenary of its evangelisation, we feel gratitude for the legacy left by so
many bishops, priests and religious of past generations. They laboured not
only to preach the Gospel and build up the Church in this country, but also to
forge a society inspired by the Gospel message of charity, forgiveness and
solidarity in the service of the common good. Today you carry on that work of
love. Like them, you are called to build bridges, to pasture Christ's flock,
and to prepare fresh paths for the Gospel in Asia at the dawn of a new age.
 "'The love of Christ impels us'. In today's first reading Saint Paul tells us
that the love we are called to proclaim is a reconciling love, flowing from
the heart of the crucified Saviour. We are called to be 'ambassadors for
Christ'. Ours is a ministry of reconciliation. We proclaim the Good News of
God's infinite love, mercy and compassion. We proclaim the joy of the Gospel.
For the Gospel is the promise of God's grace, which alone can bring wholeness
and healing to our broken world. It can inspire the building of a truly just
and redeemed social order.
 "To be an ambassador for Christ means above all to invite everyone to a
renewed personal encounter with the Lord Jesus. Our personal encounter with
Him. This invitation must be at the core of your commemoration of the
evangelisation of the Philippines. But the Gospel is also a summons to
conversion, to an examination of our consciences, as individuals and as a
people. As the Bishops of the Philippines have rightly taught, the Church in
the Philippines is called to acknowledge and combat the causes of the deeply
rooted inequality and injustice which mar the face of Filipino society,
plainly contradicting the teaching of Christ. The Gospel calls individual
Christians to live lives of honesty, integrity and concern for the common
good. But it also calls Christian communities to create 'circles of
integrity', networks of solidarity which can expand to embrace and transform
society by their prophetic witness.
 "The poor. The poor are at the centre of the Gospel, are at heart of the
Gospel, and if we take away the poor from the Gospel we cannot understand the
whole message of Jesus Christ. As ambassadors for Christ, we, bishops, priests
and religious, ought to be the first to welcome his reconciling grace into our
hearts. St. Paul makes clear what this means. It means rejecting worldly
perspectives and seeing all things anew in the light of Christ. It means being
the first to examine our consciences, to acknowledge our failings and sins,
and to embrace the path of constant conversion, every day conversion. How can
we proclaim the newness and liberating power of the Cross to others, if we
ourselves refuse to allow the word of God to shake our complacency, our fear
of change, our petty compromises with the ways of this world, our 'spiritual
worldliness'?
 "For us, priests and consecrated persons, conversion to the newness of the
Gospel entails a daily encounter with the Lord in prayer. The saints teach us
that this is the source of all apostolic zeal. For religious, living the
newness of the Gospel also means finding ever anew in community life and
community apostolates the incentive for an ever closer union with the Lord in
perfect charity. For all of us, it means living lives that reflect the poverty
of Christ, whose entire life was focused on doing the will of the Father and
serving others. The great danger to this, of course, is a certain materialism
which can creep into our lives and compromise the witness we offer. Only by
becoming poor ourselves, by becoming poor ourselves, by stripping away our
complacency, will we be able to identify with the least of our brothers and
sisters. We will see things in a new light and thus respond with honesty and
integrity to the challenge of proclaiming the radicalism of the Gospel in a
society which has grown comfortable with social exclusion, polarisation and
scandalous inequality.
 "Here I would like to say address a special word to the young priests,
religious and seminarians among us. I ask you to share the joy and enthusiasm
of your love for Christ and the Church with everyone, but especially with your
peers. Be present to young people who may be confused and despondent, yet
continue to see the Church as their friend on the journey and a source of
hope. Be present to those who, living in the midst of a society burdened by
poverty and corruption, are broken in spirit, tempted to give up, to leave
school and to live on the streets. Proclaim the beauty and truth of the
Christian message to a society which is tempted by confusing presentations of
sexuality, marriage and the family. As you know, these realities are
increasingly under attack from powerful forces which threaten to disfigure
God's plan for creation and betray the very values which have inspired and
shaped all that is best in your culture.
 "Filipino culture has, in fact, been shaped by the imagination of faith.
Filipinos everywhere are known for their love of God, their fervent piety and
their warm devotion to Our Lady and her rosary; their love of God, their
fervent piety and their warm devotion to Our Lady and her rosary! This great
heritage contains a powerful missionary potential. It is the way in which your
people has inculturated the Gospel and continues to embrace its message. In
your efforts to prepare for the fifth centenary, build on this solid
foundation.
 "Christ died for all so that, having died in him, we might live no longer for
ourselves but for him. Dear brother bishops, priests and religious: I ask
Mary, Mother of the Church, to obtain for all of you an outpouring of zeal, so
that you may spend yourselves in selfless service to our brothers and sisters.
In this way, may the reconciling love of Christ penetrate ever more fully into
the fabric of Filipino society and, through you, to the farthest reaches of
the world".
 Following the Mass Pope Francis visited a house belonging to the Tulay ny
Kabataan Foundation, which provides assistance to street children. He
conversed with around three hundred of the children during his twenty-minute
visit, during which he was moved by their gifts and displays of affection. He
then returned to the apostolic nunciature to dine and to take an hour's rest.

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 To families: be aware of your calling as Jesus' missionary disciples
 Vatican City, 16 January 2015 (VIS) - At 5 p.m. local time the Pope proceeded
to the Mall of Asia Arena to meet with families, the third scheduled event in
his visit to the Filipino capital. He made the six-kilometre journey in the
Popemobile so as to be able to greet the multitude of faithful who lined the
streets. The Mall of Asia Arena is an indoor sports stadium, opened in 2012
and able to hold twenty thousand people, and belongs to the SM chain of
shopping centres which broadcast the meeting with the Pope live to all its
cinemas. The songs, testimonies, readings and floral tributes to the Holy
Father were the culminating moments of the event, during which he addressed a
discourse to those present.
 "Dear families, dear friends in Christ, I am grateful for your presence here
this evening and for the witness of your love for Jesus and his Church. I
thank Bishop Reyes, chairman of the Bishops' Commission on Family and Life,
for his words of welcome on your behalf. And, in a special way, I thank those
who have presented testimonies and have shared their life of faith with us.
 "The Scriptures seldom speak of St. Joseph, but when they do, we often find
him resting, as an angel reveals God's will to him in his dreams. In the
Gospel passage we have just heard, we find Joseph resting not once, but twice.
This evening I would like to rest in the Lord with all of you, and to reflect
with you on the gift of the family.
 "Joseph's rest revealed God's will to him. In this moment of rest in the
Lord, as we pause from our many daily obligations and activities, God is also
speaking to us. He speaks to us in the reading we have just heard, in our
prayer and witness, and in the quiet of our hearts. Let us reflect on what the
Lord is saying to us, especially in this evening's Gospel. There are three
aspects of this passage which I would ask you to consider: resting in the
Lord, rising with Jesus and Mary, and being a prophetic voice.
 "Resting in the Lord. Rest is so necessary for the health of our minds and
bodies, and often so difficult to achieve due to the many demands placed on
us. But rest is also essential for our spiritual health, so that we can hear
God's voice and understand what he asks of us. Joseph was chosen by God to be
the foster father of Jesus and the husband of Mary. As Christians, you too are
called, like Joseph, to make a home for Jesus. You make a home for him in your
hearts, your families, your parishes and your communities.

--- MPost/386 v1.21
 * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)