Hajja Salesjana October - December 2018

22 The Mass is not a show, but a beautiful, transformative encounter with the true loving presence of Christ, Pope Francis said. That is why people need to focus their hearts on God, not focus their smartphones for pictures during Mass, he said. When the priest celebrating Mass says, “Let us lift up our hearts,” he is not saying, “lift up our cellphones and take a picture. No. It’s an awful thing” to do, the pope said Nov. 8 during his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square. “It makes me so sad when I celebrate (Mass) in the square or in the basilica and I see so many cellphones in the air. And not just by the lay faithful, some priests and bishops, too,” he said. “Please, Mass is not a show. It is going to encounter the Passion, the resurrection of the Lord,” he said to applause. The pope’s remarks were part of a new series of audience talks on the Mass. The series, he said, should help people understand the true value and significance of the liturgy as an essential part of growing closer to God. A major theme highlighted by the Second Vatican Council was that the liturgical formation of the lay faithful is “indispensable for a true renewal,” Pope Francis said. “And this is precisely the aim of this catechetical series that we begin today -- to grow in understanding the great gift God gave us in the Eucharist.” “The Second Vatican Council was strongly driven by the desire to lead Christians to an understanding of the grandeur of the faith and the beauty of the encounter with Christ,” he said. That is why, “with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, an appropriate renewal of the liturgy” was necessary. When the priest celebrating Mass says, ‘Let us lift up our hearts,’ he is not saying, ‘lift up our cellphones and take a picture.’ Photo: © iStock.com/Bet_Noire Pope Francis wants you to stop bringing your phone to Mass Carol Glatz - Catholic News Service