Vatican City, Feb 9, 2012 / 12:08 pm
A bishop’s love for Jesus Christ and the Church can overcome all his fears, Cardinal Francis George of Chicago said at St. Peter's tomb on Feb. 9.
Cardinal George is visiting the Vatican along with the bishops of Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin, who began their “ad limina” visit today.
“In the responsorial psalm we asked the Lord to protect us, to take away our fears, which means that the psalmist and the apostles were afraid at times – as are we. There is reason to be afraid. But, nonetheless, stronger than fear is faith, and stronger than both is love,” he said.
Cardinal George was the main celebrant and homilist at the early morning Mass in the crypt of St. Peter’s Basilica. He told his brother bishops to take heart from today’s psalm, which proclaims, “I sought the Lord and he heard me and he delivered me from all my fears.”
He also reflected upon the martyrdom of St. James the Greater and the imprisonment of St. Peter.