Sep 22, 2008 / 08:25 am
Before reciting the Angelus on Sunday morning, Pope Benedict traveled to the small town of Albano to dedicate a new altar at its cathedral and to celebrate Mass. Pope Benedict’s message to the congregation of San Pancrazio was to work at continuously communicating their differences and to forgive one another before approaching the Eucharistic altar.
The homily of the Holy Father first touched on the "the love of Christ, charity 'which never ends'," and how this love is "the spiritual energy that unites all those who participate in the same sacrifice and who draw nourishment from the one Bread, broken for the salvation of the world.”
The Pope asked, "Is it in fact possible to communicate with the Lord if we do not communicate with each other? How then can we present ourselves at God's altar divided and distant from one another?"
Turning the congregation’s attention to the altar that he was about to dedicate, Benedict encouraged them to "be a constant invitation to love.” To this altar “you will always come with your hearts ready to accept and to spread the love of Christ, to receive and to grant forgiveness,” he added.