Praying is something to be learned, the Pope explained. "The school of prayer is the school of life and in the school of life we progress in the school of prayer."
Jesus sought to introduce his companions "into the mystery of His Life," he said. "He showed them by eating, sleeping, curing, preaching and praying, what it means to be Son of God."
Inviting his companions into "his interiority," Jesus introduced them to the "newness of saying 'Our Father,'" the pontiff explained, an expression which "contains a sense of life, of experience, of authenticity."
With these words, Jesus "knew how to live praying and to pray living," the Pope said, and he "invites us to do the same."
"Our first call is to experience this merciful love of the Father in our lives, in our experiences," and then share the Gospel with others, he added.
"He has invited us to share in his life, his divine life, and woe to us if we do not share it, woe to us if we are not witnesses to what we have seen and heard, woe to us."
"We are not and do not want to be 'administrators of the divine'," or "God's employees," Pope Francis said.
Rather, "we are invited to share in his life," and "enter into his heart." In turn, we are called to live out the words: "Our Father."
Pope Francis recalled the legacy of 16th century Bishop Vasco Vázquez de Quiroga, the first bishop of Michoacán.
The bishop did not respond to the dire situation experienced by the indigenous Purhépechas Indians with "listless resignation," the Pope said.
(Story continues below)
Subscribe to our daily newsletter
Rather, it "succeeded in kindling his faith, strengthening his compassion and inspiring him to carry out plans that were a "breath of fresh air" in the midst of so much paralyzing injustice."
"The pain and suffering of his brothers and sisters became his prayer, and his prayer led to his response," the Pope said of the bishop, who came to be known as "Tata Vasco," meaning "Father, dad, daddy."
"It is to this prayer, to this expression, that Jesus calls us," Pope Francis concluded: "lead us not into the temptation of resignation, lead us not into the temptation of losing our memory, lead us not into the temptation of forgetting our elders who taught us by their lives to say, 'Our Father'."