Here are some words from Pope John Paul I, taken from his Angelus address on September 3, 1978.
“Up there in Veneto I heard it said: every good thief has his devotion. The Pope has a number of devotions; among others, to St. Gregory the Great, whose feast falls today…. It so happens that today, 3 September, he was elected Pope and I am officially beginning my service of the universal Church. He was a poor Roman, who became the first Magistrate of the city. Then he gave everything to the poor, entered a monastery, and became the Pope’s Secretary. On the Pope’s death, he was elected and he did not want to accept. The Emperor, the people, intervened. Afterwards, he finally accepted and wrote to his friend Leandro, Bishop of Seville: “I feel like weeping more than talking.” And to the Emperor’s sister: “The Emperor has wanted a monkey to become a lion.”…… He was so good to the poor; he converted England. Above all he wrote beautiful books; one is the “Pastoral Rule”; it teaches bishops their trade, but in the last part, it has the following words: “I have described the good shepherd but I am not one, I have shown the shore of perfection at which to arrive but personally I am still in the breakers of my faults and my shortcomings, and so: please…..so that I will not be shipwrecked, throw me a safety belt with your prayers.” I say the same: yet it is not just the Pope who needs prayers, but the world. A Spanish writer has written: “The world is going wrong because there are more battles than prayers.” Let us try to see that there may be more prayers and fewer battles.” — John Paul I, Sunday, 3 September 78.
Yes, let there be more prayers than battles. Good advice. When we are tempted to do battle, even among our kin or our neighbors or our coworkers, let us offer a prayer instead!
