“When the Holy Father comes out to begin the audience he drives through in a totally open vehicle. And I have to tell you—it’s kind of earned the nickname ‘The Kid-mobile’, because like in many other audiences he managed to pick up six kids from the audience today. He just invited them to jump on board, and so you can imagine what a thrill of a lifetime that must be for those little ones. So that certainly set the air of joy this morning,” said Ashley Noronha, Relevant Radio Rome Correspondent on Morning Air.

Today in his general weekly audience, Pope Francis spoke about the Liturgy of the Word, asking the faithful to be “open to the saving message” and to pay close attention to how God is speaking to us through the scriptures.

“We’ve been talking about catechesis on the Eucharist for these past few weeks. So now, turning to the Liturgy of the Word, of course this is how God speaks to us. We have to remember that it’s the Holy Spirit inspires the sacred scriptures, and that His living word is the way that He speaks to our minds and our hearts,” says Noronha. “So, Pope Francis today said, remember that in your own prayer lives, don’t substitute readings, don’t skip readings, don’t go to other texts. Make sure that people are not substituting, say, the newspaper for the Word of God, said the Holy Father today.”

“And he also mentioned that lectors should of course take their responsibilities very seriously to proclaim the Word of God and to speak clearly so that everyone can understand what’s being said. And for participants during the Mass to listen to God’s words. The Holy Father said, this is not an opportunity to chat with our neighbors; this is not an opportunity to gossip. He reminded us that we don’t live by bread alone, we need the Word of God because that speaks directly to us at the moment, telling us how to live. And, as he said, it’s how we find our nourishment,” says Noronha.

“When we listen to the Old and the New Testaments which are proclaiming the mystery of Christ, they are calling for a response from us. It’s not meant to be a one-way thing. We have to actively participate in the Word, and when we do that, we ask the Holy Spirit to make this Word come alive in our hearts, it’s then our hearts will bear abundant fruit.”