The phrase "Ephphatha," meaning "be open," signifies the need for believers to be receptive to God's message and to serve others. Christians are encouraged to embody openness.

In his weekly audience, Pope Francis explained that as we bear witness to the Resurrected Christ, we are summoned to emulate the creativity and simplicity that characterize the Spirit’s actions.

In a speech to the COP28 meeting of world leaders in Dubai read by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Pope Francis decried the ‘inordinate greed that has made the environment the object of unbridled exploitation.’

We can easily be discouraged during these difficult times in our world. Yet, Saint Paul reminds us that in God’s plan, we are compelled to express the joy of the Gospel in our daily lives.

“We cannot say that we are privileged compared to others—no,” Pope Francis said at today’s general audience. “The calling is for a service. And God chooses one in order to love everyone, to reach everyone.”

“Either we proclaim Jesus with joy, or we do not proclaim him, because another way of proclaiming him is not capable of bringing the true reality of Jesus,” Pope Francis said in his weekly audience.

In his weekly audience, Pope Francis highlighted the witness of the venerable servant of God Madeleine Delbrêl, who calls us to a faith that is maintained in movement.

In his homily closing the first session of the Synod on Synodality, Pope Francis reflected on two verbs: “to adore and to serve. We love God through adoration and service.”

“Let us ask Saints Cyril and Methodius, apostles of the Slavs, that we may be instruments of ‘freedom in charity’ for others,” Pope Francis said at today’s general audience.

St. Bakhita was able to experience service not as slavery, but as an expression of the free gift of self.