And use your time well… from today’s Angelus, translation courtesy of Teresa Benedetta:

Dear brothers and sisters,

In this summer season, many have left the cities and are in tourist destinations or in their hometowns for their annual vacation. To them I wish that this awaited period of rest may serve to refresh the mind and the body, which are subject to daily wear and tear in the frenetic course of modern-day existence.

Vacations also constitute a precious opportunity to spend more time with family, to revisit relatives and friends, in short, to give more space for those human contacts that the pace of our daily lives keeps us from cultivating as we wish to.

However, not everyone has the opportunity to take a vacation, and not a few among us are forced by various reasons not to go on vacation.

I think particularly of those who are alone, of older people, and the sick who, at this time specially, may feel even more alone. To these brothers and sisters, I wish to assure my spiritual nearness, with a heartfelt wish that none of them may lack the support and comfort of friendly persons.

Vacation time also becomes for many a fruitful occasion for cultural encounters, for prolonged moments of prayer, and of contemplation either in contact with nature or in monasteries and other religious establishments.

With the free time at our disposal, we can dedicate ourselves more easily to conversations with God, to meditating on Sacred Scripture, and to reading useful formative books. Whoever experiences this spiritual rest knows how useful it is not to reduce vacations to mere leisure and entertainment.

Faithful participation in Sunday Mass helps us to feel part of the church communtiy even when we are outside our own parishes. Wherever we are, we always need to nourish ourselves with the Eucharist. We are reminded of this by today’s Gospel in which Jesus is presented to us as the Bread of Life.

He himself, according to the evangelist John, proclaimed Himself to be ‘the living bread descended from heaven" (cfr Jn 6, 31), bread which nourishes our faith as well as communion among all Christians.

But vacation time cannot make us forget the grave conflict taking place in the Middle East. The latest developments give us hope that the hostiities will end and that humanitarian assistance to the affected populations may promptly and effectively be guaranteed.

The wish of everyone is that finally peace may prevail over violence and the force of arms. For this we invoke with insistent confidence Mary, who – from her celestial glory, and whose Assumption we celebrate day after tomorrow – is always there to intercede for her children and help us in our needs.