At noon today local time in Rome (6:00am EST), the Holy Father, Pope Francis appeared at the window of his study inside the Vatican Apostolic Palace to recite the Angelus with the faithful and with pilgrims gathered in Saint Peter's Square.
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
Today's Gospel (cf Mt 5: 17-37) is taken from the sermon on the mount and deals with the topic of fulfilling the Law: how I must fulfill the Law, how to do it. Jesus wants to help his listeners to have a correct approach to the prescriptions of the Commandments given to Moses, which urge us to be available to God who educates us in the ways of true freedom and responsibility through the Law. It is about living the Commandments as instruments of freedom. Let's not forget this: living the Law as an instrument of freedom, which helps us to be freer, which helps us not to be a slave to passions and sin. We can think of wars, we can think of the consequences of wars, we can think of that little girl who died of the cold in Syria the day before yesterday. There are many calamities, many. This is the result of passions and people who make war cannot control their passions. They fail to fulfill the law. When you succumb to temptations and passions, you are not lords and protagonists of your life, but you become unable to manage it with will and responsibility.
Jesus' discourse is structured in four antitheses, expressed with the formula You understood that it was said ... but I tell you ... These antitheses refer to many situations of daily life: murder, adultery, divorce and oaths. Jesus does not abolish the prescriptions that concern these problems, but explains their full meaning and indicates the spirit with which we should observe them. He encourages us to move from formal compliance with the Law to substantial compliance, accepting the Law in our hearts, which is the center of each of our intentions, decisions, words and gestures. Good and bad deeds begin in the heart.
By accepting the Law of God in your heart, you understand that when you do not love your neighbour, you kill yourself and others to some extent, because hatred, rivalry and division kill the fraternal charity that is the basis of interpersonal relationships. And this applies to what I have said about wars and also to chatter, because language kills. By accepting the Law of God in your heart you understand that desires must be guided, because not everything you want can be had, and it is not good to give in to selfish and possessive feelings. When you accept the Law of God in your heart, you understand that you must abandon a lifestyle made of broken promises, as well as move from the prohibition of swearing false oaths to the decision not to swear oaths at all, assuming the attitude of full sincerity with everyone.
And Jesus is aware that it is not easy to live the Commandments in this devoted a way. For this reason he offers us the help of his love: He came into the world not only to fulfill the Law, but also to give us his Grace, so that we can do the will of God, loving him and our brothers and sisters. Everything, we can do everything with the grace of God! On the contrary, holiness is nothing other than to guard this gratuitousness that God has given us, this Grace. It is a matter of trusting and entrusting ourselves to him, to his grace, to that gratuitousness that he has given us and welcoming the hand that he constantly extends to us, so that our efforts and our necessary commitment can be supported by his help which is full of goodness and mercy.
Today Jesus asks us to progress on the path of love that he has shown us, a path that starts in the heart. This is the way forward in order for us to live as Christians. May the Virgin Mary help us to follow the path traced out by her Son, to reach true joy and spread justice and peace everywhere.
Following the recitation of the Angelus, the Holy Father continued:
Dear brothers and sisters!
I greet all of you, Romans and pilgrims; in particular, those who have come from Croatia and from Serbia; from Trappes (France); from the Dioceses of Toledo (Spain); and the students from the Colegio Assunción Cuestablanca in Madrid (Spain).
I greet the faithful from Biancavilla, Fiuggi, Aprilia, Pescara and Treviso; the recently-Confirmed young people from Serravalle, Scrivia, Quarto d'Altino and Rosolina.
And I wish all of you a good Sunday. Please, don't forget to pray for me. Enjoy your lunch and good bye!
Testo originale nella lingua italiana
Greetings of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
prior to the recitation of the Angelus
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
Today's Gospel (cf Mt 5: 17-37) is taken from the sermon on the mount and deals with the topic of fulfilling the Law: how I must fulfill the Law, how to do it. Jesus wants to help his listeners to have a correct approach to the prescriptions of the Commandments given to Moses, which urge us to be available to God who educates us in the ways of true freedom and responsibility through the Law. It is about living the Commandments as instruments of freedom. Let's not forget this: living the Law as an instrument of freedom, which helps us to be freer, which helps us not to be a slave to passions and sin. We can think of wars, we can think of the consequences of wars, we can think of that little girl who died of the cold in Syria the day before yesterday. There are many calamities, many. This is the result of passions and people who make war cannot control their passions. They fail to fulfill the law. When you succumb to temptations and passions, you are not lords and protagonists of your life, but you become unable to manage it with will and responsibility.
Jesus' discourse is structured in four antitheses, expressed with the formula You understood that it was said ... but I tell you ... These antitheses refer to many situations of daily life: murder, adultery, divorce and oaths. Jesus does not abolish the prescriptions that concern these problems, but explains their full meaning and indicates the spirit with which we should observe them. He encourages us to move from formal compliance with the Law to substantial compliance, accepting the Law in our hearts, which is the center of each of our intentions, decisions, words and gestures. Good and bad deeds begin in the heart.
By accepting the Law of God in your heart, you understand that when you do not love your neighbour, you kill yourself and others to some extent, because hatred, rivalry and division kill the fraternal charity that is the basis of interpersonal relationships. And this applies to what I have said about wars and also to chatter, because language kills. By accepting the Law of God in your heart you understand that desires must be guided, because not everything you want can be had, and it is not good to give in to selfish and possessive feelings. When you accept the Law of God in your heart, you understand that you must abandon a lifestyle made of broken promises, as well as move from the prohibition of swearing false oaths to the decision not to swear oaths at all, assuming the attitude of full sincerity with everyone.
And Jesus is aware that it is not easy to live the Commandments in this devoted a way. For this reason he offers us the help of his love: He came into the world not only to fulfill the Law, but also to give us his Grace, so that we can do the will of God, loving him and our brothers and sisters. Everything, we can do everything with the grace of God! On the contrary, holiness is nothing other than to guard this gratuitousness that God has given us, this Grace. It is a matter of trusting and entrusting ourselves to him, to his grace, to that gratuitousness that he has given us and welcoming the hand that he constantly extends to us, so that our efforts and our necessary commitment can be supported by his help which is full of goodness and mercy.
Today Jesus asks us to progress on the path of love that he has shown us, a path that starts in the heart. This is the way forward in order for us to live as Christians. May the Virgin Mary help us to follow the path traced out by her Son, to reach true joy and spread justice and peace everywhere.
Following the recitation of the Angelus, the Holy Father continued:
Dear brothers and sisters!
I greet all of you, Romans and pilgrims; in particular, those who have come from Croatia and from Serbia; from Trappes (France); from the Dioceses of Toledo (Spain); and the students from the Colegio Assunción Cuestablanca in Madrid (Spain).
I greet the faithful from Biancavilla, Fiuggi, Aprilia, Pescara and Treviso; the recently-Confirmed young people from Serravalle, Scrivia, Quarto d'Altino and Rosolina.
And I wish all of you a good Sunday. Please, don't forget to pray for me. Enjoy your lunch and good bye!
Testo originale nella lingua italiana
No comments:
Post a Comment