Pope warns against everyday temptation to "flee from God "
Vatican City ( AsiaNews) - There is
an everyday temptation to "to flee from God," and sometimes a sinner,
someone who is "distant" may be able to hear "the voice of God," to
let "God write his lifestory", while a Christian may want to "flee"
to "write " for their own lifestory themselves.
This
was the lesson that Pope Francis drew from the story of Jonah and the Good at Mass
celebrated this morning at Casa Santa Marta .
As reported by Vatican Radio, the
Pope pointed out that Jonah serves the Lord , prays a lot and does good , but
when the Lord calls him he tries to flee, because he "had written his lifestory"
and " did not want to be disturbed." The
Lord sent him to Nineveh , and instead he " took a ship for Spain. He was
fleeing from the Lord ."
"Fleeing
from God. You can flee from God, even if you are Christian, Catholic , a member
of Catholic Action, a priest , bishop , Pope ... all of us, we can all flee
from God! It is an everyday temptation. Not listening to God, to his voice, not
feeling His proposal, His invitation in our heart of hearts. We can flee immediately.
There are other ways to flee from God , a little better mannered , a little more
sophisticated , no ?
In the Gospel , there is this half dead man, lying on the roadside, and by
chance a priest was going down that road - a worthy priest, wearing his cassock
, good , very good ! He saw the man and looked at him: 'I will be late for Mass
' , and he passed him by. He did not heard the voice of God there. " Then
comes a Levite, who , says the Pope , will have perhaps thought, " If I
take him or if I approach him, maybe he will be dead, and tomorrow I will have
to go to the judge and to give testimony ... " and hepassed on. He,
too , says the Pope , flees "from this voice of God ."
"The only someone able to
understand the voice of God is someone who usually flees from God, a sinner
," a Samaritan. This
person, he notes , "is a sinner , distant from God," and yet "
he heard the voice of God and drew near." The
Samaritan "realized that God was calling him, and did not run away ."
"
He went to him and bandaged his wounds , pouring oil and wine on them, then he
set him on his horse " and even " took him to an inn, and took care
of him. He spent the entire evening with
him".
"The
priest arrived in time for the Holy Mass, and all the faithful were happy, and
the Levite had , the next day, a quiet day just as he wanted, without all the bother
of having to go to the judge and
all these things ... and why did Jonah flee from God? Why did the priest flee
from God? Why did the Levite flee from God? Because they had closed heart, and
when you have closed hearts you can not hear the voice of God. Instead, a Samaritan , as he journeyed ' saw
him and had compassion ' : he had an open heart , he was human . And his humanity
drew him close. "
"Jonah
had a life plan : he wanted to write his story ," and it was the same with
the priest and the Levite . "
A plan of action." But,
said the Pope , this sinner , the Samaritan "let him write his life. God
changed everything that night , because the Lord has approached the person of
this poor man , wounded, badly wounded, dying on the roadside" :
"I
ask myself and I ask you : Do you let God write your life story or do you want to
write it yourselves? And this tells us about docility : are obedient to the Word of God? ' Yes , I
want to be
docile ! ' . But you, do you have ability to listen , to hear it ? Do you have
the ability to find the Word of God in your every day life, or are your ideas
what keep you going? Or do you allow yourself to be surprised by what the Lord
has to say to you? "
"
Three people flee from God - summed up the Pope - and another in an irregular
situation" is "able to listen , open his heart and not run away". I'm
sure , said the Pontiff, we all see that " the Samaritan , the sinner ,
did not flee from God." The
Lord , he concluded, "may allow us to hear His voice, His voice , which
tells us : Go and do likewise".
.png)
17/05/2020 12:35
16/05/2020 12:38
02/05/2020 14:24
01/05/2020 17:00
