Pope: 'God never asks without giving first. Never. First He saves, then He asks '
Continuing to illustrate the Ten Commandments, Francis stressed that in the words: " I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery" there is the fact that "the love of God precedes the law and gives it meaning ".
Vatican City (AsiaNews) - God above all "saves", He "liberates". Christian life "is above all the grateful response to a generous Father. Christians who follow only 'duties' reveal that they do not have a personal experience of that God who is 'ours' ". Continuing the new cycle of catechesis on the commandments, Pope Francis focused his meditation today on the theme: "The love of God precedes the law and gives it meaning".
Speaking to the 15 thousand people present in Saint Peter's Square, including two choirs from Egypt and Lebanon, Francis said: " In our continuing catechesis on the commandments, we now consider the text of the Decalogue, the ten commandments given to Moses on Mount Sinai. The text begins with the words: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery” (Ex 20:2). This beginning would seem extraneous to the actual laws that follow. But is not so. Why this proclamation that God makes of Himself and of liberation? Because one arrives at Mount Sinai after crossing the Red Sea: the God of Israel first saves, then asks for trust. That is: the Decalogue of the law begins with the generosity of God. God never asks without giving first. Never. First He saves, then He asks".
"We must understand the importance of the first declaration:" I am the Lord your God ". There is a possessive, there is a relationship, one belongs to another. God is not a stranger: he is your God. This illuminates the whole Decalogue and also reveals the secret of Christian action, because it is the same attitude of Jesus who says: "As the Father has loved me, I have loved you too" (Jn 15.9). Christ is loved by the Father and loves us with that love. He does not start from himself but from the Father. Often our works fail because we start from ourselves and not from gratitude. And who starts from himself ... where does he arrive? to himself! He is incapable of making his way forward. It is selfish attitude ".
"The Christian life is above all the grateful response to a generous Father. Christians who follow only 'duties' reveal that they do not have a personal experience of that God who is 'ours' ". "Putting the law before this relationship does not help the journey of faith. How can a young person desire to be a Christian, if we start from obligations, commitments, coherences and not from liberation? Being a Christian is a journey of liberation. The commandments liberate". "Christian formation is not based on willpower, but on the acceptance of salvation, on letting oneself be loved: first the Red Sea, then Mount Sinai. First of all salvation, God saves His people, then the law ".
"Gratitude is a characteristic trait of the heart visited by the Holy Spirit; to obey God we must first remember His gifts. Saint Basil says: "Whoever does not let those gifts fall into oblivion, is oriented towards good virtue and to every work of justice" (Short Rules, 56). Where does all this bring us? To exercise memory: how many beautiful things God has done for each of us! How generous is our Heavenly Father! Now I would like to offer you a little exercise; in silence everyone, respond in your own heart: how many beautiful things has God done for me? Everyone respond in your own heart. And this is the liberation of God ".
"Yet some may feel that they have not yet had a true experience of the liberation of God. This can happen. It could be that one looks inward and finds only a sense of duty, a spirituality as servants and not as children. What should we do in this case? As the chosen people did. The Book of Exodus says: "The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. God heard their groaning and he remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them"(Ex 2,23-25)".
"The liberating action of God at the beginning of the Decalogue is the answer to this lament. We do not save ourselves alone, but a cry of help can start from us. This is up to us: we must ask to be freed". "This cry is important, it is prayer, it is awareness of what is still oppressed and not liberated in us. There are many things not yet liberated. Save me, free me. This is a beautiful prayer. God awaits that cry, because He can and wants to break our chains; God has not called us to life to remain oppressed, but to be free and live in gratitude, joyfully obeying the One who gave us so much, infinitely more than we can ever give to Him. It is beautiful! May He always be blessed for all He has done, does and will do in us! ".
"God - he then said in the greeting to the Arab faithful - gave the commandments to His people after having freed them from slavery, thus showing the generosity of His fatherly love. God desires to dissolve all our chains to live life and commandments, not with the spirit of slaves, but with the freedom of children ".
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