Pope: Wait for God’s “time”, without trying "manufacture" mission
Starting a series of catechesis dedicated to the Acts of the Apostles, Francis emphasizes that "the Risen One invites his own people not to live the present anxiously, but to make an alliance with time, to know how to wait for the unraveling of a sacred history that has not been interrupted but that advances". Wait "praying in unity and with perseverance".
Vatican City (AsiaNews) - Wait patiently for the "times" set by God, without wanting to "manufacture" mission by oneself, rather remain docile by praying, invoking the Spirit and cultivating the art of ecclesial communion. This is the teaching that Pope Francis proposed today at the general audience, beginning a new cycle of catechesis dedicated to the Acts of the Apostles.
Speaking to the 20 thousand people present in St. Peter's Square, commenting on the theme "He showed himself alive to them ... and ordered them ... to await the fulfillment of the Father's promise" (Acts 1: 3-4), Francis said that the Acts, a biblical book, written by St. Luke the Evangelist, "speaks to us of a journey, the journey of the Gospel in the world and shows us the marvelous union between the Word of God and the Holy Spirit which inaugurates the time of evangelization. The protagonists of the Acts are a lively and effective "couple": the Word and the Spirit ".
"St. Luke tells us that the human word becomes effective not thanks to rhetoric, which is the art of beautiful speech, but thanks to the Holy Spirit, which is the dýnamis of God, God’s dynamism, His strength, which has the power to purify the Word, to make it the bearer of life ". For example human words are used in the Bible, but unlike a history book they are inspired by the Holy Spirit. "When the Spirit visits the human word it becomes dynamic, like 'dynamite', that is, capable of igniting hearts and smashing fixed-patterns, resistances and walls of division, opening up new ways and expanding the boundaries of God's people. The Holy Spirit gives vibrant sonority and incisiveness to our fragile human word, capable of lying and escaping its responsibility ".
The Pope said that in the Acts of the Apostles, we see how Jesus after the resurrection "performs very human gestures, like sharing a meal with his own, and inviting them to live expectation of the fulfillment of the Father's promise with confidence: "you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit "(Acts 1: 5). Baptism in the Holy Spirit, in fact, is the experience that allows us to enter into a personal communion with God and to participate in his universal salvific will, acquiring the gift of pharresia, courage, that is the ability to pronounce a word 'as children of God ', not only as men: clear, free, effective, full of love for Christ and for our brothers. There is therefore no struggle to earn or merit the gift of God. Everything is given for free and in due time. The Lord gives everything for free. You do not have to pay for Salvation. Before the anxiety of his disciples to know in advance the time in which the events announced by Him would happen, Jesus answers: "It is not up to you to know times or moments that the Father has reserved for his power, but you will receive the strength from the Holy Spirit who will come down on you, and on me you will be witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth "(Acts 1,7-8)".
"The Risen One invites his people not to live the present with anxiety, but to make an alliance with time, to know how to wait for the unraveling of a sacred history that has not been interrupted but that is advancing, to know how to wait for the "steps" of God, Lord of time and space. The Risen One invites his followers not to "manufacture" mission by themselves, but to wait for the Father to make their hearts dynamic with his Spirit, to be able to get involved in a missionary witness capable of radiating from Jerusalem to Samaria and to go beyond the borders of Israel to reach the peripheries of the world ”.
"This expectation, the Apostles live together, live it as a family, as the Lord's family, in the upper room or cenacle, whose walls are still witnesses of the gift with which Jesus gave himself to his own in the Eucharist. And how do we await the strength, the dýnamis of God? Praying with perseverance, as if there were not so many but one. Praying in unity and with perseverance. In fact, it is through prayer that one overcomes loneliness, temptation, suspicion and opens one's heart to communion. The presence of women and of Mary, the mother of Jesus, intensifies this experience: they were the first to learn from the Master to witness to the fidelity of love and the strength of communion that overcomes all fear. We should also ask the Lord - concluded Francis – for the patience to wait for His steps, not to "manufacture" His work and to remain docile by praying, invoking the Spirit and cultivating the art of ecclesial communion ".
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