Pope: along the path of the commandments but looking toward Jesus
For the pontiff, “the law is the ‘pedagogue’ toward Christ. [. . .] Those who seek life need to look to the promise and to its fulfillment in Christ.” Francis saddened by the murder of Fr Olivier Maire in France.
Vatican City (AsiaNews) – Pope Francis centred his catechesis in today’s General Audience on the Letter to the Galatians. In it, he said that the faithful must go “along the path of the commandments but looking toward” Jesus.
The meeting gave the Pope the opportunity to express "sorrow" for the murder, in France, of Father Olivier Maire. “I send my condolences to the Monfortian religious community in Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre, Vendée, to his family and to all the Catholics of France. I assure you of my participation and spiritual closeness,” he said addressing French-speaking pilgrims.
Previously, the pontiff continued the cycle of catechises before the approximately 4,000 people present in the Paul VI Hall, speaking about the Letter to the Galatians, on the theme: The Law of Moses (Reading: Gal 3:19, 21-22).
The topic stems from the fact that those who “nostalgic for times gone by, of the times before Jesus Christ” believed that the Galatians should have followed the Mosaic Law in order to be saved.
“The Apostle is not at all in agreement. These were not the terms he had agreed on with the other Apostles in Jerusalem. He remembers very well Peter’s words when he said: ‘Why do you make trial of God by putting a yoke upon the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?’ (Acts 15:10).
“The dispositions that had emerged in that ‘first council’ – the first ecumenical council was the one that took place in Jerusalem – and the dispositions that emerged were very clear. They said: ‘For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us [the apostles] to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols [that is, idolatry] and from blood and from what is strangled and from unchastity’ (Acts 15:28-29).”
For Francis, “the observance of the Law guaranteed to the people the benefits of the Covenant”. In fact, “In making the Covenant with Israel, God offered them the Torah, the Law, so they could understand his will and live in justice. We have to think that at that time, a Law like this was necessary, it was a tremendous gift that God gave his people. Why? Because at that time paganism was everywhere”.
“Several times, especially in the prophetic books, it is noted that not observing the precepts of the Law constituted a real betrayal of the Covenant, provoking God’s wrath as a consequence. The connection between the Covenant and the Law was so close that the two realities were inseparable. The Law is the way a person, a people express that they are in covenant with God.
“So, in light of all this, it is easy to understand how well those missionaries who had infiltrated the Galatians found such fair game by sustaining that adhering to the Covenant also included observing the Mosaic Law as it was done at that time.”
Saint Paul noted “that, in reality, the Covenant and the Law are not linked indissolubly – the Covenant with God and the Mosaic Law. The first element he relies on is that the Covenant established by God with Abraham was based on faith in the fulfillment of the promise and not on the observance of the Law that did not yet exist.”
“Such an argument disqualifies all those who sustain that the Mosaic Law was a constitutive part of the Covenant. No, the Covenant comes first, and the call came to Abraham. The Torah, the Law, in fact, was not included in the promise made to Abraham.
“Having said this, one should not think, however, that Saint Paul was opposed to the Mosaic Law. No, he observed it. Several times in his Letters, he defends its divine origin and says that it possesses a well-defined role in the history of salvation. The Law, however, does not give life, it does not offer the fulfillment of the promise because it is not capable of being able to fulfill it.
“The Law is a journey, a journey that leads toward an encounter. Paul uses a word, I do not know if it is in the text, a very important word: the law is the ‘pedagogue’ toward Christ, the pedagogue toward faith in Christ, that is, the teacher that leads you by the hand toward the encounter (cf. Gal 3:24). Those who seek life need to look to the promise and to its fulfillment in Christ.”
“This word is very important. The people of God, we Christians, we journey through life looking toward a promise, the promise is what attracts us, it attracts us to move forward toward the encounter with the Lord.”
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07/02/2019 17:28
25/08/2021 13:17
