Pope: the Christian is one who is before a God who asks to be called Father

"All the people capable of love, the peacemakers who until then had ended up on the edge of history, are instead builders of the Kingdom of God. It is as if Jesus were saying: forward you who carry in your heart the mystery of a God who revealed His omnipotence in love and forgiveness! From this entrance portal, which overturns the values of history, comes the newness of the Gospel".

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - The Christian "is not one who commits himself to be better than others: he knows he is a sinner like everyone", but he is the man who pauses before the revelation of a God who "asks His children to invoke Him with the name of 'Father', to let himself be renewed by His power and to reflect a ray of His goodness for this world so thirsty for good, so waiting for good news ". It is the "presentation" of the Our Father as Matthew describes it, at the center of the Sermon on the Mount (cf. 6: 9-13) of which Pope Francis spoke today at the general audience.

Continuing in the catechesis dedicated to the Our Father, Francis told the eight thousand people present in the Paul VI hall that "the location is very significant; because in this long teaching, which goes under the name of 'Sermon on the Mount' (cf. Mt 5,1-7,27), Jesus condenses the fundamental aspects of his message. The debut is like a decorative bow : the Beatitudes. Jesus crowns with happiness a series of categories of people who in his time - but also in ours! - were not considered. Blessed are the poor, the meek, the merciful, the humble people of the heart ... This is the revolution of the Gospel. Where there is Gospel there is revolution ".

"All people capable of love, the peacemakers who until then had ended up on the edge of history, are instead the builders of the Kingdom of God. It is as if Jesus were saying: forward you who carry the mystery of a God who revealed His omnipotence in love and forgiveness in your heart! From this entrance, which overturns the values of history, comes the newness of the Gospel. The Law should not be abolished but needs a new interpretation, which leads it back to its original meaning. If a person has a good heart, predisposed to love, then he understands that every word of God must be incarnated until its last consequences. Love has no boundaries: one can love one's spouse, one's friend and even one's enemy with a completely new perspective. Jesus says: "But I say to you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; he makes his sun rise on the bad and on the good, and makes it rain on the just and on the unjust "(Mt 5,44-45)".

"Here is the great secret that underlies the Sermon on the Mount: be sons of your Father who is in heaven. Apparently these chapters of the Gospel of Matthew seem to be a moral discourse, seem to evoke such an exacting ethic that it seems impracticable, and instead we find that they are above all a theological discourse. The Christian is not one who is committed to being better than others: he knows that he is a sinner like everyone else. The Christian simply is the man who pauses before the new Burning Bush, to the revelation of a God who does not carry the enigma of an unpronounceable name, but who asks his sons to invoke him with the name of 'Father', to let himself be renewed by his power and to reflect a ray of his goodness for this world so thirsty for good, so waiting for good news ".

"Here then, is how Jesus introduces the teaching of the prayer of the 'Our Father'. He does this by distancing himself from two groups of his time.

First of all the hypocrites: "Do not be like the hypocrites who, in the synagogues and in the corners of the squares, who like to pray standing upright, to be seen by the people" (Mt 6: 5)".

"And how many times we see the scandal of those people who go to church and stay all day there or go every day and then live hating others or talking badly about people. This is a scandal! Better not to go to church! Live like this, as an atheist. But if you go to church, live as a son, as a brother and give a true testimony, not a counter-testimony ".

"There are people who are able to weave atheistic prayers, without God: they do it to be admired by men. Christian prayer, on the other hand, has no other credible witness than its own conscience, where a continuous dialogue with the Father intertwines intensely: "When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is in secret" (Mt 6: 6). Then Jesus distances himself from the prayer of the pagans: "Do not waste words: they believe they are heard by words" (Mt 6: 7). Here perhaps Jesus alludes to that 'captatio benevolentiae' which was the necessary premise of many ancient prayers: the divinity had to be somewhat appeased by a long series of praise".

"And I also think of many Christians who believe that praying is - sorry, eh! - 'talking to God like a parrot'. No! Praying is done from the heart, from within. Instead - says Jesus - when you pray, turn to God as a son to his father, who knows what things he needs before he asks them (cf. Mt 6: 8).

"It is good to think that our God does not need sacrifices to win His favor! He does not need anything, our God: in prayer He asks only that we keep open a channel of communication with him to always discover his beloved children. And He loves us so much ".

And after a colorful and festive interlude offered by the artists of the Circus of Cuba, "which - said the Pope - bring beauty that makes us better people leads us to God", in greetings in Italian, Francis recalled the next celebration of 'Epiphany asking to emulate the Magi looking up to heaven, "only then we can see the star that invites us to walk the paths of good".