Pope: to be good Christians , "there is no other way " than " contemplating Jesus' humanity and suffering humanity "
Vatican City ( AsiaNews) - In order to be good Christians , ""there is no other way " than " contemplating Jesus' humanity and suffering humanity". This will give us the grace "to bear witness, in order to give this testimony". "To forgive, contemplate the suffering Jesus . To avoid hating your neighbor, contemplate the suffering Jesus. To avoid idle gossip against your neighbor, contemplate the suffering Jesus". This is one of the two "poles " , together with the " sweetness " of Mary, that Pope Francis has indicated for us to follow the Gospel which calls for "tough things".
The Gospel , in fact , the Pope
said during Mass celebrated this morning in Casa Santa Marta , is demanding; it
requires Christians to have the ability to forgive, to have magnanimity, to love
their enemies . He
said there is only one way to be able to put them into practice,
"contemplating the Passion , Jesus' humanity' and imitating the behavior
of his Mother. In
fact, Pope Fracis dedicated the first thoughts of his homily to Our Lady, whose
"Holy Name" the Church celebrates today. Once,
he said, today's feast was called the "Sweet Name of Mary." Then,
the definition changed, "but this sweetness of her name has remained in
prayer". "We
need it, this sweetness, today, from Our Lad , to understand these things that
Jesus asks of us, right? Because this list is not easy to live with . Love your
enemies, do good, give your all, hoping for
nothing ... To those who
strikes you on the cheek , offer the other one too, to those who rip your cloak
from you, do not refuse them your tunic ... But , these are tough things, are
they not? But all this, in its way, was experienced by Our Lady: She is the grace of forbearance,
the grace of meekness. "
Saint Paul, too,
in the letter to the Colossians in the day's liturgy, invites Christians to
"put on . . . heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness . . .
bearing with one another and forgiving one another." And here, Pope Francis
said, we immediately ask: "But how can I do this? How can I prepare myself to
do this? What must I learn in order to do this?" The answer, the Pope said, is
clear: "We cannot do this through our own effort. We cannot do this! Only a
grace can accomplish this in us." And this grace, he added, comes along a
definite path:
"Fix your thoughts on Jesus alone. If our heart, if our mind is with Jesus, the
Victor who has conquered death, sin, the devil, all things, we can do what
Jesus Himself asks of us, and what the Apostle asks of us: meekness, humility,
kindness, heartfelt compassion, gentleness, magnanimity. If we do not look to
Jesus, if we are not with Jesus, we cannot do this. It is a grace: it is the
grace that comes from the contemplation of Jesus."
In particular,
Pope Francis continued, there is a specific aspect of the life of Jesus to
which the Christian's contemplation must always return: His Passion, His
"suffering humanity." And, he insisted, it is through this contemplation "of
Jesus, of our life hidden with Jesus in God, that we are able to go forward
with this attitude, these virtues that the Lord asks of us. There is no other
path":
"To think about His meek silence: this will be your endeavour. He will do the
rest. He will do everything that is lacking. But you must do that: hiding your
life in God with Christ. This is done through contemplation of the humanity of
Jesus, of the suffering humanity. There is no other path - there's none. It is
the only way. To be good Christians, contemplating the humanity of Jesus, the
suffering humanity. In order to witness, in order to be able to give this
witness. In order not to hate the neighbour, contemplate Jesus suffering. To
not gossip against the neighbour, contemplate Jesus suffering. It is the only
way. Hide your life with Christ in God: this is the counsel the Apostle gives. It
is the counsel to become humble, meek and good, magnanimous, kind."
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03/05/2020 12:38
