Angelus
address: Full text
(Vatican Radio) Below you can find the full text of Pope
Francis’ address at the Angelus on Sunday 23 August 2015:
Today is the conclusion of the readings from the sixth chapter
of the Gospel of St John, with the discourse on the “Bread of Life,” proclaimed
by Jesus on the day after the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and
fishes. At the end of that discourse, the great enthusiasm of the day before
faded, because Jesus had said He was the Bread come down from heaven, and that
He would give His Flesh as food and His Blood as drink, clearly alluding to the
sacrifice of His very life. These words provoked disappointment in the people,
who considered them unworthy of the Messiah, not “winning.” That’s how some saw
Jesus: as a Messiah who ought to speak and act in such a way that His mission
would be successful, immediately! But they erred precisely in this: in manner
of understanding the mission of the Messiah! Even the disciples failed to
accept that language, that disturbing language of the Master. And today’s
passage refers to their discomfort: “This saying is hard,” they said, “Who can
accept it?” (John 6:60).
In reality, they understood well the discourse of Jesus—so well
that they did not want to hear it, because it is a discourse that undermines
their mindset. The Words of Jesus always discomfort us; discomfort us, for
example, with regard to the spirit of the world, of worldliness. But Jesus
offers the key to overcome the difficulty; a key made of three elements. First,
His divine origin: He is come down from heaven and will rise up “to where He
was before” (v. 62). Second: His words can only be understood through the
action of the Holy Spirit, He “who gives life” (v. 63). It is precisely the
Holy Spirit that makes us understand Jesus well. Third: the true cause of
misunderstanding of His words is lack of faith: “Among you there are some who
do not believe” (v. 64), Jesus says. In fact, from that point, “many of His
disciples turned back” (v. 66). In the face of these defections, Jesus does not
take back or soften His words, in fact, He forces us to make a clear
choice—either to remain with Him or to separate ourselves from Him—and He says
to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?” (v. 67).
At this point Peter makes his confession of faith in the name of
the other Apostles: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal
life” (v. 68). He does not say “where shall we go?” but “to whom shall we go?”
The fundamental problem is not leaving and abandoning the work that has been
undertaken, but rather “to whom” to go. From that question of Peter, we
understand that faithfulness to God is a question of faithfulness to a person,
with whom we are joined in order to walk together along the same road. All that
we have in the world does not satisfy our hunger for the infinite. We need
Jesus, to remain with Him, to nourish ourselves at His table, on His words of
eternal life! To believe in Jesus means making Him the centre, the meaning of
our life. Christ is not an accessory element: He is the “living bread,” the
indispensable nourishment. Attaching ourselves to Him, in a true relationship
of faith and love, does not mean being chained, but [rather] profoundly free,
always on a journey.
Each one of us can ask himself, right now, “Who is Jesus for me?
Is He a name? an idea? Is He simply a person from history? Or is He really the
person Who loves me, Who gave His life for me and walks with me?” Who is Jesus
for you? Do you remain with Jesus? Do you seek to know Him in His word? Do you
read the Gospel every day, a passage from the Gospel in order to know Jesus? Do
you carry the little Gospel in your pocket, in your bag, in order to read it
everywhere. Because the more we are with Him the more the desire to remain with
Him grows. Now I kindly ask you, let us take a moment of silence, and each one
of us, in silence, in his or her heart, ask yourself the question: “Who is
Jesus for me?” In silence, everyone answer in his or her heart. “Who is Jesus
for me?”
[A moment of silence.]
May the Virgin Mary help us always “to go” to Jesus in order to
experience the freedom that He offers us, and that allows us to purify our
choices from worldly incrustations and fear.
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