Pope: 'true Christians have cheerful faces and eyes
full of joy'
(Vatican Radio) As we head into the Lenten season, Pope
Francis has invited us to reflect on our relationship to God and to
money, as we can't serve both masters at the same time. His words came on
Tuesday during morning Mass in the Casa Santa Marta.
Speaking about the message of the Gospel readings in these
days leading up to the beginning of Lent, Pope Francis recalled the story of
the rich young man who wanted to follow the Lord, but whose wealth led him to
follow money instead.
Jesus’ words in this story worry the disciples, as he tells
them it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a
rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. In today’s reading from St Mark’s
Gospel, the Pope said, we see Peter asking the Lord what will happen to them, as they have
given up everything to follow him. “It’s almost as if Peter is passing Jesus
the bill,” Pope Francis exclaimed.
Peter didn’t know what to say: the young man has gone his
way, but what about us? Pope Francis said Jesus’ reply is clear: I tell you
there is no-one who has given up everything and has not received everything.
You will receive everything, in that overflowing measure with which God gives
his gifts.
The Pope repeated the Gospel words: “there is no one who has
given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands
for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel, who will not receive a hundred
times more, now in this present age: houses and brothers and sisters and
mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and eternal life in the age
to come”.
The Lord is incapable of giving less than everything, the
Pope said: when he gives us something, he gives all of himself.
Yet there is a word in this reading, he continued, which
gives us cause for reflection: in this present age we receive a hundred times
more houses and brothers, together with persecutions. The Pope said
this means entering into a different way of thinking, a different way of
behaving. Jesus gives everything of himself, because the fullness of God is a
fullness emptied out on the Cross.
This is the gift of God, the Pope insisted, a fullness which
is emptied out. This is also the Christian’s way of being, to seek and receive
a fullness which is emptied out and to follow that path is not easy, he
stressed. How do we recognize that we are following this path of giving
everything in order to receive everything, he asked? The words of the first
reading of the day tell us to “pay homage to the Lord, and do not spare your
freewill gifts. With each contribution show a cheerful countenance, and pay
your tithes in a spirit of joy. Give to the Most High as he has given to you,
generously, according to your means".
A cheerful face and eyes full of joy, the Pope said, these
are the signs that we’re following this path of all and nothing, of fullness
emptied out. The rich young man’s face fell and he became very sad, because he
was not capable of receiving and welcoming this fullness emptied out, but the
saints and Peter were able to receive it. Amid all their trials and
difficulties, they had cheerful faces and hearts full of joy.
Pope Francis concluded by recalling the Chilean saint
Alberto Hurtado who worked with the poor amidst such difficulty, persecution
and suffering, yet his words were ’I’m happy, Lord, I’m happy’. May he teach us
to follow this difficult path of all and nothing, of Christ’s fullness emptied
out, and to be able to say at all times ’I’m happy, Lord, I’m happy’
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