Pope: Christians are called to be witnesses of
obedience
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Thursday
reflected on the fact that being Christian is not a social status.Speaking
during the homily at the Mass in the Casa Santa Marta the
Pope said Christians must be witnesses of obedience to God, like Jesus was.
Recalling the reading of the day Pope Francis quoted Peter’s
words before the Sanhedrin when he said “You must obey God rather than
men."
Peter and the Apostles had been freed from prison by an
Angel, and forbidden to teach in Jesus’s name
And yet the high priest said “You have filled Jerusalem with
your teaching and want to bring this man's blood upon us”.
In order to better understand this event the Pope also
referred to the Book of Acts regarding the early months of the Church
which describes a growing Christian community and many miracles.
There was the faith of the people, he said, but there were
also “wily” people trying to take advantage of the situation and “wanting to
make a career for themselves” like Hananiah and Sapphira.
The same kind of dynamics take place today, the Pope noted,
and there are those who despise “God’s faithful people.”
Turning back to the reading of today, the Pope said that
Peter, who out of fear had betrayed Jesus on Holy Thursday, this time
courageously answered the high priest saying that “we must obey God
rather than men."
This answer, he said, makes it clear that "a Christian
is a witness of obedience" as Jesus was, when in the garden of Gethsemane,
he addressed these words to the Father: “not my will but yours be done”.
"The Christian is a witness of obedience; if we are not
on this path and growing in our witness we are not Christians. We must at least
walk this way” he said.
The Pope pointed out that “Jesus is not the testimonial of
an idea, of a philosophy, of a company, of a bank or of power: he is a
testimonial of obedience”.
However, Francis explained, to become a “witness of
obedience” we need the "grace of the Holy Spirit".
"Only the Spirit can make us witnesses of obedience.
It’s not enough to listen to spiritual guides or to read books…. all that is
fine but only the Spirit can change our heart and make us witnesses of
obedience” he said.
The Pope said it is a grace we must ask for: “Father,
Lord Jesus, send me your Spirit so that I may become a witness of obedience,
that is, a Christian.”
Francis also said that to be witnesses of obedience implies
consequences, as narrated by the First reading; in fact, after Peter's
response, the high priests wanted to put him to death:
"Persecutions were the consequences of this witness of
obedience. When Jesus lists the Beatitudes he ends with the words ‘Blessed are
you when they insult you and persecute you’” he said.
And pointing out that the cross cannot be taken away from
the life of a Christian, the Pope said “being a Christian has nothing to do
with social status, it is not a lifestyle that makes one feel good; being a
Christian means being a witness of obedience and the life of a Christian is
full of insults and persecutions”.
Pope Francis concluded his homily saying that in order to be
witnesses of obedience like Jesus, it is necessary to pray, to recognize that
we are sinners with much “worldliness” in our hearts and to ask God for the
grace of becoming witnesses of obedience" and to not be afraid when we are
insulted and persecuted "because as the Lord said: the Spirit will tell us
what to answer."
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