Pope: The Christian's gaze is on heaven, his feet on
earth
(Vatican Radio) The Christian’s place is in the world, in
order to proclaim Jesus; but his gaze is turned to heaven in order to be united
to Him: that was the message of Pope Francis at the morning Mass at the Casa
Santa Marta on Friday.
Galilee, the place of the first encounter with Jesus
The Scriptures, Pope Francis said in his homily, give us
three words, three points of reference for the Christian journey. The first
word is “memory.” The risen Jesus tells the disciples to go before Him
to Galilee, and this was the first encounter with the Lord. Each one of us “has
his own ‘Galilee,’” where Jesus shows Himself for the first time, where we have
known Him and have had “this joy, this enthusiasm for following Him.” In order
“to be a good Christian it is necessary to always have this memory of the first
encounter with Jesus, or of subsequent encounters.” It is “the grace of memory”
which in “the moment of trial gives me certainty.”
A gaze fixed in heaven, our feet in the world
The second point of reference is “prayer.” When Jesus
ascended into heaven, the Pope explained, He did not break off His relationship
with us: “Physically, yes, but He is always joined to us by interceding for us.
He shows the Father His wounds, the price He has paid for us, for our
salvation.” And so “we must ask for the grace to contemplate heaven, the grace
of prayer, the relationship with Jesus in prayer, that in the moment He hears
us, He is with us”:
“Then there is a third [point of reference]: “the
world.” Jesus, before He left them—as we heard yesterday in the Gospel of
the Ascension—says to the disciples: ‘Go into the world and make disciples.’
Go: the Christian’s place is in the world in order to proclaim the Word of
Jesus, in order to say that we are saved, that He is come to give us grace, to
bring us all with Him before the Father.”
Memory, prayer, and mission
This, the Pope said, is “the topography of the Christian
spirit,” the three points of reference of our life: memory, prayer, mission;
and the three words for our journey: Galilee, heaven, the world:
“A Christian must move in these three dimensions, and
request the grace of memory: saying to the Lord, ‘Don’t let me forget the
moment when You chose me, don’t let me forget the moment we met.’ Then,
praying, looking to heaven because He is there, interceding. He intercedes for
us. And then, going on mission: that is, not saying that everyone has to go to
the foreign missions; [rather] going on mission is living and bearing witness
to the Gospel, it is making Jesus known to all people. And doing so through
witness and through the Word: because if I tell people about Jesus, and about
the Christian life, and then live like a pagan, that won’t do. The mission will
not go forward.”
The Christian life is joyful
If, instead, we live in memory, in prayer, and on mission,
Pope Francis concluded, the Christian life will be beautiful, and also joyful:
“And this is the final word Jesus speaks to us today in
the Gospel: ‘On that day, the day in which you live the Christian life in this
way, you will know all things and no one will be able to take your joy away
from you.” No one, because I have the memory of my encounter with Jesus; I have
the certainty that Jesus is in heaven in this moment and He is interceding for
me, He is with me; and I prayer and I have the courage to speak, to go out of
myself, and to speak to others and bear witness with my life that the Lord is
risen, He is alive. Memory, prayer, mission. May the Lord give us the grace to
understand this topography of the Christian life and to go forward with joy,
with that joy that no one can take from us.”
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