Pope Mass: The gift of God's salvation opens the door
to all
The Lord gives us the memory of God's
salvation which is “a gift” and close to the concreteness of the works
of mercy he wants us to do, whether they are "material or spiritual":
so we will become people who help to "open the door" to ourselves and
others. That was Pope Francis’ prayer at morning Mass at the Casa Santa
Marta. Recalling the passage from Luke's Gospel in which the Scribes and
Pharisees considered themselves righteous, and Jesus makes known to them that
God alone is just, the Pope explained why law practitioners had "taken
knowledge away" with "the consequence of not being able to enter the
Kingdom nor let others enter either".
"This leads us to understand the revelation of God, to
understand God's heart, to understand God's salvation - the key to knowledge -
we can say it is very neglected. One forgets the freedom of salvation;
forgetting the closeness of God and forgetting God's mercy. And those who
forget the gift of salvation, the closeness of God, and the mercy of God, have
taken away the key to knowledge. "
Therefore, this gift was "forgotten". It is
"God's initiative to save us and instead stand on the side of the
law": Salvation - said the Pope - "is there for them", thus
arriving in "a bunch of prescriptions" which in fact become
salvation. So, "they do not receive the power of God's
righteousness." The law, however, is always "an answer to God's
generous love", which has taken "the initiative" to save us.
And, continued Pope Francis, "when you forget the gift of salvation you
fall, you lose the key to the intelligence of the history of salvation",
losing "the sense of God's closeness":
"For them, God is the one who has made the law. But
this is not the God of revelation. The God of revelation is a God who
has begun to walk with us from Abraham to Jesus Christ, God walking with
His people. And when you lose this close relationship with the Lord, you fall
into this dull mindset that believes in the self-sufficiency of salvation with
the fulfillment of the law. The closeness of God ".
When the closeness of God is lacking, when prayer is
lacking, the Pope emphasized "doctrine cannot be taught" and not even
by "studying theology", much less "moral theology": The
Pope reiterated that theology "kneels down, always close to God ".
And the closeness of the Lord comes "to the highest point of the
crucified Jesus Christ," being "justified" for the blood of
Christ, as Saint Paul said. For this reason, the Pontiff explained, the works
of mercy "are the stone of the fulfillment of the law," because they
touch the flesh of Christ, "touch Christ’s suffering in a person, both
corporally and spiritually." Also, when the key to knowledge is lost, one
also becomes "corrupt". The Pope finally noted the
"responsibilities" of shepherds, now in the Church commenting
that when they lose or take away the "key of intelligence",
they close "the door on themselves and on others":
In my country, said the Pope, "I have heard
several times of parish priests who did not baptize the children of the mothers
because they were not born in canonical marriage. They closed the door,
why? Because the heart of these parish priests had lost the key to knowledge.
Three months ago, in a country, in a city, a mother
wanted to baptize her newly born son, but she was married civilly with a
divorced man. The priest said, 'Yes, yes. Baptize the baby. But your
husband is divorced. So he cannot be present at the ceremony. ' This is
happening today. The Pharisees, doctors of the law are not people of
the past, even today there are many of them. That is why we need prayers
for us shepherds. To pray that we do not lose the key to knowledge and do not
close the door to ourselves and the people who want to enter. "
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