Pope: Christians must pursue the
path of true life, true love, true wealth
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| Pope Francis at the General Audience.- ANSA |
Young people should be hungry for an authentic Christian
life and adults should set an example. This message was at the heart of Pope
Francis’ catechesis on Wednesday morning in St. Peter’s Square.
By Linda Bordoni
Pope Francis began a new series of catecheses on
Wednesday focussing on the Ten Commandments.
Addressing those present in St. Peter’s Square for the General
Audience, the Pope reflected on the Gospel passage of the day in which a
young man asked Jesus: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”
“That question, he explained, contains the challenge of
every existence: we all wish for a full and eternal life. But what path must we
walk to achieve one?”
Don’t be fainthearted
With a specific appeal to the young, Pope Francis pointed
out that concrete problems, however serious or dramatic, do not pose the
greatest challenges.
“The greatest challenge in life” he said is to avoid being
mediocre and fainthearted: if a young person settles for a life of bland
mediocrity, even if he or she follows the rules, he will not live a full and
authentic existence.
“We must ask the Lord to give today’s youth the gift of
healthy restlessness” he said, stressing that young people must hunger for a
life of fulfillment and beauty.
Accept your limits
Pope Francis recalled that Jesus tells the young man to
follow the Commandments, but then points him to something greater, because it
is clear that the young man does not have a full life.
He said that the transition from youth to maturity takes
place when one begins to “accept one’s limits” and becomes aware of what is
lacking.
No to Christians with shrunken hearts
Jesus, the Pope said, invited the young man who has always
obeyed the Commandments to take an extra step, sell what he possesses, give to
the poor and follow him, with the promise that in this way he will have
“treasure in heaven.”
Inviting those present to choose the rich and fulfilling
life offered to us by Jesus, he said “it is not nice to meet ‘faint-hearted
Christians’, those with ‘shrunken hearts’ who are happy with not going the
whole way.
This story shows us that Jesus came, “not to abolish the Law
but to fulfil it” Francis explained, because the Lord wishes to give us something
greater.
Thus, he explained, the young man had reached a threshold
and was challenged to take a leap whereby the possibility of ceasing to live
only for himself and to embrace Jesus’s offer for “true wealth” became a
concrete reality.
Here's the challenge, Francis said: pursue the path of true
life, true love, true wealth!
Francis concluded saying that in the new series of
catecheses “we will take Moses’ two stone tablets” and walking in the footsteps
of Jesus we will discover the door through which we can follow Him to the
fullness of life: his life and our life as God’s children.
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