Pope at Angelus: Let us open
ourselves to God’s surprises’
Speaking to the crowd in St Peter’s Square before praying
the Angelus, Pope Francis focuses on Jesus’ invitation to appreciate how God
works through everyone.
By Sr Bernadette Mary Reis, fsp
Before praying the Angelus with thousands of the faithful
and tourists in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, Pope Francis reflected on the
day’s Gospel (Mk 9:38-43, 45, 47-48), emphasizing Jesus' invitation to
appreciate how God works through everyone.
Jesus teaches interior freedom
Pope Francis characterized this passage of the Gospel when
the disciples prevented an outsider from casting demons as a one of the
teaching moments in the life of Jesus and his disciples. When John wants Jesus
to support what they did, Jesus, instead, responds differently.
“John, and the other disciples, demonstrate a closed
attitude” regarding a good action because it was done by an outsider, the Pope
continued. “Jesus instead appears much freer, completely open to the freedom of
the Spirit of God, whose action is not limited by any boundary or by any
enclosure”.
Exclusion can be competition
In this case, Jesus teaches by his own attitude what
interior freedom is to his disciples of all times. Pope Francis then
suggested that we make an examination of conscience because this attitude of
excluding those who are not “one of us” can be found in any Christian
community.
On the one hand, the Pope said, this attitude can be an
expression of zeal or come from the desire to protect an authentically
charismatic experience of a founder or leader. However, the Pope said that it
can at times be a “ 'competition’ that someone else will take away new
followers, and thus we do not succeed in appreciating the good that others do”
simply because “they are not one of us”.
This is the invitation that Jesus gives us today. He
calls us not to think according to the categories of 'friend or enemy', 'us or
them', 'who’s on the inside / who’s on the outside', but to go beyond, to open
the heart so as to recognize God’s presence and his action even in unusual and
unpredictable areas and people who are not part of our circle.
Pope Francis concluded his reflections asking that Mary, the
model of the one who docilely receives God’s surprises, might
help us to recognize the signs of the presence of the
Lord in our midst, discovering Him wherever He manifests Himself, even in the
most unthinkable and unusual situations.
Bl Jean-Baptiste Fouque
Pope Francis then announced that Bl Jean-Baptiste Fouque is
being beatified on Sunday in Marseilles, France. Bl Jean-Baptiste lived between
the 19th and 20th centuries. The Pope
summarized his life as that of a “diocesan priest who remained an associate
pastor all of his life”.
In addition, the Pope said that he “promoted numerous
charitable and social works in favor of the young, the elderly, the poor and
the sick”. He then asked through the example and intercession of the new
Blessed that “this apostle of charity sustain us in our commitment to welcome
and share with those who are weaker and disadvantaged”.
Other greetings
The Pope then greeted all those present, and named the
faithful from Calpe in Spain, Foggia and Rapallo in Italy, a group of mayors
and civil administrators from Salzburg, an international delegation of deaf
people on the occasion of the Word Day of the Deaf, members of the Saint Egidio
community from Italy’s Campania region, and young people of the Shalom Movement
from Fuececchio.
After wishing a Blessed Sunday to all, and asking everyone
not to forget to pray for him, he ended his Angelus with “Enjoy your lunch, and
see you again!”
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