Pope at Audience: 'communion
overcomes divisions'
Pope Francis emphasizes the importance of community and the
reconciling power of God’s love during his General Audience in St. Peter’s
Square.
By Linda Bordoni
Speaking to the pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square for
the Wednesday General Audience, Pope Francis explained that communion and
‘freedom from oneself’ are part of the Christian DNA.
In his catechesis, which continues a new cycle dedicated to
the Acts of the Apostles, the Pope warned against the temptation of being
self-referential and invited the faithful never to fear diversity.
He reflected on the fact that Christ’s choice of twelve
Apostles shows the continuity between the Church and the people of Israel.
After the defection of Judas, the Apostles, he said, were conscious that his
place in the Twelve had to be taken by another.
So, he explained, guided by Peter, the community as a whole
joined in prayer to discern the Lord’s choice of Matthias.
Visible communion
The Pope said that Jesus had told his disciples that they
would be known “by their love for one another”, and explained that this visible
communion of the Apostles was their first form of witness to the Risen Lord and
his saving love.
He noted that the disciples knew perfectly well that the
Resurrection of Christ was not “one event among others,” but the source of new
life.
He said that while “Judas preferred death to life” the
eleven, instead, chose life and salvation, and took on the responsibility of
passing it down through history, from generation to generation, from the people
of Israel to the Church.
Pope Francis continued pointing out that the abandonment of
one of the twelve created a wound in that community body, and said it became necessary
to pass the task on to another and to reconstitute the group of twelve.
Community discernment
This, he explained, inaugurated the practice of community
discernment, which consists in “seeing reality through the eyes of God, in the
perspective of unity and communion," highlighting the fact that
“communion overcomes divisions, isolation, a mentality that prioritizes private
space”.
He pointed out that Jesus had told the Apostles that people
would recognize them as his disciples if they had love for one another.
“In the Acts of the Apostles, the Twelve manifest the style
of the Lord,” he said, explaining that the visible communion of the Apostles
was their first form of witness to the Risen Lord and his saving love.
“We too,” Pope Francis said, “need to rediscover the beauty
of witnessing to the Risen One, going beyond self-referential attitudes,
resisting the temptation to keep God's gifts to ourselves, and never yielding
to mediocrity.”
The Pope concluded his catechesis urging the faithful to ask
the Lord to help them bear witness to the reconciling power of that love by our
unity, which – he said - triumphs over pride and divisiveness, and
creates one People of God out of diversity.
Safeguard life in every moment
During his greetings to a group of Polish pilgrims who
participated in a ‘Procession for Life’ on Sunday, the Pope issued an appeal to
always respect and safeguard the sanctity of life.
“Life is sacred because it is a gift from God,” he said,
urging Christians “to defend and serve life” from the moment of conception
until “old age, when it is marked by infirmity and suffering”.
“It is not lawful to destroy life, to make it the object of
experiments or false conceptions,” he said.
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