Vatican
City, 25 April 2013
(VIS) – The Pope presided over Mass this morning, the feast of the
Evangelist St. Mark, at the Domus Sanctae Marthae. Among those
present were members of the Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops,
accompanied by their secretary general, Archbishop Nikola Eterovic.
Francis,
noting that today's Gospel narrates Jesus' Ascension, emphasized
that, before he was taken up into heaven, the Lord sent his Apostles
to proclaim the Gospel “to the ends of the earth, not just in
Jerusalem or in Galilee. … The horizon is wide and, as you can see,
this is the nature of the Church's missionary action. The Church goes
forward with this proclaiming to all, to all the world. But she does
not go forward alone: she goes with Jesus. … The Lord works with
all those who preach the Gospel.”
The
Bishop of Rome also referenced the First Letter of Peter, which
defines the Christian style of preaching; “humility, service,
charity, fraternal love. But—'Lord, we have to conquer the world!'
That word, 'conquer', doesn't belong. We have to preach to the world.
The Christian cannot be like the soldiers who, when they win the
battle, make a clean sweep of everything. The Christian announces the
Gospel by his witness more than by his words, and this goes two
ways...: a great spirit is not frightened by great things, of going
forward toward unending horizons, and the humility of being aware of
the little things.”
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