Vatican
City, 9 June 2013 (VIS) – “The Ten Commandments are not a
limitation, but an indication for freedom.” This was the heart of
Pope Francis' video message that was broadcast yesterday at 9:40pm
local time to the thousands gathered in Milan's Cathedral Square to
participate in the “Ten Squares for Ten Commandments” initiative
promoted by the “Renewal in the Spirit” movement in collaboration
with the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization as
part of the Year of Faith.
Milan
is the fourth city to host the initiative, which began under the
pontificate of Benedict XVI in September of 2013, following events in
Rome, Naples, and Verona. In the coming months, Pope Francis will
send video messages to participants gathering in squares in Bari,
Genoa, Cagliari, Florence, Palermo, Bologna, and Turin.
“The
Ten Commandments,” the pontiff affirmed, “are a gift from God.
The word 'commandment' isn't fashionable. To today's persons, it
recalls something negative, someone's will that imposes limits, that
places obstacles to our lives. … Unfortunately history, even recent
history, is marked by tyranny, ideologies, mindsets that have been
imposed and oppressive, that haven't sought the good of humanity but
rather power, success, and profit. The Ten Commandments, however,
come from a God who created us out of love, from a God who
established a covenant with humanity, a God who only wants the good
of humanity. Let us trust in God! … The Ten Commandments show us a
path to travel and also constitute a sort of 'moral code' for
building just societies that are made for men and women. How much
inequality there is in the world! How much hunger for food and for
truth! How much moral and material poverty resulting from the
rejection of God and from putting so many idols in his place! Let us
be guided by these Ten Words that enlighten and guide those seeking
peace, justice, and dignity.”
“It
is important to remember when God, through Moses, gave the people of
Israel the Ten Commandments. At the Red Sea the people had
experienced great deliverance. They had seen first hand the power and
faithfulness of God, the God who liberates. Now God himself, upon
Mount Sinai, indicates to his people and to all of us the way to
remain free, a path that is engraved upon the human heart as a
universal moral Law. We shouldn't see the Ten Commandments as
restriction upon our freedom; no, not that way. We should see them as
signs for our freedom. … They teach us how to avoid the slavery to
which the many idols that we ourselves build reduce us. … They
teach us to open ourselves to a wider dimension than the material
one; to live with respect for others; overcoming the greed of power,
possessions, and money; to be honest and sincere in our
relationships; to protect all of creation and to nurture our planet
with high, noble, and spiritual ideals. Following the Ten
Commandments means being faithful to ourselves, to our most authentic
nature, and walking towards the true freedom that Christ taught us in
the Beatitudes.”
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