Vatican City, 9 February 2014 (VIS) –
At midday today Pope Francis appeared at the window of his study to
pray the Angelus with the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square
and, before the Marian prayer, he commented on this Sunday's Gospel
reading in which Jesus says to his disciples, “You are the salt of
the earth … You are the light of the world”.
“It is rather surprising, if we
consider to whom Jesus addressed these words. Who were those
disciples? They were fishermen, simple people. But Jesus saw them
through God's eyes, and his statement may be understood precisely as
a consequence of the Beatitudes. He meant to say, if you are poor in
spirit, if you are meek, if you are pure of heart, if you are
merciful .. you will be the salt of the earth and the light of the
world!”
And to better understand the meaning of
Christ's phrase, the Holy Father explained that Jewish law prescribed
the addition of a little salt to every offering presented to God, as
a sign of alliance, and light was for Israel the symbol of the
messianic revelation, triumphant over the darkness of paganism.
“Christians, the new Israel, therefore received a mission in
relation to all mankind: with faith and charity they were able to
guide, consecrate and make fruitful all humanity. We all, as
baptised persons, are missionary disciples, and are called to become
a living gospel in the world: by a holy life we bring 'flavour' to
many contexts, and defend them against corruption, like salt; and we
will bring the light of Christ with our witness of true charity”.
But if we Christians “lose our
flavour, and renounce our presence as salt and light, we lose our
effectiveness. But our mission to bring light to the world is
beautiful! … And it is also beautiful to preserve the light we have
received from Jesus. … The Christian must be a luminous person, who
brings light, who always gives light! … A light that is not his or
hers, but rather a gift from God, and a gift from Jesus. And we bring
this light. If the Christian allows this light to be extinguished,
his life no longer has meaning; he is a Christian by name only”.
The Pope concluded by asking the
faithful in the square if they wanted to live as shining lamps or as
lights that had gone out; when they responded, “Shining lamps!”,
he added, “It is God himself who gives us this light, and we offer
it to others. Shining lamps! This is the Christian vocation”.
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