Vatican City, 19 April 2015 (VIS) –
At midday today the Pope appeared at the window of his study in the
Vatican Apostolic Palace to pray the Regina Coeli with the faithful
present in the square. Before the Marian prayer, Francis spoke about
the meaning of witness in the life of Christians. “A witness is one
who has seen, who recalls, and recounts”, he said. “To see, to
remember and to tell are the three verbs that describe identity and
mission. The witness is one who has seen, but not with indifferent
eyes; he has seen and allowed himself to be involved in the event.
Therefore, he also remembers, not only because he is able to
precisely reconstruct the facts, but because these facts have spoken
to him and he has grasped their deep meaning. And so the witness
recounts, not in a cold or detached way, but as one who has allowed
himself to be questioned, and has from that day forth changed his
life”.
“The content of Christian witness is
not a theory, and ideology, or a complex system of precepts and
prohibitions”, he added, “but rather a message of salvation, a
concrete event, or rather a Person: it is the risen Christ, the sole
and living Saviour of all”.
The Pontiff went on to emphasise that
the Christian may be a witness of the risen Christ “by way of a
path that has its foundation in Baptism and its nourishment in the
Eucharist, its seal in Confirmation and its continual conversion in
Penance. … If, however, a Christian allows himself to be rapt by
comforts and vanity, if he becomes deaf and blind to the question of
'resurrection' of so many of his brothers, how will he be able to
communicate the living Jesus, with his liberating power and infinite
tenderness?”.
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