Vatican City, 6 January 2015 (VIS) –
At noon, after the Mass in St. Peter's Basilica for the Solemnity of
the Epiphany of the Lord, Pope Francis appeared at the window of his
study in the Apostolic Palace to pray the Angelus with the faithful
and pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square.
“In today's Gospel,” he began,
“the story of the Magi who came to Bethlehem from the East to adore
the Messiah confers upon the feast of Epiphany an air of
universality. This air is the breath of the Church, who desires all
the peoples of the earth to encounter Jesus and to experience his
merciful love. This is the Church's wish: that all may find Jesus'
mercy, his love. The new-born Christ does not yet know how to speak
and yet people of all the nations—represented
by the Magi—can already meet him, recognize him, worship him. The
Magi say: 'We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him
homage'.”
“...The Magi were prestigious men,
from distant lands and different cultures, and they had journeyed
toward Israel to worship the king who had been born. The Church has
always seen in them an image of all of humanity and, with today's
celebration of the Feast of Epiphany, it wants to respectfully show
every man and woman of this world the Child who was born for the
salvation of all. On Christmas Eve, Jesus revealed himself to
shepherds, humble and unappreciated men—some say robbers. They were
the first to bring a little warmth into that cold grotto in
Bethlehem. Now the Magi come from distant lands, also mysteriously
attracted by that Child. The shepherds and the Magi are very
different from one another but one thing unites them: the sky.”
“...The
shepherds and the Magi teach us that, to encounter Jesus, it is
necessary to know how to raise our gaze to the heavens, and not be
turned in on ourselves, on our own selfishness, but to have our
hearts and minds open to the horizon of God, which always surprises
us, and to know how to welcome its message and respond promptly and
generously. The Magi, the Gospel says, 'were
overjoyed at seeing the star'.
Even for us there is great consolation in seeing the star, namely in
feeling guided and not abandoned to our fate. The star is the Gospel,
the Word of the Lord that, as the psalm says, 'is a lamp for my feet,
a light for my path'. This light guides us towards Christ. Without
listening to the Gospel it is not possible to encounter him.”
“The
Magi,” he added, “following the star, came to the place where
Jesus was. And there 'they saw the child with Mary his mother. They
prostrated themselves and did him homage'. The experience of the Magi
urges us not to be content with mediocrity, not to 'just get along'
but to seek out the meaning of things, passionately scrutinizing the
great mystery of life. It teaches us not to be scandalized by
smallness and poverty, but to recognize the majesty of humility and
to know how to kneel before it. May the Virgin Mary, who welcomed the
Magi to Bethlehem, help us to lift our gaze from ourself and to be
guided by the star of the Gospel so that we might meet Jesus and know
how to humble ourselves in order to worship him. In that way we can
bring a ray of its light to others and share the joy of the journey
with them.”
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