Vatican City, 31 January 2016 (VIS) –
At midday today the Pope prayed the Angelus with the pilgrims and
faithful in St. Peter's Square. Beforehand he commented on the day's
Gospel reading, which "like last Sunday leads us to the
synagogue of Nazareth, the village of Galilee where Jesus grew up in
His family and was known to all. He had left shortly before to begin
His public life, but returns for the first time and presents Himself
to the community, gathered on the Sabbath in the synagogue. He reads
the passage from the prophet Isaiah, who speaks about the future
messiah, and at the end declares: 'Today this Scripture passage is
fulfilled in your hearing'. His fellow townspeople, at first
surprised and admiring, began to sneer and murmur among themselves,
and to say, 'why does this man who claims to be the Consecrated of
the Lord not repeat here the works and miracles that He did in
Capernaum and the other nearby towns?'. Jesus then declares, 'No
prophet is accepted in his own native place', and recalls the great
prophets of the past, Elijah and Elisha, who worked miracles for the
pagans in order to denounce the lack of faith of their people. At
this point, those present are offended, they rise in indignation,
they drive Jesus out of the town and want to throw Him over a
precipice. But He, with the strength of His peace, 'passed through
the midst of them and went away'. His hour had not yet come".
The Pope explained that this account of
the Evangelist Luke is not simply the story of a community dispute,
as can sometimes happen in our own neighbourhoods too, caused by envy
and jealousies, but also brings to light a temptation that a
religious person is always vulnerable to — we are all vulnerable to
it — and which we must certainly avoid. … It is the temptation to
consider religion as a human investment and thus to 'negotiate' with
God, seeking our own interests. Instead, true religion is receiving
the revelation of a God Who is the Father and Who cares for every one
of his creatures, even the smallest and least significant in the eyes
of man. This is precisely what Jesus’ prophetic ministry consists
of: announcing that no human condition can be a motive for exclusion
… from the heart of the Father, and that the only privilege in the
eyes of God is that of not having privileges. The only privilege in
the eyes of God is that of not having privileges, of not having
protectors, of abandoning oneself in His hands".
“The 'today' proclaimed by Christ
that day applies to every day; it resonates for us in this Square
too, reminding us of the current importance of and need for salvation
brought by Jesus to humanity. God goes out towards the men and women
of all times and places in the concrete situations in which they find
themselves. He also comes out towards us. He is always the one Who
takes the first step. He comes to visit us with His mercy, to lift us
from the dust of our sin; He comes to extend His hand to lift us from
the abyss in which our pride has caused us to fall, and He invites us
to welcome the consoling truth of the Gospel and to walk the paths of
righteousness. He always comes to find us, to seek us".
Francis concluded by invoking Our Lady,
explaining that the situation was a foretaste of what she would
suffer below the Cross, seeing her Son in the synagogue, "first
admired, then challenged, then insulted, and threatened with death.
In her heart, filled with faith, she conserved all these things".
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