The Pope to the Angelus: “Do you want to stand out? It serves”

Argentina



[ad_1]

Commenting on the liturgy on the eve of the Sunday Angelus prayer, Pope Francis recalled that a person’s worth does not depend on the role they play, their success, their work or their money. “Greatness and success, in the sight of God, have another level: they are measured in service.” And he called upon Mary, humble servant of the Lord, to “help us understand that serving does not diminish us, but makes us grow. And that there is more joy in giving than in receiving “

Vatican News

Punctually at noon, Francisco went to his office window, facing St. Peter’s Square, for the usual Sunday Angelus meeting.

Commenting on the Gospel of the day when Saint Mark relates that, on the way to Jerusalem, the disciples of Jesus were arguing over who “was the greatest among them”, the Pope explained that he had spoken to them forcefully. Something that – he said – also applies to us today:

“If you want to be the first, be the last of all and the servant of all”

The Holy Father affirmed that “with this concise sentence, the Lord inaugurates an investment: he overturns the criteria which mark what really matters”.

“A person’s worth no longer depends on the role they play, the success they have, the work they do, the money they have in the bank; no, greatness and success, in the eyes of God, have another level: they are measured in service. Not because of what you have, but because of what you give. Want to stand out? It serves”

The Pope declared that “today the word” service “seems a little faded, worn out with use. But he recalled that in the Gospel “it has a precise and concrete meaning”.

“To serve is not an expression of courtesy: it is to do like Jesus, who, summing up his life in a few words, said that he had come” not to be served, but to serve “”

The path of service

For this reason, Francis emphasized that if we want to follow Jesus, we must walk the path he himself marked out, “the path of service”. He also stressed that “our fidelity to the Lord depends on our willingness to serve”. And this despite the cost, to “know how to cross”.

“But as we grow in care and availability to others, we become freer on the inside, more like Jesus”

The Pope also stressed that “the more we serve, the more we feel the presence of God”. Above all, “when we serve those who have nothing to give back to us, the poor, embracing their difficulties and their needs with tender compassion: there we discover that in our turn we are loved and embraced by God”.

This is why – continued the Holy Father – Jesus, after having spoken of the primacy of service, made a gesture to illustrate it: “He takes a child and places him among the disciples, in the center, in the place. . “

Smallness

Francis explained that the child, in the Gospel, “does not symbolize so much innocence as smallness”. At the same time, he expressed that “Jesus embraces this child and says that whoever receives a baby receives it. It is first of all who to serve: those who need to receive and who have nothing to give ”.

“By welcoming those who are on the margins, abandoned, we welcome Jesus, because he is there. And in a little one, in a poor person whom we serve, we too receive the tender embrace of God “

The Pope invited us to ask ourselves, being questioned by the Gospel:

“I who am Jesus, am he interested in the most abandoned? Or, like the disciples on this day, am I looking for personal gratification? Do I understand life as a competition to make a hole for myself at the expense of others, or do I think that to be good is to serve? And more precisely: do I devote time to a “little one”, to a person who has no way of reciprocating? Am I taking care of someone who can’t reciprocate, or only my family and friends? “

After these questions, Francis called on the Virgin Mary, humble servant of the Lord, to “help us understand that serving does not diminish us, but makes us grow. And that there is more joy in giving than in receiving ”.

.

[ad_2]
Source link

Tags

Powered by https://naaju.com/argentina | Designed by Naaju
© Copyright 2024, All Rights Reserved