Francis outside the Walls: called to proclaim, witness, worship God

| | Comments (0)
Apse mosaic of the Basilica of Saint Paul Outs...
At the Mass offered by Pope Francis at the Basilica of St Paul outside the Walls today reminded us that "we must obey God"!  Francis asked, do we know how to speak of Christ today? 

Faith is born from listening and strengthened by proclamation.

The teaching gained from today's papal homily as the Pope took possession of the this basilica that is close the Petrine ministry, he gave yet another way of looking at being in relationship with the Lord Jesus in concrete ways. He was not abstract, he did give us a direction. In typical Benedictine terms, that God be glorified in all things (the Jesuits say, adapting the phrase just quoted: "to the greater glory of God). We need to be carried by God's will under all circumstances, even if it costs our lives. Every detail matters in speaking of the grace given by God. We all, no matter to rank, experience, education, socio-economic class, are in relationship with Jesus Christ. The tangible witness of our lives is crucial. Inconsistencies by pastors and ministers betray Christ and undermine the Good News. We need to be close the Lord as the 12 were, as the 72 were, as those who heard and saw Him as described in the Acts of the Apostles. 

Do we worship the Lord? Do only turn the Lord ask of Him things, or do we turn to Him to worship Him?

Worshiping God means learning to be with Him, stop dialogue, but sensing his presence is the most true and most important of all. It means striping ourselves of our idols (e.g., money, power, and fame) and placing God in the center of our lives. Does God have the first place in our lives, that we are convinced that God is the God of our lives and our history? 

The Pope's three key ideas spoken: proclamation, witness, worship.
Enhanced by Zemanta

Leave a comment

About the author

Paul A. Zalonski is from New Haven, CT. He is a member of the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation, a Catholic ecclesial movement and an Oblate of Saint Benedict. Contact Paul at paulzalonski[at]yahoo.com.

Categories

Archives

Humanities Blog Directory

About this Entry

This page contains a single entry by Paul Zalonski published on April 14, 2013 11:01 AM.

How Catholics use Scripture: Pope Francis talks on inspiration and truth in the Bible was the previous entry in this blog.

Francis: live an intense relationship with Jesus is the next entry in this blog.

Find recent content on the main index or look in the archives to find all content.