Pope's Mass: Don't ignore God's voice. Allow Him to 'write' your life
October 7, 2013. (Romereports.com) On Monday morning, Pope Francis celebrated his morning Mass with a group of journalists. During his Homily, the Pope reflected on Jonah, who was commissioned by God to carry out a task. But feeling afraid, he escaped. The Pope asked Christians if they are willing to listen to what God is telling them.
POPE FRANCIS
“I ask myself, and I ask all of you: Do we let God write our lives? Or do we want to do the writing ourselves? This deals with being docile. Are we docile with God's Word? Many say, 'yes I want to be.' But are you willing to listen and to feel His voice? Are you willing to find God's Word in every day life, or do your own ideas rule everything, without letting the Lord speak to you?”
The Pope also added that even people who pray often run the risk of closing their ears to God. He said that part of listening to the Lord, comes with helping the needy.
EXCERPT OF POPE'S HOMILY:
(Source: Vatican Radio)
Not to listen to His voice, not to take heed in our hearts of His proposal and His invitation– the Pope said – is a daily temptation. And He said there are many ways in which one can turn away from God, polite, sophisticated ways… And to better illustrate his message, Pope Francis recalled the parable recounted in the Gospel in which there is a half-dead man lying in the road. A priest walks by – a zealous priest wearing a cassock and on his way to say Mass. The priest looks at the man and says to himself “I will be late for Mass” and goes on his way. “He didn’t hear the voice of God” – Pope Francis pointed out.
Then a Levite passes by – the Pope continued – and perhaps he thinks “If I get involved and the man dies, then tomorrow I will have to go before the judge and give testimony…” so, the Pope continued “he too goes on his way. He too – Francis points out - “turns away from the voice of God”…
Only the Samaritan, a sinner, someone who habitually turns away from God had the capacity “to hear God and to understand his request”. Someone – the Pope observes – “who wasn’t used to participating in religious rites, who didn’t lead a “moral” life, who was theologically “wrong”, because – Pope Francis explained – Samaritans believed that God should be adored elsewhere, not where the Lord had said.”
But “the Samaritan understood that God was calling him and he did not turn away. He went to the man, bound up his wounds, poured on oil and wine. He set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn and took care of him”. He gave up his whole evening for him.
Meanwhile, Pope Francis said, the priest was on time for Mass and the faithful were happy; the Levite’s schedule was not upset…. And the Pope asked: “why did Jonah run away from God when the Lord asked him to go to Ninevah and he boarded a ship to Spain? Why did the priest turn away from God? Why did the Levite turn away from God? Because their hearts were closed, and when your heart is closed you cannot hear the voice of God. Instead the Samaritan - he said - “saw and was moved with compassion”: his heart was open, he was human, and humanity brought him close to God.
Those – Pope Francis said – who have a design for their lives, who want to map out their own stories – do not allow God to write their lives.
“I say to myself, and I say to you: do we let God write our lives? Or do we want to do the writing ourselves?” And he exhorted those listening “to be docile to the Word of God. To have the capacity to hear His voice and to listen to it.”
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