POPE FRANCIS
ON THE CHRISTIAN’S TASK OF DAILY CONVERSION AND INTERIOR STRUGGLE TOWARDS THE ENCOUNTER WITH JESUS CHRIST.
Dear friends, below you have some ideas of Pope Francis’ homily at Santa Marta on Oct. 22, 2015, where he reminded us of our task as Christians to strive daily in order to live a life of holiness with the help of God’s grace.
- CONVERSION, A DAILY DUTY
- For a Christian, conversion is a daily duty, a task of everyday life. As St. Paul says to the Romans (6:19-23), we should strive daily in order to in order to pass from a life of iniquity to a life of sanctity.
- Paul makes use of the example of a sportsman, of the man who trains himself for the game and makes a huge effort. This is what an athlete does to win a match; but what about us, who should be striving to win that great victory of Heaven? What should we do? Saint Paul, the Pope said, “exhorts us to go forward with this effort”.
- OUR DAILY EFFORTS OPENS THE DOOR TO THE HOLY SPIRIT WHO SANCTIFIES US.
- “Ah, Father, are we able to think that sanctification comes through the effort I make, like the victory that comes to sportsmen, comes through training? No. The efforts we make, this daily work of serving the Lord with our soul, with our heart, with our body, with our whole life only opens the door to the Holy Spirit. It is He who enters into us and saves us! He is the gift in Jesus Christ! Otherwise, we would make ourselves like fakirs: No, we are not fakirs. We, with our efforts, open the door.”
- IT IS NOT AN EASY TASK, BUT WE SHOULD KEEP ON MOVING FORWARD A LITTLE BIT EVERYDAY IN THE LITTLE THINGS.
- It is a difficult task because of our weakness, of original sin, and the devil always pulls us back. The author of the Letter to the Hebrews warns us against this temptation “to turn back”; he warns us “not to go back, not to fall.” We need to continue to go forward, “a little bit each day,” even “when there is great difficulty”.
- “A few months ago, I met a woman. Young, the mother of a family – a beautiful family – who had cancer. An ugly cancer. But she moved with happiness, she acted like she was healthy. And speaking about this attitude, she told me, ‘Father, I would do anything to beat the cancer!’ It’s that way with the Christian. We have received this gift in Jesus Christ and we have passed from sin, from the life of iniquity to the life of the gift in Jesus, in the Holy Spirit; we must do the same. Every day a step. Every day a step.”
- ALL OUR EFFORTS, WITH GOD’S GRACE, TO OVERCOME THE TEMPTATIONS WILL LEAD US TO THE ENCOUNTER WITH JESUS CHRIST THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT.
- “There are some temptations, like the desire to gossip against someone. In this case, we have to make an effort to keep silent. Or perhaps, we feel a bit sleepy and we don’t feel like praying, but then later, we pray a bit. We must start with the little things. They help us not to give in, not to turn our backs, not to return to evil but rather move forward towards that gift, that promise of Jesus Christ which is precisely our encounter with Him. Let us ask Our Lord for this grace: to be brave in this life training towards this encounter because we have received the gift of justification, the gift of grace, the gift of the Holy Spirit in Jesus Christ.”
A blessed weekend to all!
-Fr. Rolly Arjonillo, priest of Opus Dei, CATHOLICS STRIVING FOR HOLINESS. We are also in Facebook: www.facebook.com/CatholicsstrivingforHoliness. Hope you like our page and invite your friends as well to do so in order to help more people.
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NEWS SOURCE: http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2015/10/22/pope_francis_our_effort_opens_the_door_to_the_holy_spirit/1181154 (TITLES AND HIGHLIGHTS MINE. SOME MODIFICATIONS IN THE TRANSLATION MADE)
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