On the day in which the Church remembers Saint Joseph the Worker and the Marian month begins, Pope Francis does not forget to pray for peace and for the peoples who are victims of war. “War is always a defeat, always”, states the Pontiff in his greetings at the end of the general audience.
Let’s think about the tormented Ukraine which suffers so much. Let’s think about the inhabitants of Palestine and Israel, who are at war. We think of the Rohingya, of Myanmar, and we ask for peace, we ask for true peace for these peoples and for the whole world.
“We ask for peace, for peace to go forward”, states the Pope, recalling once again how unfortunately “today the investments that give the most income are weapons factories”. Making money with death, he reiterates, is “terrible”.
Prayer for the victims of the floods in Kenya
Francis’ spiritual closeness also went to the people of Kenya “at this time when a serious flood has tragically taken the lives of many of our brothers and sisters, injuring others and causing widespread destruction”. At least 169 have died so far due to the consequences of the bad weather, which hit Nairobi and the nearby Mai Mahui area, while 91 are missing. Over 190 thousand people affected. “I invite you to pray for all those who are suffering the effects of this natural disaster”, said the Pope, recalling that “even in the midst of adversity, we remember the joy of the risen Christ…”.
Francis: the first enemy of faith is not intelligence but fear
The theological virtues – faith, hope and charity – are the great gifts of God, together they give eyes that see in the dark, a heart that loves when one is not loved, a hope against everything. Pope Francis, in the catechesis at the general audience held in the Paul VI hall, offers concrete images to explain the virtues that make one “prudent, just, strong and temperate”. Theological virtues such as faith which is not opposed to reason but which has a great enemy: fear.
Faith is the virtue that makes the Christian. Because being Christian is not first and foremost accepting a culture, with the values that accompany it, but being Christian is welcoming and cherishing a bond, a bond with God: me and God; my person and the lovable face of Jesus. This bond is what makes us Christians.
The figures of faith
«What is faith?»: asks the Pope who responds by resorting to the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Faith, therefore, “is the act with which the human being freely abandons himself to God”. Francis turns to the great biblical figures to explain surrender to the Lord. Abraham, for example, is a great father of faith that made him fruitful, even capable of offering his son Isaac to God, spared from the sacrifice at the end. «He went – says the Pope – as if he saw the invisible».
Fear, the enemy of faith
Francis indicates Moses as a reference for faith, who remains steadfast in his trust in the Lord. Then there is the Virgin Mary who, with her yes, “sets off on a road of which she knows neither the route nor the dangers” but with a heart full of faith and trust. The Pope again cites the Gospel episode when the apostles see Jesus sleeping in the midst of the storm. «Why are you afraid? – says Jesus – Do you still have no faith?”.
Here, then, is the great enemy of faith: it is not intelligence, it is not reason, as, alas, someone continues to obsessively repeat, but the great enemy of faith is fear. For this reason, faith is the first gift to be welcomed in Christian life: a gift that must be welcomed and asked for daily, so that it is renewed in us.
Faith, gift of Baptism
“What do you ask of the Church of God” is the question that is asked to parents when they intend to baptize their child. «Faith, baptism!»: is the answer.
With it a parent knows that, even in the midst of life’s trials, his child will not drown in fear. Well, the enemy is fear. He also knows that when he ceases to have a parent on this earth, he will continue to have a Father God in heaven who will never abandon him. Our love is so fragile, only God’s love conquers death.
«Faith – adds the Pope – is the happiest gift, the only virtue that we are allowed to envy. Because those who have faith are inhabited by a strength that is not only human; in fact, faith “triggers grace in us and opens the mind to the mystery of God”. “Lord, increase our faith”: it is the prayer – “A beautiful prayer” – that Pope Francis has the faithful repeat a few times, making it resonate in the Paul VI Hall packed with pilgrims.
Vatican News
