In his morning homily at Casa Santa Marta, Pope Francis recalled that a shepherd must be 'passionateâ? and 'discern where the dangers are.â? He drew upon his recent trip to Fr. Don Milani's as an example.
POPE FRANCIS
'I care. But what does that mean? They explained to me that he wanted to say 'I care.' He taught that things were to be taken seriously, against the fashion motto at that time, which was 'I do not care.' It was said in other words, which I dare not say here. So he taught the kids to move on. Take care: take care of your life.â?
The pope then concluded with a short prayer: 'for all the shepherds of the Church, for St. Paul who intercedes before the Lord, for all of us pastors to serve the Lord.â?
POPE'S HOMILY IN ENGLISH
Source: Vatican Radio
'The Good Shepherd gives his life for his sheep. The figure of the 'true shepherd,' is someone who does not abandon his sheep, unlike a 'mercenary.' The first quality, therefore is that St Paul is 'passionate' the point of telling his people, 'I feel for you all a kind of divine jealousy.''
'He knows what seduction in life is. The lying father is a seducer. The Shepherd, is not. The shepherd loves. Instead, the snake, the father of lies, is a seducer. He is a seducer trying to turn away from fidelity, because that divine jealousy of Paul was to bring the people to a single groom, to keep the people loyal to their bridegroom. In the history of salvation, in Scripture many times we turn away from God, disloyalty towards the Lord, idolatry as if it were a maternal infidelity.'
'The Shepherdâ??s first characteristic, then, is to be passionate, zealous, zealous. The second feature is, someone who knows how to discern: to discern where the dangers are, where the graces are... where the real road is. This, means he always accompanies his sheep: in beautiful moments and even in bad moments, even in moments of seduction, with patience he brings them to the fold. The third feature is the ability to denounce.â?
'An apostle cannot be naive: 'Ah, it's all right, let's go ahead, eh? It's all right ... Let's party, everyone ... everything is possible...'. because there is the fidelity to the only groom, to Jesus Christ, to be defended. And he knows how to condemn it: that concreteness, to say ' no,' like the parents say to the baby when he starts to clap and goes to the electric socket to put his fingers in : 'No, no! It's dangerous!'. But, I think so many times of that 'tuca nen' (do not touch anything) that my parents and grandparents told me at those moments where there was a danger.'
'I care. But what does it mean? They explained to me that he wanted to say 'I care'. He taught that things were to be taken seriously, against the fashion motto at that time that was 'I do not care,' but said in another language, which I dare not say here. And so he taught the kids to move on. Take care: take care of your life, and this no!â?
'For all the shepherds of the Church, for Saint Paul who intercede before the Lord, for all of us pastors in order to serve the Lord.'
JC
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