In his homily during Mass at Casa Santa Marta, Pope Francis explained \u201cChristians should never stop only in the fulfillment of the Commandments.\u201d<\/p>\n
POPE FRANCIS<\/strong> He emphasized the need to be born again through prayer. \u201cPrayer is what opens the door to the Spirit and gives us this freedom, this openness, this courage of the Holy Spirit. You will never know where He will take you. But He is the Spirit,\u201d the pope said.<\/p>\n SUMMARY OF PAPAL HOMILY IN ENGLISH<\/p>\n (Source: Vatican News)<\/p>\n Beginning his homily, Pope Francis reflected on Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews and a righteous Pharisee. He would go to Jesus by night because he knew that those who associated with Jesus were not looked on well. Nicodemus felt restless because he knew that Jesus\u2019s actions had been foretold by the prophets. Coming up to Jesus, he confesses: \u201cRabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these signs that you are doing unless God is with him.\u201d Pope Francis notes that Nicodemus\u2019 confession stops before the \u201ctherefore,\u201d the \u201cwhat next\u201d. This hinders him from understanding fully and from making the leap he needs to make. <\/p>\n Responding to Nicodemus, Jesus said: \u201cUnless one is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God.\u201d Nicodemus understands this statement literarily. So he asks how one can be born again as an adult. Jesus explained that to be born from above is to be born of the Spirit. <\/p>\n \u201cThe Spirit is unpredictable,\u201d said Pope Francis. Jesus\u2019s own definition of the Spirit describe it as \u201cthe wind blows where it wants and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so is everyone born of the Spirit.\u201d A person who is docile to the Spirit is one who lets himself or herself \u201cbe carried from one place to another by the Holy Spirit.\u201d It is in this way that a person attains freedom in the Spirit. <\/p>\n \u201cBeing a good Christian is not only fulfilling the commandments,\u201d explains Pope Francis. \u201cIf you stop there, you are not a good Christian.\u201d To be a good Christian is \u201cto let the Spirit enter into you and take you where He wants you.\u201d Like Nicodemus, we may be tempted to stop before the \u201ctherefore\u201d, the \u201cwhat next\u201d because we do not know what step to take, or we do not trust God enough to let His Spirit enter into us. However, to be truly born again, we must be willing to allow ourselves to be guided in the \u201cfreedom of the Spirit\u201d even though we do not know where we will end up. <\/p>\n Pope Francis explained that in the face of difficulties and closed doors, the disciples went to the Lord in prayer and they were filled with the Spirit. Thus, \u201cprayer is what opens the door to the Spirit and gives us freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n Pope Francis noted that in the First Reading, the Christian community was a little bit afraid when Peter and John returned to the community after being interrogated by the priests. They turned to God in prayer and effectively had a \u201csecond Pentecost\u201d \u2013 the place where they were gathered trembled, and they were filled with the Holy Spirit. They became emboldened and preached the Word of God courageously.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is being born of the Spirit\u2026not stopping at the \u2018therefore;\u2019 at the \u2018therefore\u2019 of the things I have always done, at the \u2018therefore\u2019 beyond the commandments, at the \u2018therefore\u2019 beyond religious habits,\u201d Pope Francis said.<\/p>\n Concluding his homily, the Pope prayed that through prayer, we might receive the gift of courage from the Holy Spirit, even though we may not know where it will lead us.<\/p>\n \u201cMay the Lord help us to always be open to the Spirit, so that it will be He who brings us ahead in our life of service to the Lord.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" April 20, 2020. \u201cYou have to fulfill them, that's true; but if you stop there, you are not a good Christian,\u201d he said<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":17774,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[195],"tags":[],"acf":{"video":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/Vnev3Z0yDjI","video_descarga":"http:\/\/attuale.romereports.com\/news\/bstamarta2004eng.mp4","international_url":"http:\/\/attuale.romereports.com\/news\/bstamarta2004int.mp4","type":"bn","newsletter":"si"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46732"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46732\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nBeing a Christian is not just keeping the commandments. You have to keep them, that's true, but if you stop there, you are not a good Christian. To be a good Christian is to let the Spirit enter you and take you, take you wherever He wants.<\/em><\/p>\n