In his homily at Casa Santa Marta, the pope explained that \u201cbeing Christian, being baptized, being ordained priests and bishops is pure gratuitousness.\u201d He said, \u201cYou can't buy the Lord's gifts.\u201d<\/p>\n
POPE FRANCIS<\/strong> He also explained that Christian holiness is to \u201cpreserve\u201d the gift given gratuitously, and not thanks to individual merits.<\/p>\n SUMMARY OF POPE'S HOMILY To be a Christian, a priest or a bishop is a free gift from the Lord, Pope Francis said during his homily, and holiness consists in \u201cguarding\u201d this gift which we received gratuitously, and not thanks to our own merits. <\/p>\n He invited those present to reflect on their own presence at Mass, saying \u201cwhy did the Lord choose us?\u201d \u201cNot because we come from a Christian family or a Christian culture.\u201d In fact, he said, many such people end up rejecting the Lord. Highlighting the gratuitousness of God\u2019s choice, the pope spoke also of how priests and bishops have received their anointment for free.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are, yes, those who want to go ahead in the so-called ecclesiastical careers, who behave in a simonical way, seeking influences, becoming climbers,\u201d he said, but he pointed out that that is not the Christian way. \u201cBeing Christian, being baptized, being ordained priests and bishops is pure gratuitousness. You can't buy the Lord's gifts,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n He urged Christians to live with humility, thus guarding God\u2019s gift of having chosen us. And he spoke of the great gift of the Holy Spirit saying, \u201cWhen the Lord elected us, He gave us the Holy Spirit, and that's pure grace.\u201d<\/p>\n Pope Francis concluded his homily warning Christians never to forget the people of God. \u201cIf we priests forget our flock, if we bishops forget this and feel more important than others, we deny God's gift, he said. \u201cIt\u2019s like telling the Holy Spirit we can manage on our own, and that's not Christian. That's not guarding the gift.\u201d<\/p>\n Let us ask the Lord today, he prayed, to give us the grace to give thanks for the great and beautiful gift He has given us, and to preserve it with faithfulness.<\/p>\n Daniel D\u00edaz Vizzi January 21, 2020. In his homily at Casa Santa Marta, the pope reminded Christians of the gratuitousness of God's choice and the call to guard the gift received.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":18813,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[195],"tags":[],"acf":{"video":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/Ec-gN4DnEzY","video_descarga":"http:\/\/attuale.romereports.com\/news\/bstamarta2101eng.mp4","international_url":"http:\/\/attuale.romereports.com\/news\/bstamarta2101int.mp4","type":"bn","newsletter":"si"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47126"}],"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=47126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47126\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nThe Lord has chosen us gratuitously. We didn't pay anything to become Christians. We priests, bishops, didn't pay anything to become priests and bishops. At least, that's what I think, no? There are, yes, those who want to go ahead in the so-called ecclesiastical careers, who behave in a simonical way, seeking influences to become this, there, there... the climbers. No, but this is not Christian.<\/em><\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Source: Vatican News<\/p>\n
\nTranslation: Claudia Torres<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"