{"id":48614,"date":"2018-12-10T19:05:00","date_gmt":"2018-12-10T18:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www1.romereports.com\/2018\/12\/10\/pope-francis-in-santa-marta-let-us-prepare-for-christmas-with-faith\/"},"modified":"2018-12-10T19:05:00","modified_gmt":"2018-12-10T18:05:00","slug":"pope-francis-in-santa-marta-let-us-prepare-for-christmas-with-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/2018\/12\/10\/pope-francis-in-santa-marta-let-us-prepare-for-christmas-with-faith\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope Francis in Santa Marta: Let us prepare for Christmas with faith"},"content":{"rendered":"

The second week of Advent begins and from Casa Santa Marta the pope asked Christians to prepare for Christmas with faith.<\/strong><\/p>\n

POPE FRANCIS<\/strong>
\n\u201cIt is true that Christmas, as we all know, is also celebrated in a worldly or pagan way, but the Lord asks us to celebrate it with faith. I believe, Lord, but help my little faith. Defend my faith from 'worldliness,' from superstition.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The pope recommended Christians to meditate on chapter nine of St. John's Gospel. In it the faith of the blind man is the key for Christ to work the miracle of his healing.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

EXTRACTS FROM PAPAL HOMILY
\n(Source: Vatican News)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Speaking during the homily at Mass at the Casa Santa Marta, the pope said \u201cit\u2019s not easy to keep the faith, to defend the faith.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Reflecting on the Gospel reading of the day that tells the story of a paralysed man healed by Jesus, the pope said faith gives us courage and shows us the way to touch the heart of the Lord.<\/em><\/p>\n

He noted how, in the parable, the Lord \u201csaw the faith\u201d of those who brought the man and set him in His presence. \u201cIt took courage,\u201d he said, to go up on the roof and lower him on the stretcher through the tiles\u2026. \u201cThose people had faith: \u201cThey knew that if the sick man was put in front of Jesus, he would be healed.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The pope also recalled other episodes in which Jesus expressed admiration for people\u2019s faith. Like in the case of the centurion who asked for the healing of his servant, of the Syrophoenician woman who interceded for her daughter who was possessed by the devil, and of the woman afflicted with hemorrhages who was healed after having touched the hem of Jesus\u2019 cloak. \u201cJesus,\u201d the pope said, \u201creproaches people of little faith\u201d, like Peter who doubts, but he said; \u201cwith faith everything is possible.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

He noted that Christmas is often marked in a worldly or pagan fashion, but reiterating the Lord\u2019s request that we do so with faith, the Pope said \u201cit's not easy to keep the faith, it's not easy to defend the faith\u2026 it's not easy!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Pope Francis wrapped up his reflection commenting on the episode narrated in the Gospel of John in which a boy who was blind is healed: \u201cIt will do us good today, and also tomorrow, during the week, to take chapter nine of the Gospel of John and read this beautiful story of the boy who was blind from birth.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the bottom of our hearts\u201d he concluded \u201cutter an act of faith and say: I believe Lord. Help me in my faith. Defend my faith from worldliness, from superstitions, from all that is not faith. Keep it from being reduced to theory, be it theological or moral\u2026 Faith in You, Lord.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

December 10, 2018. He recommended Christians to meditate on chapter nine of St. John's Gospel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":26939,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[195],"tags":[],"acf":{"video":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/K2ZtpeJ555o","video_descarga":"http:\/\/attuale.romereports.com\/news\/bstamarta1012eng.mp4","international_url":"http:\/\/attuale.romereports.com\/news\/bstamarta1012int.mp4","type":"bn","newsletter":"si"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48614"}],"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=48614"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48614\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}