During his homily at Casa Santa Marta, Pope Francis spoke about the three characteristics the apostles received in the face of persecution, as a result of Easter joy: obedience, witness and realism.<\/p>\n
POPE FRANCIS<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThere have been so many persecutions since that time. Think about Christians persecuted in Africa and the Middle East. There are more today than in early Christianity: people in prison, killed, and hanged all to witness to Jesus. They are witnesses to the end.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n He added that Christian witness is patient when guiding others who don\u2019t think alike or share the faith; it tolerates and accompanies, but never sells the truth.<\/p>\n EXCERPTS OF PAPAL HOMILY<\/strong> \u201cThe 50 days of Easter before Pentecost were a 'time of joy' for the Apostles because of Christ\u2019s Resurrection. Theirs was a true joy, but it contained tints of doubt and fear. Only after Pentecost and the descent of the Holy Spirit, the Apostles\u2019 joy became courageous, since they now understood the meaning of the Paschal mystery.<\/p>\n \u201cFirst, obedience, and second, witness, which is such a nuisance to some. There have been so many persecutions since that time. Think about Christians persecuted in Africa and the Middle East. There are more today than in early Christianity: people in prison, killed, and hanged all to witness to Jesus. They are witnesses to the end.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt often happens that sins, compromises, or fears make us forget this first encounter, the one that changed our lives. We carry a memory with us that gets watered down to make us \u2018rose-water\u2019 Christians: watered-down and superficial. We must ask for the grace of the Holy Spirit of realism. Jesus has entered into my life and my heart. So has the Holy Spirit. I may have forgotten it, but the grace of the first encounter lives on in me.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLet us pray for it for one another: the joy that comes from the Holy Spirit: the joy of Easter obedience, the joy of Easter witness, and the joy of Easter realism.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" April 12, 2018. He spoke about the first apostles who despite persecution were filled with obedience, witness and realism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":23521,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"acf":{"video":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/qHnaUK3NEU8","video_descarga":"http:\/\/attuale.romereports.com\/news\/bstamarta1204eng.mp4","international_url":"http:\/\/attuale.romereports.com\/news\/bstamarta1204int.mp4","type":"bn","newsletter":"si"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49510"}],"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=49510"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49510\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n (Source: Vatican News)<\/p>\n