Francis: “Carry a little Gospel book with you every day”

Will you do it? Then next Sunday you’ll tell me if you’ve done it…” the Pope said at Sunday’s Angelus, to see how seriously faithful would take his advice to them to carry a small Gospel book around with them and read a passage from it every day.

Mar 18, 2014

Pope Francis at the Angelus prayer

VATICAN CITY: “Will you do it? Then next Sunday you’ll tell me if you’ve done it…” the Pope said at Sunday’s Angelus, to see how seriously faithful would take his advice to them to carry a small Gospel book around with them and read a passage from it every day.

Francis made his first public appearance since the week-long retreat for the spiritual exercises in Ariccia. Addressing a packed St. Peter’s Square, the Pope commented on the Gospel story of the Transfiguration, focusing on the words that the Father says to the apostles on Mount Tabor, where the miracle takes place: ""Listen to him.
This invitation of the Father is very important … We, the disciples of Jesus, are called to be people who listen to his voice and take his words seriously,” Francis said.

"When we hear the word of Jesus and we hold it in our hearts, the word of Jesus grows in us. Listen to Jesus. It's not the Pope who is saying it, God says it,” Francis added in a spontaneous remark.

In order to listen to Jesus we must “follow him,as the crowds do in the Gospel, running after him through the streets of Palestine. Jesus did not have a fixed pulpit, he was an itinerant teacher who taught in the streets, sometimes taking unpredictable routes that were not always easy.”

"We listen to Jesus even in the written word. Let me ask you this question. Do you read a passage from the Gospel every day? ". And after observing the reactions of the crowd, the Pope noted: "Some yes some no, half and half. But it's important. It's a good idea to have a pocket sized Gospel that you can carry with you and read a small passage from at any given time of the day. And there we find Jesus who speaks to us. Think about this, you don't even have to have all four [Gospels], one is enough.”


Francis continued, picking up on “two meaningful elements” from the Gospel passage which he summarised in two words: “ascent and descent.” “We need to take time out, to climb the mountain in a space of silence, to find ourselves and better hear the voice of the Lord. But we can not stay there! Our encounter with God in prayer propels us back "down the mountain " and back down onto the plain, where we meet many brothers and sisters weighed down by fatigue, injustice, ignorance, material and spiritual poverty. We are called to bear the fruits of our experience with God to these our brothers and sister who are in trouble, sharing with them the treasures of the grace received.”

"When we hear the word of Jesus and we hold it in our hearts, the word of Jesus grows in us ... And when does it grow? When we proclaim, when we give it to others. This is the Church's mission: to listen to Jesus and offer it to others.”

“If we have not been with God, if our heart does not feel comforted, how can we comfort others? This mission involves the whole Church and it is above all the pastors – bishops and priests – who are responsible for it. They are called to immerse themselves in the needs of God’s people and approach them, especially the weak, the very young and the poor with tenderness and affection,” the Pope concluded.--Vatican Insider

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