NEW YORK – At a time when Christians worldwide are facing persecutions of historic nature, Pope Francis, in his homily delivered Sunday at Mass in the Santa Marta residence in Vatican City, expressed concern that “World War II is upon us” and urged Christians to proclaim their faith fearlessly, without concern for the consequences.
“The path of the Church is openness, to speak frankly, with liberty,”
Pope Francis said, reading from New Testament scriptures of the days after the
Resurrection of Jesus, when the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles and
gave them the courage to go forth and proclaim their faith without fear.
Pope Francis based his homily from the Acts of the
Apostles, recalling the words of Saint Peter and Saint John expressing the
courage they felt after the Resurrection when the Holy Spirit had descended
upon them, urging them to shed their fear of reprisals, going forth openly into
the world to proclaim, “We can speak openly now of what we have seen and heard
Jesus do.”
“Even today, the message of the Church is the
message of the openness in the path of Christian courage,” the pope said.
“These two apostles, Peter and John, as the Bible says, found they had the
courage without having to be told what to do. The Bible conveys this in simple
words, translated as ‘courage,’ ‘openness,’ ‘freedom to speak,’ and ‘to not be
afraid” to say what they felt. Even in the original, the Bible has so much
significance with the simple assurance that all our fears will pass when we
find the courage to express our faith in Christ openly.”
The pope’s homily at
the Mass in the Santa Marta residence in Vatican City followed a
High Mass celebrated in the St. Peter’s Cathedral to celebrate the 100th
anniversary of the 1915 massacre of the Armenians by the Turks, in which the
pope caused uproar in Turkey by utilizing the Armenian genocide of a hundred
years ago to explain that Christians once again are seeing “heinous crimes
committed against Christians daily, in bloody massacres and the madness of
destruction.”
“I fear we are already in World War III,” Pope
Francis said, explaining that genocides such as happened to the Armenians in
World War I and were repeated with the atrocities of Hitler and Stalin in World
War II are being repeated today.
“I fear World War III is upon us when we hear daily
the muffled cries of our brothers and sisters who are killed in unimaginable violence.
These martyrs, simply because they believe in Jesus Christ or because of their
ethnicity, are forced to abandon their land or be murdered horribly –
decapitated, crucified, and burned alive.”
In reporting on the pope’s homily at Mass in the Santa Marta residence
in Vatican City, the Vatican
Radio noted the hero of the story is the Holy Spirit.
“The message is not that we should go forth
proselytizing our faith as if we were engaged in advertising to get others to
join with us in our spiritual society,” Pope Francis said. “No, this will not
work, it is not truly Christian.
“What is Christian,” he distinguished, “is to have
the courage to proclaim Jesus Christ, as Christ explained in ‘the mysterious
dialogue’ with the Pharisee Nicodemus, the courage to be ‘born again,’ through
the action of the Holy Spirit. The path of Christian courage is the path of
proclaiming our astonishment at the word of Jesus Christ that keeps our faith
alive and moving ahead.”
The pope explained that when Jesus speaks of being
“born again,” Jesus means for us to understand the Holy Spirit brings upon us,
as he did coming upon the Apostles after the Resurrection, the courage to
proclaim our faith openly without fear of consequence.
“We hear his voice come upon us as he came upon the
Apostles like the wind, descending upon them as they huddled in that room after
Christ died, giving them the courage to turn to God and not flee, but instead
face their fears squarely and proclaim His Word totally openly, boldly, without
fear,” Pope Francis said.
“Only the Holy Spirit has the power to change the
history of our lives, to place us in union with Jesus Christ,” he concluded.
“That courage of our faith in Jesus Christ must come from the Holy Spirit,
because only God has the power to transform without instruction simple men like
Peter and John, removing their fear and imparting unto them even the courage to
proclaim their final witness to Jesus Christ, even if it meant surrendering
their lives in martyrdom.”
Pope Francis ended his homily reminding the
faithful the mission of the Church after Easter is to prepare believers to
receive the Holy Spirit “in the celebration of the mystery of the death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ, recalling the history of salvation, being willing
to ask for the grace to receive the Holy Spirit to give us too the courage to
announce to the world Jesus Christ.”
The pope’s homily at
the Mass in the Santa Marta residence in Vatican City followed a
High Mass celebrated in the St. Peter’s Cathedral to celebrate the 100th
anniversary of the 1915 massacre of the Armenians by the Turks, in which the
pope caused uproar in Turkey by utilizing the Armenian genocide of a hundred
years ago to explain that Christians once again are seeing “heinous crimes
committed against Christians daily, in bloody massacres and the madness of
destruction.”
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