Pope Francis says Mass for the feast of the Presentation of the Lord in St. Peter’s Basilica, Feb. 2, 2022. / Vatican Media
Vatican City, Feb 2, 2022 / 16:41 pm (CNA).
The amazed joy of Simeon and Anna at encountering and embracing Christ at the Temple is a virtue that consecrated religious should remember and imitate, the pope said in a homily addressed to religious brothers and sisters.
He encouraged consecrated religious to renew their consecration with enthusiasm and to scrutinize themselves for worldliness, bitterness, and empty rigidity.
“Even if we experience fatigue and weariness—this happens: even disappointments, it happens—we do as Simeon and Anna, who patiently await the Lord’s fidelity and do not allow themselves to be robbed of the joy of the encounter,” Pope Francis said in his homily during a Feb. 2 Mass for the feast of the Presentation of the Lord.
The occasion marked the 26th Day of Consecrated Life.
“Let us go towards the joy of the encounter: this is very beautiful! Let us put (the Lord) back at the center and go forward with joy,” the pope said. His homily drew on the reading from the Gospel of Luke recounting the Presentation of Christ in the Temple.
Simeon welcomed Christ in his arms, the pope noted.
“God placed his Son in our arms because welcoming Jesus is the essential, the central point of faith,” he continued. “Sometimes we risk getting lost and dispersed in a thousand things, fixing ourselves on secondary aspects or immersing ourselves in things to do, but the center of everything is Christ, to be welcomed as the Lord of our life.”
Those in consecrated life must not lose their ability to be amazed, the pope said. Simeon had this ability: he uttered words of blessing, praise, and amazement when he took Christ into his arms.
“Ask for the grace of amazement, the amazement at the wonders that God is doing in us, hidden like that of the temple, when Simeon and Anna met Jesus,” the pope told the congregation of consecrated religious brothers and sisters.
“If the consecrated lack words with which they bless God and others, if there is no joy, if the momentum is lacking, if fraternal life is only fatigue, if there is no amazement, it is not because we are victims of someone or something,” he said. “The real reason is that our arms do not hold Jesus more tightly. And when the arms of a consecrated person do not hold Jesus, they hold emptiness. They try to fill their arms with other things, but there is emptiness. Clasp Jesus with our arms: this is the sign, this is the path, this is the ‘recipe’ for renewal.”
The failure to embrace Christ means “the heart closes in bitterness,” the pope warned. Consecrated persons who are bitter “always complain about something,” like the community superior, its religious brothers, the community in general, or its kitchen.
“If they have no complaints, they do not live,” the pope lamented. “But we must embrace Jesus in adoration and ask for eyes that know how to see good and see God’s ways. If we welcome Christ with open arms, we will also welcome others with trust and humility. Then conflicts do not escalate, distances do not divide and the temptation to abuse and hurt the dignity of some sister or brother is extinguished. Let us open our arms, to Christ and to the brothers and sisters!”
Simeon and Anna waited in an active way, not a passive one, according to Pope Francis. He stressed the action of the Holy Spirit in the gospel reading: “it is He who makes God’s desire burn in Simeon’s heart… it is He who pushes his steps towards the temple and makes his eyes capable of recognizing the Messiah, even if he presents himself as a small and poor child.”
The Holy Spirit, the pope continued, “makes one capable of perceiving the presence of God and his work not in the great things, in the showy exterior, in the displays of strength, but in littleness and fragility.”
The pope encouraged consecrated religious to scrutinize their motivations and to ask themselves whether they let themselves be moved by the Holy Spirit or by “the spirit of the world.”
“While the Spirit leads us to recognize God in the smallness and fragility of a child, we sometimes risk thinking about our consecration in terms of results, goals, success: we move in search of spaces, visibility, numbers: it is a temptation. The Spirit, on the other hand, does not ask for this. He wants us to cultivate daily fidelity, docile to the little things that have been entrusted to us,” Pope Francis said.
He also praised the beautiful fidelity of Simeon and Anna, as shown in their daily visits to the temple to wait and pray even if nothing seems to happen. They waited their whole life without discouragement or complaint.
The pontiff offered more questions for reflection: “What love drives us to move forward? The Holy Spirit or the passion of the moment, which is anything? How do we move in the Church and in society?”
“Sometimes, even behind the appearance of good works, the worm of narcissism or the craving to be the leading character can be hidden,” he warned. Other religious communities, even while doing good things, seem motivated by “mechanical repetition” rather than “the enthusiasm to adhere to the Holy Spirit.”
He encouraged the congregation to reflect on what their eyes see.
“Simeon, moved by the Spirit, sees and recognizes Christ. And he prays, saying: ‘My eyes have seen your salvation’,” the pope continued. “Here is the great miracle of faith: he opens his eyes, transforms the gaze, changes the view.”
“As we know from many encounters of Jesus in the Gospels, faith is born from the compassionate gaze with which God looks at us, melting the hardness of our heart, healing his wounds, giving us new eyes to see ourselves and the world.”
This new vision is not naïve, but wise. It sees even the “most painful” things. It does not ignore reality or pretend that problems are invisible. Rather, one’s eyes must know how to “see within” and to see beyond appearances.
“The elderly eyes of Simeon, although tired from the years, see the Lord, they see salvation,” the pope said.
He lamented some worldly attitudes that see religious life as a “waste” for men or women, or see it as outdated or something useless. He also warned religious communities against “looking backwards” or nostalgia “for what no longer exists.” Rather, they should be capable of “a far-sighted gaze of faith,” capable of hopeful vision that is open to the future.
God gives signs inviting us “to cultivate a renewed vision of consecrated life.”
He warned about a rigid approach to tradition that pretends not to see these signs and continues“as if nothing had happened, “repeating the same things as always, dragging ourselves by inertia into the forms of the past, paralyzed by the fear of change.”
He also warned against “the temptation to go backwards, out of security, out of fear, to keep the faith, to keep the founding charism.”
“Let’s get it right: rigidity is a perversion, and under every rigidity there are serious problems,” he said.
Even in their old age, Simeon and Anna did not show regret for the past but “they open their arms to the future that comes to meet them.”
“Neither Simeon nor Anna were rigid, no, they were free and had the joy of celebrating: him, praising the Lord and prophesying with courage to his mother; and she, like a good old lady, going from side to side saying: ‘Look at these, look at this!’ They gave the proclamation with joy, their eyes full of hope. No past inertia, no stiffness.”
Even behind genuine crises, including a lack of vocations, the Holy Spirit “invites us to renew our life and our communities,” and God will show the way to do this for those who open their hearts with courage and without fear.
“Let us place ourselves before the Lord, in adoration, and ask for eyes that know how to see the good and see the ways of God. The Lord will give them to us, if we ask for it,” said the pope.
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The person who writes statements for Papa does a commendable job. The one who writes the homilies he delivers, also does admiral work.
As we examine the “Religion of Peace”, some might say it has a hollow ring to it! Yet, different people have divergent views of what peace is! Jesus is the Prince of Peace, this is how we are to be guided:
John 16:33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
2 Thessalonians 3:16 Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all.
Isaiah 26:3 You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.
Matthew 5:9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
I request you call these criminals terrorists instead of calling them “Islamic terrorists.” As you can read in your own story, the Pope did not use that term. As a matter of fact, your entire news text above does not use that term which appears only in your headline.
From NPR:
The al-Shabab extremist group is Islamic, not Methodist or Amish or Scientologist.
Dear Abdul:
First, I praise God that you are reading CWR. It may be your first introduction to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Indeed it is no accident that God sent you to this site.
Regardless of how one labels these men, does it bring favour to Islam?
Psalm 34:14 Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.
James 3:18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
2 Thessalonians 3:16 Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all.
It would be a pleasure to dialogue with you.
God’s richest blessings.
Brian
“I request you call these criminals terrorists instead of calling them “Islamic terrorists.”
The perpetrators of this violence in Somalia, and indeed in other parts of the world, are followers of the Islamic faith, which calls for their actions found in the Quran and Sunnah. To claim otherwise would be disingenuous.
Islam has one agenda to “proclaim Islam over all religion” QS 48.28 which pious Muslims have been acting upon, up to the present day.
When the group claiming responsibility for the attack releases a statement describing its target as an “enemy” that is “committed to removing Somali children from the Islamic faith”, it’s fair to label it an Islamic terrorist group. That Pope Francis, for predictable and discreditable ideological reasons declines to do so, does not mean the rest of us should join him.. The headline is accurate, and Mr. Olson defends it well.
Do you dispute the motive of the terrorists?
Yours truly poses a question in the spirit of dialogue and fraternity….
What if, instead of the term “Islamic terrorists,” we used the term zealot? Or, better yet, the term “terribles simplificateurs” (terrible simplifiers), a term coined by historian Jacob Burckhardt, in reference to ideological simpletons in the West, also set on destruction?
Regarding which, this question:
While in the Qur’an the “law of Moses” is respected throughout (as in Christianity), why are explicit references to this law (known in Western thought as our baked-in Natural Law) limited to the first four (affirmative) of the Ten Commandments, and (I ask) not to the prohibitive final six (e.g., Though shalt not kill)?
Yes, Western history does not have clean hands either, but authorization (by omission) for terrorism is not found in the Gospels, because all ten of Moses’ Commandments are included. Ideological terrorism is a violation of the “the Word made flesh,” but is not prohibited under the Islamic “word made book.”
Where in the Qur’an might we find explicit recognition of the prohibitive commandments? As a non-credentialed researcher I have looked, but possibly not thoroughly enough? Instead, unrestrained incitements to terrorism—as followed by Islamic/cross-cultural (!) “terrible simplifiers”: e.g., Q 9:123; 8:34; 2:187/191, 9:5, 47:4.
If you’re going to call this Islamic terrorism maybe you will call the numerous attacks on abortion clinics, doctors and staff – always done by pious Christians- as “Christian Terrorism”? How about the mass bombings by American troops as “American Terrorism” or the fact that they are blessed by Christians as “Christian Terrorism” also?
No?
Back on September 11, 2010, the Jesuit scholar Fr. Samir Khalil Samir, an Egyptian scholar of Islam who spent most of his life living and teaching in Muslim countries (and who also taught at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome), was interviewed by Edward Pentin and said the following:
In his excellent book 111 Questions on Islam (Ignatius Press, 2008), Samir makes the following statement:
Yes, many Muslims do reject and denounce terrorism. But, as Samir rightly notes, they cannot point to the Qur’an or the Islamic tradition for support. Which is completely unlike Christianity.
Though this happens infrequently, the focus is to save lives! If Christians don’t stand up against this slaughter, who will? Christ advises us to respect life, not to take it.
On the other hand, the Prophet of Islam advises the follower to wage war on the non-believer. The marked difference here is that Jesus calls us to peace, Muhammad calls his followers to war and violence. Christians may fail individually, however Christ’s way is always the best path for all men. Let us respect all and strive for God’s peace.
Psalm 4:8 In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.
Hebrews 12:14 Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.
Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
God bless you.
Islam has a political agenda, Christianity does not.
Jesus never called His followers to use violence in His name, to gain political control over countries, because the combat is against sin not people..
Islam inverts this call to be combat against people not accepting Allah as the only god with Mohammed as prophet, proving the god of Islam is not the God of the Bible, but a counterfeit.
Maybe your focus should be on your own faith first, before condemning others.
America’s interest is to prevent or stop war. Islam is war to its core. Jihad and migration are core beliefs. To stop war, peace minded countries have to engage warmongers, thereby opposing the enslavers.
If a Muslim had the choice of migrating to America or another Islamic state, what would be his choice? Yes Islam likes to be accorded peaceful dealings, they have little interest in reciprocating, unfortunately.