Pope Francis: let Jesus’ gaze change our hearts



                        

Pope Mass - OSS_ROM

22/05/2015 12:42

 

 

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis says each of us should ask Jesus to gaze at us and tell us what we need to do to change our hearts and repent for our sins. We should consider whether Jesus looks at us with a call, with a pardon or with a mission? The Pope’s remarks came during his homily at morning Mass on Friday (May 22nd) at the Santa Marta residence.

 

Taking his inspiration from the day’s readings, Pope Francis’ homily was a reflection on the three different types of looks which Jesus gave to the Apostle Peter. He said these three different looks were one of choosing, one of forgiveness and one of mission.


 

The Pope recalled how according to the gospel reading the apostle Andrew told his brother Peter that they had found the Messiah and took him to see Jesus. Christ looked at him and said “You are Simon, son of John. You will be called Peter (Cephas) which means Rock.” He said Peter was enthusiastic after that first look from Jesus and wanted to follow our Lord.

 

Moving ahead to the night before Jesus’ crucifixion, Pope Francis recalled how Peter disowned him three times and when Jesus turned and looked straight at him after that third denial, Peter wept.

“The gospel of Luke says: ‘He wept bitterly.’ That earlier enthusiasm about following Jesus had turned to grief, because he had sinned: He denied that he knew Jesus.That look (by Jesus) changed Peter’s heart, more than before. The first change was being given a new name and a new vocation.

 

That second look was a gaze that changed his heart and it’s a change of conversion to love.”

The Pope said the third look that Jesus gave Peter was one of mission when he asked three times for a confirmation that Peter loved him and urged him to feed his sheep. He noted how the gospel recounts that Peter was hurt when Jesus asked him that question a third time.

 

“Hurt because Jesus asked him for the third time ‘Do you love me?’ and he said: 'Lord, You know everything: You know I love you.' Jesus replied: ‘Feed my sheep.’ This was the third look, a look of mission.  The first, a look of choosing, with the enthusiasm of following Jesus: the second, a look of repentance at the time of that very grave sin of having disowned Jesus: the three look is one of mission: ‘Feed my lambs,’ ‘Look after my sheep,’ ‘Feed my sheep.’”

 

Pope Francis urged his listeners to re-read that dialogue with the Lord and think about Jesus’ gaze on us.

 

“We too can reflect: what look is Jesus giving me today?  How is Jesus looking at me?  With a call? With a pardon? With a mission? But on the path He created, all of us are being looked at by Jesus.

 

He always looks at us with love.  He asks us something, he forgives us for something and he gives us a mission.  Jesus is now coming on the altar.  May each one of us think: ‘Lord, You are here, among us.  Fix your gaze on me and tell me what I must do: how I must repent for my mistakes, my sins; what courage do I need to go forward on the path that You first created.”

Listen to this report by Susy Hodges: 

 

....

 

Taken from: http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2015/05/22/pope_francis_let_jesus%E2%80%99_gaze_change_our_hearts/1145944

Pope Francis calls Palestinians' Abbas 'angel of peace'



 

Pope Francis has met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the Vatican, calling him "an angel of peace".

The Pope made the remark as he presented the Palestinian leader with a medallion.

President Abbas is visiting the Vatican for the canonisation of two 19th-Century Palestinian nuns on Sunday.

His visit came days after the Vatican said it would formally recognise Palestinian statehood in a treaty.

The treaty states that the Holy See favours a two-state solution to the conflict with Israel and allows the Vatican to oversee aspects of Roman Catholic life in the areas President Abbas controls.

 

Israel expressed disappointment with the treaty, which uses the term "Palestinian state".
 

Civil rights

The BBC's David Willey in Rome says that after 20 minutes of private talks, Pope Francis gave Mr Abbas the medallion depicting an angel of peace adding: "It is appropriate because you are an angel of peace."

Correspondents say the Vatican is keen to protect the property and civil rights of the Catholic Church in the Palestinian territories.

The Vatican's move also comes amid growing momentum to recognise Palestinian statehood.

Over the past year the European Parliament as well as the UK, Republic of Ireland, Spain and France have all passed non-binding motions in favour.

Sweden has gone further, officially recognising Palestine as a state.

The moves have been criticised by Israel, which says recognition of statehood in this way discourages Palestinians from resuming talks on a final status agreement.

 

....

 

Taken from: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-32769752

‘Many powerful people don’t want peace,’ Pope tells children

 

Pope Francis kisses a child during an audience with the boys and girls of the

“Fabbrica della Pace” groups at the Vatican, May 11, 2015. (Reuters/Max Rossi)

The “industry of death” exists in the world as many people in power live off war, Pope Francis told Italian schoolkids in the Vatican on Monday.
“Many powerful people don’t want peace because they live off war,” the Pontiff said as he met with pupils from Rome’s primary schools in the Nervi Audience Hall.
Talking to children during the audience organized by the Peace Factory Foundation, he explained that every war has the arms industry behind it.
“This is serious. Some powerful people make their living with the production of arms and sell them to one country for them to use against another country,” the Pope was cited by AGI news agency as saying.
The head of the Catholic Church labeled the arms trade “the industry of death, the greed that harms us all, the desire to have more money.”
“The economic system orbits around money and not men, women,” he told 7,000 kids present at the audience.
Despite the fact that wars “lose lives, health, education,” they are being waged to defend money and make even more profit, the Pope said.
“The devil enters through greed and this is why they don’t want peace,” 78-year-old Francis said.
“There can be no peace without justice,” the Pope said and asked the children to repeat those words out loud three times.

Pope Francis calls to end ‘barbarous violence’ and bloodshed in global hotspots

“Peace must be built day by day and even if, one day in the future, we can say that there will finally be no more wars, then too peace will be built day by day because peace is not an industrial product, it is artisanal: it is built day by day through our mutual love, our closeness,” he said.
In his April Easter Address, the Pontiff urged to end “absurd” violence, bloodshed and persecution in hotspots around the world.
“We ask for peace, above all, for Syria and Iraq, that the roar of arms may cease and that peaceful relations may be restored among the various groups which make up those beloved countries,” he told tens of thousands of pilgrims at St. Peter’s Square in Vatican.
Francis also asked the Lord to “bring light to beloved Ukraine” and called for resuming the “peace process” between Israelis and Palestinians “to end years of suffering and division.”


….


Taken from: http://rt.com/news/257545-pope-francis-war-arms/