2023-12-22 10:40:02
On the occasion of the customary exchange of Christmas greetings, Pope Francis reflected on three verbs: listen, discern, and walk, and explained them with three groups of figures in the history of salvation.
(Vatican News Network) As Christmas is approaching, Pope Francis, as in previous years, exchanged festive greetings with the heads of various departments of the Holy See on the morning of December 21. In his congratulatory message on this occasion, he mentioned three verbs: listen, discern, and walk. He also proposed a new word “walking into the labyrinth,” calling it a pointer to test whether it serves the great cause of the gospel. The Pope said that following the crowd, fear and all kinds of laziness lead people into a labyrinth and reduce the mission of the universal Church to a bureaucratic office job.
Virgin Mary, the model of “kneeling and listening”
The Pope used three groups of figures in the history of salvation to explain these three verbs, mentioning that the cradle of Jesus’ birth this year is surrounded by the “dangers of the times” of violence and war, climate change, poverty, pain and hunger. The pope said it is important to listen in such situations, and that the Virgin Mary is the model for listening. Hearing “always the beginning of a walk”, like the Mother of Jesus, listens “attentively” to the angel’s announcement, receptive to God’s plan. She listened “on her knees.”
“‘Listening on your knees’ is the best way to truly listen, because it means that we are not in front of others thinking we know everything, that we have explained what we are going to hear before we listen, and that we are not standing above others (. ….) Ordinary listening is one thing, listening is another, which also means ‘listening’.”
John the Baptist helps us humbly discern
The example of the second verb “discern” is John the Baptist, another figure in the history of salvation. The Pope said that when Jesus began his mission, his precursor was in the “tragedy of a crisis of faith” because the expected Messiah was not the powerful God and ruler he had imagined. So, John sent someone in prison to ask Jesus if He was the Savior. In other words, John tried to understand and discern.
“Discernment is very important for us. This art of spiritual life helps us to stop thinking that we know everything and that we just have to follow the rules. Even in the work of the Holy See, discernment helps us not to be tempted. Thinking of simply repeating established formulas without thinking that the mystery of God is always greater than us, that human life and the reality around us are always greater than ideas and theories.”
The Magi walked under the guidance of God
The wise men who worshiped Jesus are examples of the third verb, “to walk.” “If we truly embrace the joy of the Gospel,” the Pope said, “it will inspire within us an action to follow, a real departure of our own accord.” However, there is also danger at this time, the temptation to “go into the labyrinth”, that feeling of “turning around within our walls and fears” and being unable to escape, so that “we are called to the service of the Church and the world.” “Paralyzed.
“So when our services can become mundane, ‘maze’ in rigidity or mediocrity, when we are overwhelmed by bureaucracy and ‘muddling through’, we need to remember to look upward, Starting anew from God, letting His Word illuminate us, we always have the courage to embark on the journey once more. Only ‘from above’ can we get out of the labyrinth.”
“To be able to walk and go further,” the Pope concluded, “you need courage.” This is a question of love. “Sixty years following the Second Vatican Council, the division between ‘progressives’ and ‘conservatives’ is still being debated, and the important distinction is between ‘out of love’ and ‘conformity’. This is The difference. Only those who know how to love can walk.”
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