GOSPEL REFLECTIONS OF POPE FRANCIS: 12/15/23 (Friday of the Second Week of Advent)

From the Gospel according to Matthew

Mt 11:16-19

Jesus said to the crowds:

"To what shall I compare this generation?

It is like children who sit in marketplaces and call to one another,

'We played the flute for you, but you did not dance,

we sang a dirge but you did not mourn.'

For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they said,

'He is possessed by a demon.'

The Son of Man came eating and drinking and they said,

'Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard,

a friend of tax collectors and sinners.'

But wisdom is vindicated by her works."

Words of the Holy Father:

They put him to the test, they lay traps to see if he falls, because they have “resistance to being saved”. In confronting this attitude Jesus says to them: “I don’t understand you! You are like those children: we played the flute for you and you didn’t dance; we sang a sad song for you and you didn’t weep. What do you want?”. The answer is again: “We want salvation to be done our way”. It comes back to this “closure” to God’s modus operandi. The “tragedy of resistance to salvation” leads one not to believe “in mercy and in forgiveness” but in sacrifice. And it compels one to want “everything well organized, everything definite”. It is “a tragedy”, which “even each one of us has inside”. For this reason it will do us good to ask ourselves: “How do I want to be saved? My way? According to a spirituality that is good, that is good for me, but that is set, having everything defined and no risks? Or in a divine manner, that is, on the path of Jesus, who always surprises us, who always opens the doors for us to that mystery of the almighty power of God, which is mercy and forgiveness?”. Do I believe that Jesus is the master who teaches us salvation or do I go everywhere to hire a guru who teaches me about another one?”. Do I take “a more reliable path or do I seek refuge under the roof of rules and of many manmade commandments? And do I feel confident this way, and with — this is a bit hard to say — this confidence, do I buy my salvation, which Jesus bestows gratuitously, with the gratuitousness of God?”. All these questions, which “will do us good to ask ourselves today”, culminated in the Pope’s concluding proposal: “Am I resistant to the salvation of Jesus?”. (Santa Marta, 3 October 2014

Source:

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/word-of-the-day.html

Amen +

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, be with us always until the hour of our death. Amen. +

May the Lord + bless us, protect us from all evil and bring us to everlasting life. Amen. +

Saint John of the Cross, Priest and Doctor—Memorial:

https://mycatholic.life/saints/saints-of-the-liturgical-year/14-december-saint-john-of-the-cross-priest-and-doctor--memorial

Examination of Conscience and Guide to Sacrament of Confession:

https://mycatholic.life/catholic-prayers/examination-of-conscience/

Ultimate Catholic Parents Guide:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=Ls6IcexZAls

Summary and Defense of Catholic Teachings:

https://www.catholic.com/tract/pillar-of-fire-pillar-of-truth