Christ calls his disciples to move forward with the truth despite misunderstandings and even persecutions, because they are called to be “signs of contradiction” to the world, said Pope Leo XIV before the angel’s prayer he directed this Sunday from Castel Gandolfo.
The Holy Father returned to Castel Gandolfo on August 13. In this town in the Lacio region he directed the prayer of the Angelus after having celebrated a Mass in Albano, located in the same region.
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Leo XIV began reflecting on today’s reading, of the Gospel of Luke, in which Jesus states that he has come “to bring fire to earth.”
“Today the Gospel presents us with a demanding text, in which Jesus, with strong images and great sincerity, tells the disciples that his mission, and also that of those who follow him, It is not all ‘pink color’, but it is ‘sign of contradiction’”The Pope began.
The Pontiff explained that in this way Jesus “anticipates what he must face when in Jerusalem he is attacked, arrested, insulted, beaten, crucified; when his message, even speaking of love and justice, is rejected; when the chiefs of the people react violently to their preaching”.
“On the other hand,” he added.
Pope Leo XIV pointed out that “all this reminds us that good does not always find a positive response in his environment. Moreover, sometimes, precisely because the beauty of that annoying good to those who do not welcome him, he who puts him into practice ends up finding hard oppositions, until he suffers abuse and abuse.”
“To work in the truth costs, because in the world there are people who choose the lie, and because the devil, taking advantage of it, often seeks to hinder the work of the good ones,” he said.
However, he said, Jesus helps his disciples and invites them not to surrender or match this mentality, “but to continue working for our good and everyone’s, even those who make us suffer.”
“It invites us not to respond to arrogance with revenge, but to remain faithful to the truth in charity. The martyrs testify to it spilling their blood by faith, but also we, in circumstances and of different ways, we can imitate them,” he said.
Leo XIV gave as an example “the price that a good father must pay, if he wants to educate his children well, with health Gospel, his own responsibilities. ”
He also recalled that “San Ignacio de Antioquía, while traveling to Rome, where martyrdom would suffer, wrote to the Christians of this city: ‘I did not want you to try to please men, but to God,’ and added: ‘It is good for me to die for Jesus Christ, rather than reign on the extremes farthest from earth.'”
“Brothers and sisters, let’s ask Maria, queen of the martyrs together, to help us to be, in all circumstances, faithful and brave witnesses of her son, and to hold the brothers and sisters who today suffer by faith,” he told the faithful.
Eduardo Berdejo
Professional in Social Communication of the National University of San Marcos in Peru, I have more than 20 years of experience in Catholic digital journalism. As part of ACI Press, I have been sent to cover the trips of Pope Francis to Cuba, Mexico, Colombia and Peru, in addition to the Synod of Sinodality in the Vatican in 2023.