| Jesus says: 'Come,
follow me'
Those who live the Beatitudes are the
true winners in God's kingdom
On Friday morning, 24 March, the Holy
Father went to Korazim in Galilee, where he blessed the site of the new
"Domus Galilaeae", a formation and conference centre being built
by the Neocatechumenal Way, and celebrated an outdoor Mass with young
people on the Mount of the Beatitudes. After the proclamation of the
Gospel (Mt 5:1-12), the Pope gave the homily in English. Here is the text.
"Consider your calling, brothers
and sisters" (I Cor 1:26).
1. Today these words of Saint Paul are addressed to all of us who have
come here to the Mount of the Beatitudes. We sit on this hill like the
first disciples, and we listen to Jesus. In the stillness, we hear his
gentle and urgent voice, as gentle as this land itself and as urgent as a
call to choose between life and death.
How many generations before us have been deeply moved by the Sermon on
the Mount! How many young people down the centuries have gathered around
Jesus to learn the words of eternal life, as you are gathered here today!
How many young hearts have been inspired by the power of his personality
and the compelling truth of his message! It is wonderful that you are
here!
Thank you, Archbishop Boutros Mouallem, for your kind welcome. Please
take my prayerful greeting to the whole Greek-Melkite community over which
you preside. I greet the members of the Latin community, including the
Hebrew speaking faithful, the Maronite community, the Syrian community,
the Armenian community, the Chaldean community, and all our brothers and
sisters of the other Christian Churches and Ecclesial Communities. I
extend a special word of thanks to our Muslim friends who are here, and to
the members of the Jewish faith and to the Druse community.
This great gathering is like a rehearsal for the World Youth Day to
be held in August in Rome! The young man who spoke promised that you will
have another mountain, Mount Sinai!
2. Just a month ago, I had the grace of going there, where God spoke to
Moses and gave the Law, "written with the finger of God" (Ex
31:18) on the tablets of stone. These two mountains—Sinai and the Mount
of the Beatitudes—offer us the roadmap of our Christian life and a
summary of our responsibilities to God and neighbour. The Law and the
Beatitudes together mark the path of the following of Christ and the royal
road to spiritual maturity and freedom.
The Ten Commandments of Sinai may seem negative: "You will have no
false gods before me; . . . do not kill; do not commit adultery; do not
steal; do not bear false witness ... " (Ex 20:3, 13-16). But in fact
they are supremely positive. Moving beyond the evil they name, they point
the way to the law of love which is the first and greatest of the
commandments: "You will love the Lord your God with all your
heart, all your soul and all your mind. . .You will love your neighbour
as yourself" (Mt 22:37, 39). Jesus himself says that he came not
to abolish but to fulfil the Law (cf. Mt 5:17). His message is new
but it does not destroy what went before; it leads what went before to its
fullest potential. Jesus teaches that the way of love brings the Law to
fulfilment (cf. Gal 5:14). And he taught this enormously important
truth on this hill here in Galilee.
3. "Blessed are you!", he says, "all you who are poor
in spirit, gentle and merciful, you who mourn, who care for
what is right, who are pure in heart, who make peace, you who
are persecuted! Blessed are you!" But the words of Jesus may
seem strange. It is strange that Jesus exalts those whom the world
generally regards as weak. He says to them, "Blessed are you who seem
to be losers, because you are the true winners: the kingdom of heaven is
yours!" Spoken by him who is "gentle and humble in heart"
(Matt 11:29), these words present a challenge which demand a deep and
abiding metanoia of the spirit, a great change of heart.
You young people will understand why this change of heart is necessary!
Because you are aware of another voice within you and all around you, a
contradictory voice. It is a voice which says, "BIessed are the proud
and violent, those who prosper at any cost, who are unscrupulous,
pitiless, devious, who make war not peace, and persecute those who stand
in their way". And this voice seems to make sense in a world where
the violent often triumph and the devious seem to succeed.
"Yes", says the voice of evil, "they are the ones who win.
Happy are they!"
4. Jesus offers a very different message. Not far from this very
place Jesus called his first disciples, as he calls you now. His call has
always demanded a choice between the two voices competing for your
hearts even now on this hill, the choice between good and evil,
between life and death. Which voice will the young people of the
twenty-first century choose to follow? To put your faith in Jesus means choosing
to believe what he says, no matter how strange it may seem, and
choosing to reject the claims of evil, no matter how sensible or
attractive they may seem.
In the end, Jesus does not merely speak the Beatitudes. He lives
the Beatitudes. He is the Beatitudes. Looking at him you will see
what it means to be poor in spirit, gentle and merciful, to mourn, to care
for what is right, to be pure in heart, to make peace, to be persecuted.
This is why he Jesus has the right to say, "Come, follow me!"
He does not say simply, "Do what I say". He says, "Come,
follow me!"
You hear his voice on this hill, and you believe what he says. But like
the first disciples at the Sea of Galilee, you must leave your boats and
nets behind, and that is never easy—especially when you face an
uncertain future and are tempted to lose faith in your Christian heritage.
To be good Christians may seem beyond your strength in today’s world.
But Jesus does not stand by and leave you alone to face the challenge. He
is always with you to transform your weakness into strength. Trust him
when he says: "My grace is enough for you, for my power is made
perfect in weakness" (2 Cor 12:9)!
5. The disciples spent time with the Lord. They came to know and love
him deeply. They discovered the meaning of what the Apostle Peter once
said to Jesus: "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of
eternal life" (Jn 6:68). They discovered that the words of
eternal life are the words of Sinai and the words of the Beatitudes.
And this is the message which they spread everywhere.
At the moment of his Ascension Jesus gave his disciples a mission and
this reassurance: "All power in
heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore and make
disciples of all nations . . . and behold I am with you always, until
the end of the age" (Mt 28:18-20). For 2,000 years Christ's followers
have carried out this mission. Now, at the dawn of the third millennium,
it is your turn. It is your turn to go out into the world to preach the
message of the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes. When God speaks,
he speaks of things which have the greatest
importance for each person, for the people of the twenty-first century no
less than those of the first century. The Ten Commandments and the
Beatitudes speak of truth and goodness, of grace and freedom: of all that
is necessary to enter into Christ's Kingdom. Now it is your turn to be
courageous apostles of that Kingdom!
Young people of the Holy Land, Young people of the world: answer the
Lord with a heart that is willing and open! Willing and open, like the
heart of the greatest daughter of Galilee, Mary, the Mother of Jesus. How
did she respond? She said: "I am the servant of the Lord, let it
be done to me according to your word" (Lk 1:38).
0 Lord Jesus Christ, in this place that you knew and loved so well,
listen to these generous young hearts! Continue to teach these young
people the truth of the Commandments and the Beatitudes! Make them joyful
witnesses to your truth and convinced apostles of your Kingdom! Be with
them always, especially when following you and the Gospel becomes
difficult and demanding! You will be their strength; you will be their
victory!
0 Lord Jesus, you have made these young people your friends; keep
them for ever close to you! Amen.
At the end of Mass the Pope greeted the many pilgrims present. To
the English-speaking he said:
To the young people from English-speaking parts of the world, and to
all of you, I say: Be worthy followers of Christ! In the spirit of the
Beatitudes, be light for the world!
I thank everyone who had a part in preparing for this wonderful Mass.
God bless you all!
The Holy Father then made an appeal for peace between Ethiopia and
Eritrea:
During these days, my thoughts turn with hope to the initiatives being
taken by the Organization of African Unity to restore peace between
Ethiopia and Eritrea. These efforts have now reached a very delicate
stage. It is a matter of finding a path that will lead to the conditions
necessary for the well-being and progress of the peoples of the entire
region, already greatly affected by famine. Let us all pray that this part
of the world will work for a just solution.
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