Pope: Call of first Christians inspires us to share Gospel
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(Vatican Radio) At the Angelus on Sunday, Pope Francis focused on the early days of Jesus ministry, in Galilee. This region, the Holy Father noted, was a kind of crossroads between the Mediterranean and the Mesopotamian hinterlands. Because of the presence of large numbers of pagans, for the Jews Galilee was seen as a geographical periphery. Little was expected from Galilee in terms of the story of salvation – but it was precisely here that the light of the Gospel began to be diffused throughout the world, not only to the Jews, but also to the Gentiles.Here, following St John the Baptist, Jesus preached the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven. But unlike the Baptist, who waited for the people to come to him, Jesus chose the life of a wandering prophet, going out to meet the people.Pope Francis noted that Jesus didn’t simply proclaim the Gospel, He sought out companions to associate with Himself in His mission of salvation. He chose simple fisherman, Peter and Andrew, James...
(Vatican Radio) At the Angelus on Sunday, Pope Francis focused on the early days of Jesus ministry, in Galilee. This region, the Holy Father noted, was a kind of crossroads between the Mediterranean and the Mesopotamian hinterlands. Because of the presence of large numbers of pagans, for the Jews Galilee was seen as a geographical periphery. Little was expected from Galilee in terms of the story of salvation – but it was precisely here that the light of the Gospel began to be diffused throughout the world, not only to the Jews, but also to the Gentiles.
Here, following St John the Baptist, Jesus preached the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven. But unlike the Baptist, who waited for the people to come to him, Jesus chose the life of a wandering prophet, going out to meet the people.
Pope Francis noted that Jesus didn’t simply proclaim the Gospel, He sought out companions to associate with Himself in His mission of salvation. He chose simple fisherman, Peter and Andrew, James and John, calling them not in an extraordinary manner, but in the routine of their daily lives. The fishermen, called to be “fishers of men”, responded immediately to Jesus call.
“We, Christians of today,” the Pope said, “have the joy of proclaiming and bearing witness to our faith because of that first announcement, because there were those humble and courageous men who responded generously to the call of Jesus.”
Our awareness of the beginnings of the Christian mission, he continued, “raises up in us the desire to bring the word, the love, and the tenderness of Jesus into every context, even the most impervious and resistant. All the spaces of human life are ground in which to sow the seed of the Gospel, that it might bear the fruits of salvation.”
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Pope Francis meets with 300 priests taking part in the World Meeting of Parish Priests on May 2, 2024, at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican MediaRome Newsroom, May 2, 2024 / 12:41 pm (CNA).Pope Francis published a letter on Thursday addressed to all parish priests in the world with his advice for building a missionary Church in which all the baptized share in the mission of proclaiming the Gospel."Parish communities increasingly need to become places from which the baptized set out as missionary disciples and to which they return, full of joy, in order to share the wonders worked by the Lord through their witness," Pope Francis wrote in the letter published on May 2.The pope presented the letter to 300 priests participating in the Synod on Synodality's "World Meeting of Parish Priests" during an audience at the Vatican, saying that their meeting is "an opportunity to remember in my prayers all of the parish priests in the world to whom I address these words with great affection."P...