Vatican City: During his Angelus address for the 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Pope Francis reflected on Luke 9:51-62, the Gospel reading of the day.
“Let us ask Jesus for the strength of being like him, of following him resolutely down the path of service, not to be vindictive, not to be intolerant when difficulties present themselves when we spend ourselves in doing good and others do not understand this, or even when they disqualify us,” the Pope said to pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square. “No, silence and go ahead.”
Jesus’s decision to go to Jerusalem was a turning point, Pope Francis said at the Angelus on Sunday, because He knew it meant facing rejection, suffering, and death.
The Pope pointed out that we, too, are called to make a firm decision for our lives “if we want to be disciples of Jesus.” Sunday’s Gospel passage, he said, can help us see what this decision involves; because “we must be disciples of Jesus in earnest, with real determination, and not—as an elderly lady I knew used to say—'rosewater Christians.’ No, no, no! [We must be] serious Christians!”
In the day's Gospel reading, Sts James and John ask Jesus if they should call down heavenly fire on the Samaritan town that rejects Jesus. The Lord rejects their suggestion and rebukes the disciples, “because the ‘fire’ that Jesus came to bring on the earth is the merciful love of the Father.”
Pope Francis explained that—like James and John, who “allow themselves to be overcome by anger”—we can become angry even when engaged in good works if things do not go according to our plan. Jesus, instead, takes a different path, the Pope said, “that of a resolute decision which, far from translating into harshness, implies calm, patience, longsuffering, not slackening the least bit in doing good.”
The Holy Father insisted that when we meet opposition, we must, like Jesus, “turn toward doing good elsewhere, without recrimination.” He challenged his listeners, “In the face of opposition, misunderstanding, do we turn to the Lord?” Do we ask for His help, or do we end up bitter and resentful when our efforts are not applauded?
“Sometimes we think that our fervor is due to a sense of justice for a good cause. But in reality, most of the time it is nothing other than pride, united with weakness, sensitivity, and impatience.”
He invited us to “ask Jesus for the strength of being like him, of following him with a firm decision, not to be vindictive and intolerant when difficulties present themselves, when we spend ourselves in doing good and others do not understand this.”
“May the Virgin Mary help us make the resolute decision Jesus did to remain in love to the end,”- Pope Francis concluded.