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Even today Christians are killed in the name of God, but the Holy Spirit gives the strength to bear witness even to the point of martyrdom: this is what the Pope emphasized during Mass this Monday (11 May 2015) morning at the Saint Martha residence.
In the Gospel of the day, Jesus announces the Holy Spirit to the disciples: "I still have many things to say to you, but at this moment you are not able to bear their weight: but when the Paraclete comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth.". The Lord " speaks of the future, of the Cross that awaits us, and speaks to us of the Spirit, who prepares us to give Christian witness." So he speaks "of the scandal of persecutions, the scandal of the Cross." "The life ofthe Church, the Pope observes, is a journey guided by the Spirit" who reminds us of the words of Jesus and"teaches us the things that Jesus was not yet able to tell us." "He is the companion on the journey and also defends us from the 'scandal of the Cross.'". The Cross is indeed a scandal for the Jews who"ask for signs" and "foolishness for the Greeks, that is, the pagans who ask for wisdom, new ideas. Christians indeed proclaim Christ crucified. Thus, Jesus prepares the disciples so that they are not scandalized by the Cross of Christ:"they will expel you from the synagogues, says Jesus, thus comes the hour in which whoever kills you will think he is offering worship to God."
"Today we are witnesses of those who kill Christians in the name of God, because they are unbelievers, according to them, the Pope recalled. This is the Cross of Christ. "What I have endured, says Jesus, you too will endure: the persecutions, the tribulations, but please do not be scandalized, it will be the Spirit who will guide you and make you understand."
In this context, Pope Francis recalled his telephone exchange on Sunday with the Coptic Patriarch Tawadros,"because it was the day of Coptic-Catholic friendship. I remember his faithful, who were beheaded on the beach because they were Christians. These faithful, by the strength that the Holy Spirit gave us, were not scandalized. They died with the name of Jesus on their lips. This is the strength of the Spirit. The witness. It is true, this is truly martyrdom, the supreme witness.", insisted Pope Francis.
"But it is also the everyday witness, he continued, the witness of making present the fruitfulness of Easter, which gave us the Holy Spirit, who guides us toward the full truth, the whole truth, and makes us recognize what Jesus tells us."
The Pope then used a neologism to make it better understood that the Christian life, even in the small acts of everyday life, is inseparable from martyrdom. "A Christian who does not take seriously this 'martyrial' dimension of life has not yet understood the way that Jesus taught us: a 'martyrial' way of every day, a 'martyrial' way to defend the rights of persons, a 'martyrial' way to defend children: a father, a mother who defend their family, a 'martyrial' way of so many sick people who suffer out of love for Jesus. All of us have thepossibility of carrying forward this paschal fruitfulness on this 'martyrial' way, without being scandalized."
The Pope concluded with this prayer: "Let us ask the Lord for the grace to receive the Holy Spirit who will make us remember the acts of Jesus, who will guide us toward the whole truth and prepare us each day to give this witness, to give this little martyrdom of every day or a great martyrdom, according to the will of the Lord."
Source:News.va
