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EN
"Do not be ashamed to express the joy of the encounter with the Lord, do not be detached from the celebration that people have when they feel God close to them." This is the invitation offered by the Pope during the Mass at the Saint Martha residence, this Tuesday 28 January 2020.
The Gospel will only go forward with "evangelizers full of life and joy." A joy that also continues "at the family table," Francis urged in his homily this 28 January. This sense of the joy of being Christian, the center of the Holy Father's reflection, is supported by the first reading of the day, taken from the second book of Samuel. It recounts how David and the people of Israel celebrate the return to Jerusalem of the Ark of the Covenant, which contains the Tablets of the Law given to Moses on Mount Sinai.
Celebrating in the presence of God
The Ark had been abducted, the Pope recalls, and its return to Jerusalem "is a great joy for the people." They feel that God is close to them, so they celebrate. King David places himself at the head of the procession, and offers a sacrifice by immolating a heifer and a great ram. With the people, he shouts, sings and dances "with all his might." It was a celebration: the joy of the people of God because God was with them. And David expresses his joy without shame; the spiritual joy of the encounter with the Lord: God has returned to us, this gives us so much joy. David does not think that he is the king and that the king must be detached from the people, in "majesty" or with distance...
The treasure of spontaneity and joy
The text of the prophet Samuel continues by describing David's return to his home where he finds his first wife, Michal, daughter of King Saul. She welcomes him with contempt. Seeing the king dance, she is ashamed of him: "Are you not ashamed to dance like a common man, like a member of the people?," she reproaches him.
For the Argentine Supreme Pontiff, such an attitude amounts to despising "authentic religiosity, the spontaneity of joy with the Lord."
David, however, explains to her: "But look, this is a reason for joy, we have brought the Ark back home!" But she continues to despise him. And for good reason, the Old Testament indeed recounts that Michal then had no children because of this. "The Lord punished her." "When there is no joy in a Christian, that Christian is not fruitful; when there is no joy in our heart, there is no fruitfulness," Francis concluded.
Joyful evangelizers
"The Church will not go forward and the Gospel will not go forward with boring and bitter evangelizers. It will only continue with joyful evangelizers, full of life. The joy of receiving the Word of God, the joy of being Christians, the joy of going forward, the capacity to celebrate without being ashamed and not to be like that woman, Michal, formal Christians, prisoners of formalities.," the Successor of Peter concluded emphatically.
source: www.vaticannews.va
