![\"pilgrimage](\"http:\/\/pilgrimage-for-restoration.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/across_a_bridge_9-25-2011.jpg\")
See for yourself, whether Pope Francis is speaking in today’s sermon to you, a fellow pilgrim on The Way in this year of faith<\/i>.<\/p>\nSee for yourself, whether Pope Francis is speaking in today’s sermon to you, a fellow pilgrim on The Way in this year of faith<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Excerpts from the sermon of His Holiness, Pope Francis, given at St. Paul\u2019s Basilica, Outside-the-Walls of Rome:<\/p>\n
In the First Reading, what strikes us is the strength of Peter and the other Apostles. In response to the order to be silent, no longer to teach in the name of Jesus, no longer to proclaim his message, they respond clearly: \u201cWe must obey God, rather than men\u201d. And they remain undeterred even when flogged, ill-treated and imprisoned. Peter and the Apostles proclaim courageously, fearlessly, what they have received: the Gospel of Jesus.<\/p>\n
And we? Are we capable of bringing the word of God into the environment in which we live? Do we know how to speak of Christ, of what he represents for us, in our families, among the people who form part of our daily lives?<\/p>\n
Faith is born from listening, and is strengthened by proclamation.<\/p>\n
But let us take a further step: the proclamation made by Peter and the Apostles does not merely consist of words: fidelity to Christ affects their whole lives, which are changed, given a new direction, and it is through their lives that they bear witness to the faith and to the proclamation of Christ.<\/p>\n
In today\u2019s Gospel, Jesus asks Peter three times to feed his flock, to feed it with his love, and he prophesies to him: \u201cWhen you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish to go\u201d (Jn 21:18).<\/p>\n
These words are addressed first and foremost to those of us who are pastors: we cannot feed God\u2019s flock unless we let ourselves be carried by God\u2019s will even where we would rather not go, unless we are prepared to bear witness to Christ with the gift of ourselves, unreservedly, not in a calculating way, sometimes even at the cost of our lives.<\/p>\n
But this also applies to everyone: we all have to proclaim and bear witness to the Gospel. We should all ask ourselves: How do I bear witness to Christ through my faith? Do I have the courage of Peter and the other Apostles, to think, to choose and to live as a Christian, obedient to God?<\/p>\n
To be sure, the testimony of faith comes in very many forms, just as in a great fresco, there is a variety of colours and shades; yet they are all important, even those which do not stand out.<\/p>\n
In God\u2019s great plan, every detail is important, even yours, even my humble little witness, even the hidden witness of those who live their faith with simplicity in everyday family relationships, work relationships, friendships.<\/p>\n
There are the saints of every day, the \u201chidden\u201d saints, a sort of \u201cmiddle class of holiness\u201d to which we can all belong.<\/p>\n
But in different parts of the world, there are also those who suffer, like Peter and the Apostles, on account of the Gospel; there are those who give their lives in order to remain faithful to Christ by means of a witness marked by the shedding of their blood.<\/p>\n
Let us all remember this: one cannot proclaim the Gospel of Jesus without the tangible witness of one\u2019s life. Those who listen to us and observe us must be able to see in our actions what they hear from our lips, and so give glory to God! Inconsistency on the part of pastors and the faithful between what they say and what they do, between word and manner of life, is undermining the Church\u2019s credibility.<\/p>\n
But all this is possible only if we recognize Jesus Christ, because it is he who has called us, he who has invited us to travel his path, he who has chosen us. Proclamation and witness are only possible if we are close to him, just as Peter, John and the other disciples in today\u2019s Gospel passage were gathered around the Risen Jesus; there is a daily closeness to him: they know very well who he is, they know him. The Evangelist stresses the fact that \u201cno one dared ask him: \u2018Who are you?\u2019 \u2013 they knew it was the Lord\u201d (Jn 21:12). This is important for us: living an intense relationship with Jesus, an intimacy of dialogue and of life, in such a way as to recognize him as \u201cthe Lord\u201d, and to worship him.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
See for yourself, whether Pope Francis is speaking in today’s sermon to you, a fellow pilgrim on The Way in this year of faith.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,69,33,49,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-births-to-pilgrims","category-death-of-pilgrims","category-press-releases","category-support-the-pilgrimage","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pilgrimage-for-restoration.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pilgrimage-for-restoration.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pilgrimage-for-restoration.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pilgrimage-for-restoration.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pilgrimage-for-restoration.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2326"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pilgrimage-for-restoration.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2326\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4725,"href":"https:\/\/pilgrimage-for-restoration.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2326\/revisions\/4725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pilgrimage-for-restoration.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pilgrimage-for-restoration.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pilgrimage-for-restoration.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}