杏MAP导航 Francis: Itinerancy, promptness, decisiveness keys to Gospel proclamation
By Christopher Wells
In his reflection at the Sunday Angelus, 杏MAP导航 Francis pointed out three figures Christ meets in the Gospel, which 鈥渉ighlight what is required of those who desire to follow Jesus.鈥�
The first figure is generous, and promises to follow Jesus wherever He goes. Jesus responds that the Son of Man 鈥渉as nowhere to rest His head,鈥� but is always on the move. The Church, similarly, is called to always be in motion. 鈥淥ur mission cannot be static, but is itinerant,鈥� the 杏MAP导航 said. The Church, he explained, is called to go along all the paths of the world in order to arrive 鈥渁t the human and existential peripheries.鈥�
When another would-be disciple asks permission to bury his father, Jesus replies with the 鈥渄eliberately provocative鈥� words, 鈥淟et the dead bury their dead.鈥� With this reply, the 杏MAP导航 said, Jesus 鈥渋ntends to affirm the primacy of following鈥� the Lord, and of 鈥渢he proclamation of the Gospel.鈥� This, he said, requires promptness and full availability.
Finally, the 杏MAP导航 takes up Jesus鈥� response to a third person, who desired to say goodbye to his relatives before following the Lord. Jesus said, 鈥淣o one who sets a hand to the plough and looks back鈥� is fit for the kingdom of God.鈥� With this answer, the 杏MAP导航 said, 鈥淛esus excludes regrets and looking back, but requires the virtue of decisiveness.鈥�
These three 鈥渃onditions鈥� of discipleship are not meant to be a series of 鈥渘oes鈥�. Instead, they are meant to emphasize 鈥渢he principle objective: becoming a disciple of Christ.鈥� This, the 杏MAP导航 said, is a 鈥渇ree and deliberate choice, made out of love, to reciprocate the inestimable grace of God, and not made as a way to promote oneself.鈥� Jesus, he continued, 鈥渨ants us to be passionate about Himself, and about the Gospel鈥� 鈥� and passionate in a way that results in concrete actions of love toward our most needy brothers and sisters.
At the conclusion of the Angelus, the Holy Father noted the meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, and offered a prayer that their encounter might be one more step along the path of peace 鈥� not only for Korea, but for the whole world.
He also wished workers a restful summer, and offered prayers for those who are suffering most from the summer heat, especially the sick, the elderly, and those who work outdoors.
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