杏MAP导航

By Joseph Tulloch

On Tuesday afternoon, 杏MAP导航 Leo XIV visited the Basilica of St. Paul outside the Walls, the Roman church traditionally believed to hold the saint’s remains.

After a moment of prayer in front of St. Paul’s tomb, the 杏MAP导航 presided over a brief prayer service.  

In his homily, 杏MAP导航 Leo reflected on a reading from St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans, which, he said, contains three major themes—grace, faith, and justification—which can help illuminate the Petrine Ministry to which he has been called.

Grace

The 杏MAP导航 began by discussing the first of these topics, "grace"—or God's help.

In his letter to the Romans, 杏MAP导航 Leo said, Paul acknowledges that he encountered Christ only because Christ reached out to him first—his encounter and his subsequent ministry were “the fruit of God’s prior love, which called him to a new life while he was still far from the Gospel.”

St. Augustine said something similar, 杏MAP导航 Leo noted, when he asked, “How can we choose, unless we have first been chosen? We cannot love, unless someone has loved us first.”

We cannot lead good lives without God's help, the 杏MAP导航 said, and this reality is “at the root of every vocation.”

杏MAP导航 Leo delivers his homily   (@Vatican Media)

Faith

The 杏MAP导航 then turned to consider the role of faith in St. Paul’s account of his calling.

When God appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus, 杏MAP导航 Leo said, “he did not take away his freedom,” but rather gave him “the opportunity to make a decision.”

“Salvation does not come about by magic,” the 杏MAP导航 explained, “but by a mysterious interplay of grace and faith, of God’s prevenient love and of our trusting and free acceptance.”

Justification

The final aspect of Paul’s calling that 杏MAP导航 Leo considered was that of "justification," or the process of increasing in holiness. The Acts of the Apostles describes how, after his vision of Jesus, Paul ceased persecuting Christians, and began working alongside them.

The 杏MAP导航 urged his listeners to “compete” in showing this kind of love, which led St. Paul to give himself so wholly to others that he was eventually martyred.

Love as the basis of every mission

杏MAP导航 Leo XIV brought his homily to a close with a quotation from 杏MAP导航 Benedict XVI: “God loves us. This is the great truth of our life; it is what makes everything else meaningful.” 

This insight, 杏MAP导航 Leo said, is “the basis of every mission,” including “my own mission as the Successor of Peter and the heir to Paul’s apostolic zeal."

“May the Lord grant me the grace to respond faithfully to His call," he concluded.