{"id":21801,"date":"2016-05-31T17:37:14","date_gmt":"2016-05-31T17:37:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cimdev8.com\/?p=21801"},"modified":"2016-05-31T17:37:14","modified_gmt":"2016-05-31T17:37:14","slug":"courageous-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/insidethevatican.com\/popeswords\/morningmass\/courageous-women\/","title":{"rendered":"Courageous women"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are two \u201cattitudes\u201d that are unequivocal \u201csigns\u201d of being a Christian: \u2018joyful service\u2019 and \u201creaching out to others\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

In the Mass he celebrated on Tuesday, 31 May, in the Chapel of Santa Marta, Pope Francis offered advice for Christians who \u201cbelieve they are sufficient\u201d but in reality \u201care not entirely so\u201d. He invited them to follow the example of \u201ccourageous women\u201d like Mary, who are able to face difficulties and obstacles in order to serve others.<\/p>\n

Looking at today\u2019s liturgy, so \u201cfull of the joy that fills our hearts\u201d, the Pope first reflected on a few passages from the first reading of the Prophet Zephaniah (3:14-18): \u201cRejoice and exult with all your heart! The Lord is in your midst, you shall fear disaster no more\u201d; and again: \u201cGod is in your midst, a warrior who gives victory, he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love\u201d. That is to say, the Pope explained, \u201cit is God who rejoices with us\u201d, that \u201che renews us\u201d. This passage expresses \u201ca great joy, a joy that fills our hearts and our lives\u201d. Then Pope Francis turned to the Gospel of Luke (1:39-56): \u201cMary\u2019s encounter with her cousin\u201d, he said, exudes the \u201csame atmosphere of joy: \u2018My soul magnifies the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God\u2019\u201d. Even Jesus rejoices and leaps in his mother\u2019s womb: \u201ceverything there is joy, everything\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"imgres\"The Pope said \u201cthis is the fresh air that the liturgy brings to us today: the message of joy\u201d. He commented that it is an \u201cawful thing\u201d when Christians have \u201can unhappy face; sad Christians\u201d are an \u201cawful, awful thing\u201d. In fact, \u201cthey believe\u201d that they are Christians \u201cbut they are not entirely so\u201d.<\/p>\n

In this joyful atmosphere, \u201cthat today\u2019s liturgy gives us as a gift\u201d, the Pope wanted to emphasize two aspects: \u201can attitude\u201d and \u201ca fact\u201d.<\/p>\n

The attitude to be taken from the Gospel passage is that of \u201cservice\u201d. Mary indeed \u201cgoes to serve\u201d. Pope Francis highlighted \u201cthe two verbs that introduce this story in Luke\u2019s Gospel\u201d, namely: \u201cMary stood up\u201d, that is to say, she decided: \u201cI am going to do something\u201d, and then \u201cshe went with haste\u201d. What is \u201castonishing\u201d, the Pope said, is precisely that this girl of sixteen or seventeen, but no older, quickly goes on this journey, where there would surely be robbers, but she was brave. She gets up and goes\u201d. Mary does not use excuses like: \u201cNo, I\u2019m pregnant\u201d, or even: \u201cI am the queen of the world, because the king comes to me\u201d. She simply \u201cgot up and went\u201d showing all of her \u201cwomanly courage\u201d.<\/p>\n

In this respect, the Pope took a moment to call to mind \u201cthe courageous women who are in the Church\u201d and who \u201care like Our Lady\u201d: women who \u201ccarry the family forward\u201d and \u201cthe children\u2019s education\u201d, capable of confronting \u201cmany hardships and so much pain\u201d, women \u201cwho care for the sick… Courageous: they get up and serve, they serve\u201d. In them we recognize the \u201cChristian sign\u201d of service. And, remembering that \u201che who does not live to serve, does not live\u201d, Pope Francis repeatedly stressed the importance of an attitude of \u201cjoyful service\u201d. It is a joy that also requires \u201cmortification\u201d, that is, of choosing not only what we like. Mary, for example, \u201cgot up and went with haste into the hill country, to a Jewish city\u201d. She went \u201cfar away\u201d and \u201ccertainly did so alone. She was brave\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"7b0ffaf5bb24abc60df95f6e37ab6b46\"The Gospel also proposes a \u201cfact\u201d, that is, \u201cthe encounter\u201d between Mary and Elizabeth. \u201cThese two women\u201d, the Pope said, \u201ccome together and meet with joy, as women do who care for each other: they hug, they kiss…\u201d. It was an encounter that was, in short, characterized by \u201ccelebration\u201d. Therefore, \u201cencounter is another Christian sign\u201d. In fact, the Pope explained, \u201ca person who claims to be Christian but is not able to reach out to others, to encounter others, is not totally Christian\u201d. The Pope added that \u201cboth service and encounter demand\u201d that we \u201cgo out of ourselves; that we go out to serve and go out to encounter, to embrace another person\u201d.<\/p>\n

It is precisely with this kind of service and encounter, that in Mary \u2014 who just one week before \u201cwas working, unbeknownst that her cousin was pregnant\u201d, and then to the \u201cgreat joy of motherhood\u201d adds \u201cthe joy of serving and the joy of encounter\u201d \u2014 the promise of the Lord is renewed and carried out \u201cin the present\u201d.<\/p>\n

In this regard, the Pope commented: \u201cIf we could learn this \u2013 service and reaching out to others, not refusing encounter \u2013 if we could learn this, the world would change\u201d. He concluded by reiterating: \u201cTwo things only, to serve and to encounter, and we will experience the joy, this joy of God\u2019s presence among us\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are two \u201cattitudes\u201d that are unequivocal \u201csigns\u201d of being a Christian: \u2018joyful service\u2019 and \u201creaching out to others\u201d. In the Mass he celebrated on Tuesday, 31 May, in the Chapel of Santa Marta, Pope Francis offered advice for Christians who \u201cbelieve they are sufficient\u201d but in reality \u201care not entirely so\u201d. He invited them to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":334,"featured_media":21802,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[1114,2398,2399,973,133,1357,135,136,1658,2400],"class_list":["post-21801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-morningmass","tag-courage","tag-courageous-women","tag-elizabeth","tag-mary","tag-morning-mass-homily","tag-motherhood","tag-pope","tag-pope-francis","tag-service","tag-zephaniah"],"yoast_head":"\nCourageous women - Inside The Vatican<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/insidethevatican.com\/popeswords\/morningmass\/courageous-women\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Courageous women - Inside The Vatican\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There are two \u201cattitudes\u201d that are unequivocal \u201csigns\u201d of being a Christian: \u2018joyful service\u2019 and \u201creaching out to others\u201d. 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