Christians must be open to the Word of God and to welcoming and serving others, Pope Francis said.
“’Be open,’ Jesus said to every believer and to his Church: be open because the message of the Gospel needs you to bear witness to it and to proclaim it,” he declared during his general audience weekly in the Paul VI room on December 13.
The pope also called for an immediate ceasefire and a resumption of negotiations between Israel and Palestine.
“I continue to follow the conflict in Israel and Palestine with great concern and sadness,” he said. “I renew my call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire: there is so much suffering there.”
Francis encouraged all parties to return to negotiations, “and I ask everyone to urgently commit to providing humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza who are at the end of their tether and who really need it.”
The pope also called for the immediate release of all the hostages, “who had seen hope in the truce of a few days ago, so that this great suffering of Israelis and Palestinians may end.”
“Please,” he said, “no to guns, yes to peace.”
In his keynote address, the pope concluded his year-long series of talks on zeal for evangelization.
Since the end of November, Francis has suffered from breathing difficulties linked to a bronchial infection and has reduced the quantity of texts he prepares and reads aloud.
Reading only extracts but adding spontaneous comments, the pope explained how every Christian is called to be “inspired by the Word of God, to help us cultivate the passion to announce the Gospel.”
Often the Bible uses examples of people with deafness and muteness as metaphors for their “deafness” or closedness to God’s word and, therefore, their inability to speak faith to others.
When Jesus healed a deaf man who had a speech impediment, according to the reflection read to the audience, Jesus — in the Gospel of Mark (7:31-35) — uses an Aramaic word that means “be open” , which is an invitation not only to the man who was deaf, but to all his disciples yesterday and today, the pope said.
“We, who received the Ephphatha of the Spirit in baptism, are also called to be open” to God’s Word and to welcome and serve others, he said.
“Closed Christians always do badly because they are not Christians,” the pope said, “they are ideologues” with an ideology of withdrawal into themselves.
Francis suggested people ask themselves, “Do I really love the Lord so much that I want to proclaim him?” Do I want to become his witness or am I happy to be his disciple? Do I take the people I meet to heart, bringing them to Jesus in prayer? Do I want to do something so that the joy of the Gospel, which has transformed my life, makes their lives more beautiful?
