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In the speech that preceded the Marian Angelus prayer, this Sunday (3), Francis reflected on the Gospel of the day when Saint John reveals “something of Jesus before he came among us”: the principle of the Word that “became flesh and dwelt among us, “forever uniting with humanity. Without fear, the Pope said, we are going to welcome Jesus into our home, into our family, into our frailties and right there, where people are most ashamed, as he “knocks at the door of the heart to live with us.”
Andressa Collet – Vatican News
Pope Francis said the Angelus again this Sunday (3) from the library of the Apostolic Palace, as a restriction due to the pandemic. In Brazil, the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord with the Gospel (Mt 2,1-12) on the three wise men who, from the East, came to adore the Child Jesus in Bethlehem. The Pontiff, in the speech that preceded the Marian Prayer in the Vatican, reflected in the Gospel of John (1,1-18) that does not bring “an episode from the life of Jesus, but rather speaks of him before he was born “, revealing” something about Jesus before he came among us. “
From the beginning, the Word
The Pontiff praises, through the liturgy of the day, that Jesus existed before the appearance of life, “before the beginning of things, before the universe, before everything. It exists before space and time ”. Saint John calls it “Word”, recalls the Pope, who has the power of “communication”, which means talking about something with someone:
A communication that reflects “the beauty of being a child of God”, of being loved. The Pope then reminds us that “this is today’s wonderful message: Jesus is the Word, the eternal Word of God, who has always thought of us and wants to communicate with us.”
The words became flesh
For this, Francis says, “he went beyond words”, as the Gospel itself tells us that the Word “became flesh and dwelt among us” (v. 14):
“If he became flesh: why does Saint John use this expression, ‘flesh’? Couldn’t you say, in a more elegant way, that you became a man? No, use the word meat because it indicates our human condition in all its vulnerability, in all its fragility. It tells us that God made himself fragile to touch our weaknesses closely. Therefore, since the Lord became flesh, nothing in our life is alien to Him. There is nothing He despises; we can share everything with him, everything. Dear brother, dear sister, God became flesh to tell us, to tell us that he loves you right there, that he loves us right there, in our weaknesses, in his weaknesses; right there, where we feel most ashamed, where we are most ashamed of you ”.
The Pope affirms that this is a “bold decision of God”, to make meat where it most embarrasses us. Thus, Francis recalls that when he became flesh, God “did not return”:
Welcoming Jesus in our frailty
Francis concludes the Marian Angelus prayer by asking precisely the Holy Mother of God, “in whom the Word became flesh”, to help us welcome Jesus, “who knocks at the door of the heart so that he may live with us”. What God really wants from us, the Pope adds, is great intimacy:
