It is impossible to proclaim Jesus if you are a “slave” to your sorrows, Pope Francis said at Mass this morning.
According to Vatican Radio, he said: “It’s the Spirit that guides us: He is the author of joy, the Creator of joy. And this joy in the Holy Spirit gives us true Christian freedom. Without joy, we Christians cannot become free, we become slaves to our sorrows. The great Paul VI said that you cannot advance the Gospel with sad, hopeless, discouraged Christians. You cannot. A certain mournful behaviour, no?
“Often Christians behave as if they were going to a funeral procession rather than to praise God, no? And this joy comes from praise, Mary’s praise, this praise that Zephaniah speaks of, Simeon and Anna’s praise: this praise of God!”
Addressing the congregation at the Mass in the Domus Sanctae Marthae, he said: “You here at Mass, do you give praise to God or do you only petition God and thank God? Do you praise God? This is something new, new in our new spiritual life. Giving praise to God, coming out of ourselves to give praise; spending a little bit of time giving praise.
“But ‘this Mass is so long!’ If you do not praise God, you will never know the gratuity of spending time praising God, the Mass is long. But if you go with this attitude of joy, of praise to God, that is beautiful! This is what eternity will be: giving praise to God! And that will not be boring: it will be beautiful! This joy makes us free. ”
The Pope concluded by saying that Mary brings the greatest joy, which is Jesus.
He said: “We need to pray to Our Lady, so that bringing Jesus gives us the grace of joy, the joy of freedom. He concluded by what the Church says: ‘Lady, thou who art so great, visit us and give us joy.'”
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