POPE FRANCIS

MORNING MEDITATION IN THE CHAPEL OF THE
DOMUS SANCTAE MARTHAE

God saves us in time

Friday, 12 April 2013

(by L'Osservatore Romano, Weekly ed. in English, n. 16, 17 April 2013)

Triumphant fantasies are “a great temptation in Christian life”. But God does not use a magic wand, saving man in an instant; rather, his is a path of perseverance, since “he saves us in time and in history”. The Pope reflected on this at morning Mass on Friday, 12 April, in the Chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae.

Concelebrating were Cardinal Telesphore Placidus Toppo, Archbishop of Ranchi, Mons. Fabián Pedacchio Leaniz, an official of the Congregation for Bishops, Mons. Giuseppe Antonio Scotti and Fr Giuseppe Costa, President of the Council of Superintendents and Director of the Vatican Publishing House (lev) — who at the end of the Mass presented to the Pontiff three recent publications containing texts of Bergoglio — with the Carmelite Edmondo Caruana, chief editor, and Fr Giuseppe Merola, publishing editor.

The Pope spoke of Gamaliel (from the First Reading, taken from Acts: 5:34-42) as “a wise man”, for “he gives us an example of how God acts in our life. When all the priests, pharisees, and teachers of the law were so nervous, enraged by what the Apostles were doing, and wanted to kill them, he said: but wait yet a while! And remember the stories of Judas the Galilean and Thaddeus, who in the end failed: they said they were the Christ, the Messiah, saviours and then it all came to nothing. ‘Give it time’, Gamaliel said”.

“That is wise advice”, Pope Francis said, “for our life as well. For time is the messenger of God: God saves us in time, not in a moment. At times he works miracles, but in everyday life he saves us through time. Sometimes we think that if the Lord comes into our life, he will change us. Yes, we do change: it is called conversion. But he does not act like “a fairy with a magic wand. No. He gives you the grace and he says, as he said to everyone he healed: ‘go, walk’”.

Life, Francis concluded, is a matter of “perseverance on the path of the Lord, all the way to the end, every day. Continue on the path. Continue forever. It is a path of struggle, of work and of great joy”.