In his Friday morning Mass, Pope Francis talked about developing a connection with Jesus and learning to listen to His voice in both the good times and the bad.
POPE FRANCIS
'How does Jesus see me? How does He call me? With forgiveness? Perhaps a mission through the same path He took. We are all under the gaze of Jesus. He always looks to us with love. He asks something of us, He forgives us and He gives us a mission. Jesus comes to us in the altar. Every one of us should ask ourselves: 'Lord, you are here among us. Fix your gaze on me and tell me what I should do. How I should cry over my mistakes. What courage I need to embrace to go forward and follow the journey You already completed.â?
Part of learning to listen to God's voice, said the Pope, comes through prayer.
EXTRACT FROM THE POPE'S HOMILY
(Source: Vatican Radio)
'The gospel of Luke says: â??He wept bitterly.â?? That earlier enthusiasm about following Jesus had turned to grief, because he had sinned: He denied that he knew Jesus.That look (by Jesus) changed Peterâ??s heart, more than before. The first change was being given a new name and a new vocation. That second look was a gaze that changed his heart and itâ??s a change of conversion to love.â?
'Hurt because Jesus asked him for the third time â??Do you love me?â?? and he said: 'Lord, You know everything: You know I love you.' Jesus replied: â??Feed my sheep.â?? This was the third look, a look of mission. The first, a look of choosing, with the enthusiasm of following Jesus: the second, a look of repentance at the time of that very grave sin of having disowned Jesus: the three look is one of mission: â??Feed my lambs,â?? â??Look after my sheep,â?? â??Feed my sheep.â??â?
'We too can reflect: what look is Jesus giving me today? How is Jesus looking at me? With a call? With a pardon? With a mission? But on the path He created, all of us are being looked at by Jesus. He always looks at us with love. He asks us something, he forgives us for something and he gives us a mission. Jesus is now coming on the altar. May each one of us think: â??Lord, You are here, among us. Fix your gaze on me and tell me what I must do: how I must repent for my mistakes, my sins; what courage do I need to go forward on the path that You first created.â?
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