At the general audience the Pope continues the catechesis on the "Our Father": when we pray there is no individualism or falsehood, «with God it is impossible to pretend». Greetings to the journalists of the Askanews agency who are experiencing a moment of crisis: «Fight for work»
Saints or sinners, "we are all brothers loved by the same Father". A Father who "makes his sun rise over the good and the bad" and who "is always good to everyone, unlike us who can only be good to someone, someone I like". Pope Francis continues the cycle of catechesis on the prayer of the Our Father during the general audience in the Paul VI Hall, and focuses in particular on a difficult aspect – also for those who have faith – to be understood according to human logic: God's love for man, towards every type of man. A love that is not "just sentimental, but compassionate and concrete". And it is aimed at everyone, also to those who do not seek God or who can be classified as "bad".
«Ci sono uomini che apparentemente non cercano Dio, ma Gesù ci fa pregare anche per loro, perché Dio cerca queste persone più di tutti», sottolinea Bergoglio nella sua catechesi. «Gesù non è venuto per i sani, ma per i malati e i peccatori, cioè per tutti, perché chi pensa di essere sano, in realtà non lo è. Se lavoriamo per la giustizia, non sentiamoci migliori degli altri: il Padre fa sorgere il suo sole sopra i buoni e sopra i cattivi. Ama tutti il Padre». E, «alla sera della vita», sarà proprio l’amore il suo metro di giudizio.
Francesco spiega quindi come «imparare sempre meglio a pregare come Gesù ci ha insegnato». «La vera preghiera è quella che si compie nel segreto della coscienza, del cuore: inscrutable, visible only to God", explains. Christ himself said it: «When you pray, enter the silence of your room, retreat from the world, and address God as “Father!”». There is no need for pharisaical hypocrisies of people who pray while standing upright in the squares to be admired by others. God's prayer "eschews from falsehood: with God it is impossible to pretend. At its root there is a silent dialogue, like the exchange of glances between two people who love each other: man and God", says the Pontiff.
Ma, it needs, even though this prayer is "entirely confidential", never lapses into "intimism", in the sense that «the Christian does not leave the world outside the door of his room, but he carries people and situations in his heart". The text of the Our Father itself makes this clear where in fact the word "I" never appears – a word that today "everyone holds in high regard" -; Jesus «teaches how to pray with the “You” on your lips first, because Christian prayer is dialogue". And from "you" it goes to "we": the entire second part of the Our Father is declined in the first person plural and "man's most elementary questions - such as that of having food to quench hunger - are all in the plural". «In Christian prayer, no one asks for bread for himself: begs him for all the poor in the world", explains Francesco.
«There is no room for individualism in dialogue with God. There is no ostentation of one's problems as if we were the only ones in the world who suffer. There is no prayer raised to God that is not the prayer of a community of brothers and sisters", he adds. By praying «a Christian bears all the difficulties of the people who live next to him: when evening falls, he tells God about the pain he experienced that day; places many faces before Him, friends and even enemies; does not chase them away as dangerous distractions".
And «if you don't realize that there are many people around you who are suffering, if he does not take pity on the tears of the poor, if he is accustomed to everything, then it means that his heart is made of stone", warns the Pope. In this case, "It is good to beg the Lord to touch us with his Spirit and soften our hearts".
It's also good to ask yourself: «When I pray, I open myself to the cry of many people near and far? Or I think of prayer as a kind of anesthesia, to be able to feel more comfortable?». If so, says the Pope off the cuff, «I would be the victim of a terrible misunderstanding. Right, mine would no longer be a Christian prayer. Because that "we", that Jesus taught us, It prevents me from being at peace alone, and makes me feel responsible for my brothers and sisters".
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SOURCE – https://www.lastampa.it/2019/02/13/vaticaninsider/impariamo-da-dio-ad-esserebuoni-con-tutti-non-solo-con-chi-ci-piace-Cl4UW7bRZQdhlnLoN9SYdM/pagina.html