POPE TALK | KAIROS GLOBAL | MARCH 2020

Author: Dr. Kochurani  Joseph

Jesus taught in parables, stories taken from everyday life.

Human beings are storytellers.  From childhood we hunger for stories just as we hunger for food. Sacred Scripture is a Story of stories. It shows us from the very beginning, a God who is both creator and narrator. The Bible is the great love story between God and humanity. Every generation should memorize the most significant episodes recounted in Sacred Scripture to better communicate its meaning as we read “That you may tell your children and grandchildren” (Ex 10:2). We need wisdom to welcome true stories and courage to reject false and evil stories.

The beatitudes should be considered “a Christian’s identity card”  

Inaugurating a new cycle of catechesis dedicated to the Beatitudes, Pope Francis reflects on Jesus’ invitation to conduct a life of humility, poverty and mercy. Jesus taught the Beatitudes as a part of his “Sermon on the Mount,” adding that the mountain is an allusion to Sinai, where God gave Moses the Ten Commandments. The beatitudes should be a defining feature of a Christian’s identity because they reveal the face of Jesus himself.  There are eight beatitudes. It would be nice to learn them by heart to repeat them, to have precisely in mind and heart, this law that Jesus gave us. The beatitudes are a message for all of humanity. 

Jesus does not impose anything, but reveals the path to happiness 

Christian doctrine is not a rigid and closed system in itself, but neither is it an ideology that changes with the passing of the seasons; it is a dynamic reality which, remaining faithful to its foundation, is renewed from generation to generation and is summed up in a face, a body and a name: the Risen Jesus Christ.

We are blessed not by our present situation, but rather by the new condition that is ours by God’s grace to a secure path to happiness that the Lord proposes to us.

The power of God’s word can never be chained

 Luke ends the Book of Acts not with Paul’s martyrdom but by describing his tireless proclamation of the Gospel, showing the power of God’s word which can never be chained. Despite his condition as a prisoner Paul could meet with notable Jews to explain why he was forced to appeal to Caesar and to speak to them about the kingdom of God. He tries to convince them about Jesus, starting from the Scriptures and showing the continuity between the newness of Christ and the ‘hope of Israel’.

Civilized society recognizes the value of human life

Warning of the modern tendency to judge human life on the basis of utility rather than dignity, Pope Francis urged the need to protect the lives of the smallest and most vulnerable. Human life is increasingly evaluated on the basis of its efficiency and usefulness, to the point of considering 'rejected lives' or 'unworthy lives' as those which do not meet this criterion. Human life, because of its eternal destination, retains all its value and dignity in all conditions, including precariousness and fragility, and as such is always worthy of the utmost consideration. 

Pope Francis says…

• Even if Church is persecuted, it never tires of announcing God’s love

• Keep a Bible close to you for daily inspiration.

• The dignity of each person imposes a duty to never abandon anyone. 

• Every human story has an irrepressible dignity.   

• To follow Jesus, mere good works are not enough; we have to listen daily to his call.

• Parents need not to worry if their children cry at Mass. It is a beautiful homily 

MARCH

Catholics in ChinaWe pray that the Church in China may persevere in its faithfulness to the Gospel and grow in unity.