Today is Sunday and the last day of August. Everyone is back at school and, although Miami still has summer weather, one knows that vacation time has ended. I want to share three points made by Pope Francis is his address to Participants of an International Congress on Catechesis (p. 15 in The Church of Mercy):
First of all, to start anew with Christ means "being close to him, being close to Jesus. Abide in my love...Abide in Jesus! This means remaining attached to him, in him and with him, talking to him. Abide in Jesus."
Then the Pope asks: "How do you abide in the presence of the Lord? When you visit the Lord, when you look at the tabernacle, what do you do?...do you let yourself be looked at by the Lord?...He looks at us, and this is itself a way of praying. Do you allow yourselves to be gazed upon by the Lord?...This warms the heart, igniting the fire of friendship with the Lord, making you feel that he truly sees you, that he is close to you and loves you."
The second point in this starting anew with Christ means imitating him by leaving ourselves behind and going out to encounter others. ... when we put Christ at the center of our life, we ourselves don't become the center! The more that you unite yourself to Christ and he becomes the center of your life, the more he leads you out of yourself, leads you from making yourself the center and opens you to others. This is the true dynamism of love; this is the movement of God himself God is the center, but he is always self-gift, relationship, love that gives itself away...and this is what we will become if we remain united to Christ."
I will write about the third point tomorrow as this is getting too long. I think the Pope is speaking to me in the sense that these first two elements were definitely part of my retreat! I hope he is also speaking to you!
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