Pope warns against putting one's trust in horoscopes and fortune telling rather than Christ, who is the only true security that gets us through times of trial and darkness.
Pointing
to how Peter begins to sink when walking toward Jesus on the water in the day's
Gospel reading, Francis noted that the same thing can happen to us when we put
our trust in false securities.
“When we
do not cling to the Word of the Lord, but consult horoscopes and fortune tellers,
we begin to sink,” the Pope said Aug. 13.
The
episode, he said, serves as a reminder “that faith in the Lord and in his word
does not open a path where everything is calm and easy; it does not take us
away from the storms of life.”
Rather,
“faith gives us the security of a presence that pushes us to overcome the
existential storms, the certainty of a hand that grabs us in order to help us
in difficulties, showing the way even when it's dark.”
“Faith,
then, is not an escape from life's problems, but it supports on the journey and
gives it meaning.”
Pope
Francis spoke to pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square for his weekly Angelus
address, focusing on the day's Gospel reading from Matthew, in which Jesus
walks on water in the midst of a storm, and beckons Peter to come to him. Peter
initially begins to walk toward Jesus, but starts to sink out of fear when he
sees the waves, and cries out for Jesus to rescue him.
This
episode, Francis said, has a lot of symbolism for both individuals, and for the
Church as a whole.
The boat
can represent the life of each person, but also the life of the Church, he
said, explaining that the wind signifies the “difficulties and trials” each
will face.
Peter's
cry of “Lord, command me to come to you,” and then his plea “Lord, save me!”
represent both our desire feel close to the Lord, and “the fear and anguish
which accompany us in the most difficult moments of our lives and our
communities, marked by internal fragility and external difficulty,”
Francis said.
In the
moment when he looked at the wind and the waves and began to fear, Peter wasn't
founded on the Word of God, “which was like an outstretched rope to cling to in
front of the hostile and turbulent waters.”
The same
thing happens to us when we put our faith in trivial, worldly securities,
rather than in the Lord, he said.
Pope
Francis said the passage is “a stupendous image” of the reality of the Church
throughout the ages: “a ship which, along the crossing, must counter winds and
storms which threaten to overwhelm it.”
What
saves the ship is not the courage and quality of it's men, he said, but rather,
“the guarantee against a shipwreck is faith in Christ and in his word.”
“On this
ship we are safe, despite our miseries and weaknesses, above all when we get on
our knees and adore the Lord” as the disciples did, who, after Jesus calmed the
storm, prostrated themselves and said “truly you are the Son of God!”
To drive
the point home, Francis had the crowd repeat the phrase, listening as they
shouted “truly you are the Son of God” three times.
Francis
closed his address asking that the Virgin Mary intercede in helping all to
“stay firm in the faith in order to resist the storms of life, to stay on the
boat of the Church, eschewing the temptation to go on amusing, yet insecure
boats of ideologies, fashions and slogans.”
He then
led pilgrims in praying the traditional Marian prayer and greeted various
groups of youth from around Italy before asking for prayer and giving his
blessing.
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