A call to discover “the hidden idols in the many tendencies we have in our personality”, to “send away the idol of worldliness, which leads us to becoming enemies of God”. The Pope addressed this theme on Thursday, 6 June, in the Chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae. Among others, there were present some staff from the Vatican Apostolic Library and the Pontifical Lateran University.
A call to discover “the hidden idols in the many tendencies we have in our
personality”, to “send away the idol of worldliness, which leads us to becoming
enemies of God”. The Pope addressed this theme on Thursday, 6 June, in the
Chapel of the Domus Sanctae Marthae. Among others, there were present some staff
from the Vatican Apostolic Library and the Pontifical Lateran University.
The exhortation to undertake “the way of love for God”, to put oneself on the “path of arrival” in his kingdom was the crowning moment of a reflection centred on the passage from Mark's Gospel (12:28-34), in which Jesus responds to the scribe who is questioning him on which is the most important of all the commandments. The Pontiff first noted that Jesus did not respond with an explanation, rather he used God's word “Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one God”. In fact, he addresses the scribe as he had done with Satan in his temptations, and he does this by using “the Creed of Israel, that which the Hebrews daily – and many times each day – repeat: Sh'ma Israel! Remember, Israel, to love God alone”.
In this regard the Pope revealed that he believed the scribe in question, perhaps, “was not a saint, and he was going to put Jesus to the test a bit or even to make him fall into a trap”. In other words, his intentions were not the best, for “when Jesus responds with the word of God” that means that he is in the middle of a temptation. “And this can be seen, too, when the scribe tells him: you are right, teacher”, thus giving the impression that he approved of his answer. Therefore Jesus replies “you are not far from the kingdom of God. You know the theory well, you know well that it is so, but you are not far. You are missing something still in order to make it to the kingdom of God”. This signifies the need to embark on “a path to arrive at the kingdom of God”; it is necessary “to put this commandment into practice”.
The exhortation to undertake “the way of love for God”, to put oneself on the “path of arrival” in his kingdom was the crowning moment of a reflection centred on the passage from Mark's Gospel (12:28-34), in which Jesus responds to the scribe who is questioning him on which is the most important of all the commandments. The Pontiff first noted that Jesus did not respond with an explanation, rather he used God's word “Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one God”. In fact, he addresses the scribe as he had done with Satan in his temptations, and he does this by using “the Creed of Israel, that which the Hebrews daily – and many times each day – repeat: Sh'ma Israel! Remember, Israel, to love God alone”.
In this regard the Pope revealed that he believed the scribe in question, perhaps, “was not a saint, and he was going to put Jesus to the test a bit or even to make him fall into a trap”. In other words, his intentions were not the best, for “when Jesus responds with the word of God” that means that he is in the middle of a temptation. “And this can be seen, too, when the scribe tells him: you are right, teacher”, thus giving the impression that he approved of his answer. Therefore Jesus replies “you are not far from the kingdom of God. You know the theory well, you know well that it is so, but you are not far. You are missing something still in order to make it to the kingdom of God”. This signifies the need to embark on “a path to arrive at the kingdom of God”; it is necessary “to put this commandment into practice”.
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