In his daily Mass, Pope Francis touched on the importance of prayer and
forgiveness in the life of a Christian, warning against common attitudes
which “close the door” to God.
“The Lord tells us: 'the first task in life is this: prayer.' But not
the prayer of words, like a parrot; but the prayer, the heart: gazing on
the Lord, hearing the Lord, asking the Lord,” said the pontiff during
his Oct. 8 daily homily.
Pope Francis celebrated his daily Mass in the Santa Marta guesthouse of
the Vatican, where he chose to reside shortly after he was elected as
Bishop of Rome.
The Pope centered his reflections on the prophet Jonah from the first
reading of the day and on Martha from the gospel narrative, stating that
both characters are united by a similar problem: neither of them knew
how to pray.
Recounting the story of sisters Mary and Martha in the gospel reading,
the Holy Father said that when Martha asked Jesus to have Mary get up
and serve, Mary chose the “better part,” meaning “that of prayer, that
of the contemplation of Jesus.”
“To the eyes of the sister, this was time lost, it even seemed, perhaps,
a bit of a fantasy,” he said, “But who wants that? The Lord: ‘This is
the better part,’ because Mary heard the Lord and prayed with her
heart.”
When coming from the heart, “we know that prayer works miracles,” he
emphasized, reflecting on how the Lord delivered the people of Nineveh
after Jonah had preached to them about the imminent destruction of the
city.
The inhabitants were saved, he noted, because they believed the words of
the prophet and were converted, “and from the greatest to the least
called upon the divine forgiveness with all their strength.”
Although the people of Nineveh were redeemed, Pope Francis highlighted
the erroneous attitude of Jonah, who desired a harsh judgment for the
people, rather than a merciful one.
“There are others like this stubborn Jonah” who mirror this attitude, he
said. “He went, he prophesied, but in his heart he said: ‘But they
deserve it. They deserve it. They were asking for it.”
“He prophesied, but he didn’t pray! He didn’t ask the Lord to
forgive…only to beat them. They are executioners, those that believe
themselves to be just!”
The Pope concluded his remarks by warning those present against prayer
that is redundant, pessimistic and unforgiving, saying that Christians
must always be careful to guard against the temptation to fall into
these attitudes, and must always choose “the better part.”
He challenged those in attendance, stating that “we ourselves, when we
don’t pray, what we’re doing is closing the door to the Lord. And not
praying is this: closing the door to the Lord, so that He can do
nothing.”
“On the other hand, prayer, in the face of a problem, a difficult
situation, a calamity, is opening the door to the Lord so that He will
come.”
“This is what praying is,” he stressed, “opening the door to the Lord,
so that he can do something. If we close the door, God can do nothing!
Let us think on this Mary who has chosen the better part, and makes us
see the way, as the door is opened to the Lord.”