Pope Francis: ‘throw open’ your heart to Christ, abandon yourself to Mary

January 04, 2016

Reflecting on the Gospel reading for the Second Sunday after Christmas (Jn. 1:1-18), Pope Francis said during his January 3 Angelus address that “the Evangelist does not hide the dramatic nature of the Incarnation of the Son of God, emphasizing that the gift of the love of God is matched with the non-reception on the part of men.”

(In dioceses where Epiphany is not observed as a holy day of obligation on January 6, the celebration of Epiphany is transferred to the Sunday after January 1.)

“The book of Genesis says-- in a good phrase that makes us understand this-- it says that evil ‘lies in wait at our door’ (cf. Gn. 4:7),” Pope Francis said to the crowds gathered in St. Peter’s Square. “Woe to us if we allow it to enter; it would then close our door to anyone else. Instead we are called to throw open the door of our heart to the Word of God, to Jesus, in order thus to become His children.”

The Pope concluded:

Drawing near to the Gospel, meditating on it and incarnating it in daily life is the best way to understand Jesus and bring Him to others. This is the vocation and the joy of every baptized person: showing Jesus and giving Him to others; but to do that we have to know Him and have Him within us, as the Lord of our life. And He will defend us from evil, from the devil. He is always lying in wait by our door, and wants to enter.

With a renewed burst of filial abandonment, let us entrust ourselves once again to Mary: let us contemplate the sweet image of the mother of Jesus and our mother in these days of the manger.

 

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Further information:

• Angelus Domini 2016.01.03 (YouTube Vatican)
• Le parole del Papa alla recita dell’Angelus, 03.01.2016 (Holy See Press Office)
• Angelus: Church invites us to welcome the Word of salvation (Vatican Radio)