Listen to Jesus and be willing to risk new decisions, Pope preaches
March 03, 2026
Pope Leo XIV celebrated Sunday evening Mass at the Church of the Ascension of Our Lord Jesus Christ in Rome (video) and encouraged the faithful to be willing to risk new decisions, as Abraham did, and to listen to Jesus.
Reflecting on the first reading of the Second Sunday of Lent (Genesis 12:1-4), Pope Leo preached on March 1 that “Abraham’s journey begins with a loss: the land and the house that hold the memories of his past. It will be fulfilled, however, in a new land and in an immense posterity, in which everything becomes a blessing.”
“If we too allow ourselves to be called by faith to the journey, to risk new decisions of life and love, we too will stop fearing the loss of something, because we will feel that we are growing in a richness that no one can steal,” the Pope said as he continued his Italian-language homily.
Turning to the Gospel reading (Matthew 17:1-9), Pope Leo recalled the words of God the Father: “This is my beloved Son, listen to him.” He commented:
That voice resounds for us today: “Listen to Jesus!” And I, dear friends, in your midst, want to echo that appeal and say to you: I beg you, sisters and brothers, let us listen to him! He travels with us, even today, to teach us in this city the logic of unconditional love ... Let us listen to him, let us enter into his light to become the light of the world, starting with the neighborhood we live in. The whole life of the parish and its groups exists for this: it is a service to light, a service to joy.
The Pontiff described the parish as a light in a challenging neighborhood and encouraged parishioners not to become discouraged. “Instead, it is precisely in the face of the mystery of evil that we must bear witness to our identity as Christians, as people who want to make the Kingdom of God perceptible in the places and times in which they live,” he said.
Pope Leo concluded:
In the face of everything that disfigures man and life, we continue to proclaim and bear witness to the Gospel, which transfigures and gives life. May the Blessed Virgin, Mother of the Church, always accompany us and intercede for us.
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