In the Holy Mass presided over by Pope Francis at the National Stadium in Bahrain, he spoke of the “power of Jesus” to love all people, including the enemy, and to break the chains of evil and build a world where we are all brothers.
(Vatican News Network) Pope Francis came to the Bahrain National Stadium in Awali at 8 am on Saturday, November 5 to hold a holy mass for the faithful of the local church. This is the first activity of the third day of the Pope’s trip. Around 30,000 people attended the ceremony, from the four countries of the Apostolic Vicarage in the northern Arabian Peninsula, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, as well as faithful from other Gulf countries and other regions.
The Pope first expressed the “love and concern of the universal Church” to the faithful present. He said the church “watches you, hugs you, loves you and encourages you”.
In his homily at Mass, the Pope emphasized that “the more you seek power, the more the peace is threatened”. The power of Christ is love. “His power requires not the strength of violence, but the weakness of love.” Jesus gave people “the authority to love, which is the authority to love as he is in his name”. So, how to exercise this authority?
The Pope said: “It is love unconditionally: not only when things are going well, we feel to love, but always; not only our friends and neighbors, but all people, even enemies. Always. Love and love for all: we need to think a little bit about that.”
The first is “eternal love,” which is Jesus’ invitation to us to “remain forever in his love, cultivate that love, and exercise that love in whatever situation we find ourselves in.” The Pope explained, however, that Jesus’ eyes were specific, and that his love “is not sentimental, as in moments of conflict in our relationships, no elements of hostility between peoples”. Jesus was a realist, and he “made clear references to ‘wicked’ and ‘enemies’ (cf. Mt 5:39,43)”.
“He knows that love and hate happen every day in our relationships; that every day in our hearts there is a struggle between light and darkness, between many good intentions and desires and the vulnerability of sin, which often prevails , dragging us into evil deeds.”
Today, “the power that operates in many parts of the world breeds oppression and atrocities, those that seek to expand their own space while limiting others, that impose their own domination while limiting fundamental freedoms, and that oppress the weak”. Seeing this, Jesus felt sad. His proposition was “surprising, brave, and bold.” He asks us to “remain faithful in love forever, despite all this, even in the face of evil and enemies.” But the human response, the Pope said, “has only forced us to ‘an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth'”. This is “revenge with the same weapon that was hurt”.
“Jesus boldly offers us his new, different, and incredible proposal: ‘But I say to you: Do not resist the wicked; and if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn the other side to him.’ (ibid., 39) This is what the Lord asks of us: instead of dreaming of a world driven by fraternity with a conciliatory mindset, we strive to start with ourselves and begin to live concretely and courageously universal fraternity, even when hurt Also choose good and stubborn, block the growth of revenge, quell violence, and disarm the mind.”
Jesus’ invitation “is not aimed first and foremost at major human issues, but at the specific circumstances of our lives: our relationships in the family, our relationships within the Christian community, our relationships at work and social realities.” Those who follow the King of Peace must always be at peace. “No peace can be created if a bad word is returned with more vicious words, if a slap is slapped with another slap. What is needed is to remove, to break the chains of evil, to break the rise of violence, to stop holding grudges , end complaining and self-pity”.
“What is needed is to remain in love, to love forever, and this is the way that Jesus showed for the glory of the Father in heaven and the establishment of peace on earth,” the Pope said. It is not enough, however, for love to be “restricted to the narrow circle of those to whom we are equally loved.” Thus, the Pope entered the theme of “love of all”.
“The real challenge is to learn to love all people, including enemies, in order to be a child of the Father and to build a world of brothers and sisters.’ You’ve always heard: you should love your neighbor and hate your enemy! You say: Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.’ (ibid., 43-44) In fact, this means choosing not to have enemies, not to see others as obstacles to overcome, but to Beloved brothers and sisters. To love the enemy is to bring the image of the kingdom of heaven to earth, and to let the sight and will of the heavenly Father come down to the world. He does not discriminate or discriminate, but ‘raises the sun on the wicked and on the good’ rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous’ (ibid., 45).”
“The power of Jesus is love,” the Pope stressed. “Jesus gave us the power to love so much in a way that we consider superhuman. However, such power cannot be the result of our efforts alone, but is above all a grace.” This grace requires repeated requests: “Jesus, you love me, teach me to love as you do. Jesus, forgive me, teach me to forgive as you do. Send your God, God of love. come upon me!”
“We ask this. Because we often make many demands of the Lord, but it is vital for Christians to know how to love like Christ. Love is the greatest grace, if we make room for the Lord in our prayers , if we receive His presence in His transforming Word, in His revolutionary humility of breaking bread, we will receive this grace. In this way, the walls that stiffen our hearts slowly begin to crumble. When the ground falls, we shall find the joy of doing good works of mercy to all.”
“Then we will understand that the true happiness of life is to be lived through the beatitudes and to be peacemakers,” the Pope concluded.
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