Pope Francis: Without Christ we have no identity

Casa Santa Marta Chapel

Reflecting on the readings during morning Mass at Casa Santa Marta today (Tuesday) Pope Francis said “a Christian is a person who knows how to wait for Jesus cultivates a solid hope in Salvation."

In the Gospel of Luke and in St Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, the Pope said the people of God are united in Christ, Thanks to Him they have a name that goes beyond every enmity. Quoting from Luke, he said: “blessed are the servants who await their master’s return from a wedding with lighted lamps”. In the scene that follows, he continued, Jesus has the servants recline at table and proceeds to wait on them.

The first service the Master performs for Christians, is to give them an “identity”. Without Christ, the Pope said, we have no identity. He explained, St Paul tells the pagans to remember that without Christ, they were alienated from the community of Israel. What Christ came to do, was to give us citizenship, a belonging to the people, a name and a surname. So from being enemies without peace, he said, Christ has turned us into one by his blood, breaking down the walls that divide.

“We all know that when we are not in peace with others, there is a wall. There is a wall that divides us. But Jesus offers us his service to break down this wall so we can meet. If we are divided, we are not friends: we are enemies. But he has reconciled us all in God. He has reconciled us as friends, as enemies, as strangers, as sons and daughters.”

From simply being people in the street, people who were not even guests, Pope Francis said, to being “fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God”. This is what God created with his coming.

But what are His conditions? Pope Francis said: “they are to await Him, like servants awaiting their master.”

“He who does not await Jesus, who closes his door to Jesus, does not allow him to go forward with his work of peace, of community, of citizenship.

And he does more: he gives us a name. He renders us children of God. We need to adopt an attitude that contains Christian hope. A Christian is a man or a woman of hope. He or she knows the Lord will come. We do not know when, we do not know at what time, but He will come and He must not find us divided. He must find us as He rendered us with His service: friends living in peace.”

At this point, Pope Francis concluded, there is another question a Christian must ask himself: how do I await Jesus? And first: “shall I wait for Him or not?”

“Do I have faith in this hope that He will come? Is my heart open to hear Him knocking on the door, to hear Him entering the door? A Christian is a man or a woman who knows how to await Jesus. He or she is a person of hope. A pagan – and so often we Christians behave like pagans – forgets Jesus, thinks only of himself, does not await Jesus. The selfish pagan behaves if he himself was a god: ‘I make do on my own’. And he does not end up well, he ends up without a name, without closeness, without citizenship”.

Source: Vatican Radio