Pope: When we meet the Lord we will bring only what we have given

During the Angelus with pilgrims in St Peter's Square on Sunday, Pope Francis reflected on the passage from Mark's Gospel in which the Lord talks to disciples about how all men will be called to account for their lives. This is not so much a discourse about the end of the world, he said, but rather an invitation to live the present well, to be vigilant and always ready for when we will be called to account for our lives.

Although the words in the passage describe the end times, Jesus is telling us that "the light that will shine on that last day will be unique and new: it will be the light of the Lord Jesus that will come in glory with all the saints."

In that encounter, he explained, we will finally see his Face in the full light of the Trinity; a Face that is radiant with love, and before which every human being will also appear in total truth.

The Pope said that the history of humanity, like the personal history of each of us, cannot be understood as a simple succession of words and facts that have no meaning. Nor, he continued, can it be interpreted in the light of a fatalistic vision, as if everything were already established according to a destiny that takes away freedom and prevents us from making choices that are the fruit of a true decision. Rather, he continued, Jesus says that the history of peoples and that of individuals has an end and a goal to be achieved: the definitive encounter with the Lord.

The Pope said that no one knows the time or the way in which that encounter will happen, but he pointed out, there is a fundamental principle with which we must confront ourselves: "Heaven and earth will pass away but His words will not pass away." Thus, he said, "each of us will have to understand whether the Word of the Son of God has enlightened our personal existence, or whether he or she has turned their back on him, preferring to trust in their own words".

No one, Pope Francis said, can escape this moment. And he warned that the behaviour we so often resort to in order to put on an appearance will no longer be of use, just as the power of money and the economic means with which we presume to buy everything and everyone, will no longer be of use either.

"We will have with us nothing more than what we have achieved in this life by believing in his Word: all and nothing of what we have lived or neglected to do" he said.

Pope Francis concluded his catechesis invoking the intercession of the Virgin Mary "so that the realisation of our temporariness on earth and of our limitations do not plunge us into anguish, but directs us back to our responsibility towards ourselves, towards our neighbour, towards the whole world".

After the Angelus Pope Francis expressed his sorrow for the many people killed and injured in a massacre in the Central African Republic He also prayed for those affected by the forest fires in California. "May the Lord receive the dead in His peace, comfort their families and support those who are engaged in rescue efforts" the Pope said.