Pope says Jesus is ‘everything’, anything else is ‘nothing’

17 June, 2013 - For a Christian, Jesus is everything, the source of his or her magnanimity. And if one replaces this ‘everything’ with ‘nothing’, it gives way to all the Christian errors, those of the Church and ours. This was the lesson Pope Francis drew from the readings of Monday’s Mass that he celebrated in the morning at the Casa Santa Marta residence in the Vatican. In his homily he said that the justice that Jesus brings is superior to that of the Scribes, for whom it was an ‘eye of an eye’, “tooth for a tooth.’ The kingdom of God is everything, and any other thing is secondary - and all the errors of Christians, of the Church and our errors are born when we replace “everything” with “nothing”. The Pope warned that “for the spirit of the world “all” means things: riches, vanities”, it means “to be well placed in society” where “Jesus is nothing”. St. Paul speaks of the righteousness that Jesus brings when he describes Christians as “people who have nothing in themselves but possess all things in Christ”. This is the secret of Christian benevolence that always goes together with meekness”, the Pope explained. The Pope explained that the option for “nothing” gives rise to conflicts in families, in friendships, between friends, in society. “Nothing” is always the seed of wars, because it is the seed of selfishness. Instead Jesus is “everything”. The Pope urged all to ask the Lord to open up our heart, to make us humble, meek and benevolent because we have “all” in Him; and let’s ask him to help us avoid creating everyday problems stemming from “nothing”.