Pope concludes Day for Catechists

September 30, 2013 - Pope Francis on Sunday urged Christians to watch out against the danger of materialism saying it robs us of our identity. “Whenever material things, money, worldliness, become the center of our lives, they take hold of us, they possess us; we lose our very identity as human beings,” the Pope said in a Mass he celebrated in St. Peter’s Square in Rome for over 100 thousand catechists and evangelizers from all over the world, including Asia. The Mass marked the culmination of the Day for Catechists, Sept. 26-29, an event of the current Year of Faith. Basing his homily on the Gospel parable of the rich man and Lazarus, the Pope explained that Christians must be on guard against “the danger of complacency, comfort, worldliness in our lifestyles and in our hearts, of making our well-being the most important thing in our lives.” When materialism takes over, we “end up becoming self-absorbed and finding security in material things which ultimately rob us of our face, our human face.” The human person is “made in the image and likeness of God, not in the image and likeness of material objects, not in that of idols!” he pointed out. Too much concern for material things can lead us to “lose the memory of God.” With this forgetfulness, Christians “become empty; like the rich man in the Gospel, we no longer have a face!” Pope Francis held out Mary as a model for all because she maintains the remembrance of God. She “sees God’s wondrous works in her life but doesn’t think about honor, prestige or wealth; she doesn’t become self-absorbed,” noted the Pope. Instead, she goes to help others. Christian catechists should seek to be like Mary, putting the remembrance of God “at the service of proclamation, not to be important, not to talk about himself or herself, but to talk about God, about his love and his fidelity.” “The catechist, then, is a Christian who is mindful of God, who is guided by the memory of God in his or her entire life and who is able to awaken that memory in the hearts of others,” explained the Pontiff.
At the ‘Angelus’ prayer, at the end of the Mass Pope Francis noted the presence of Greek Orthodox Patriarch Youhanna X of Antioch and All the East, saying his presence ‘invites us to pray yet once more for peace in Syria and the Middle East.” The Patriarch had met the Pope privately on Saturday, where he spoke about the difficulties facing the Christian community in Syria and the surrounding region. The Holy Father also remembered Fr. Miroslav Bulešić of Croatia who was declared Blessed at a Beatification ceremony in Poreč i Pula. “Let’s praise the Lord, who gives the unarmed the strength of extreme witness,” the Pope said of the 27-year old priest who was brutally killed in 1947 under the Communist regime of Marshall Tito. (Source: Vatican)