Pope urges Christians to be open to the light of Christ
March 31, 2014 - Pope Francis urged Christians on the 4th Sunday of Lent
not to remain ‘blind in soul’, but rather to open themselves to the light, to God
and His grace. The Pope was addressing some 50 thousand people who had gathered
in Rome’s St. Peter’s Square to pray the midday ‘Angelus’ with him and receive his
blessing. Speaking to them from the window of the papal apartment overlooking the
square, the Pope shared his thoughts on the day’s Gospel episode of the man born blind
whom Jesus healed, an act denounced by the Pharisees and teachers of the law. “Locked
in their presumption,” the Pharisees believe “they already have the light, and for
this reason are not open to the truth of Jesus. They do everything they can to deny
the obvious,” the Pope explained. In contrast to the blind man who “gradually approaches
the light,” the scholars of the law are completely closed to “the light” and “aggressive”.
On the contrary, the healed man first regards Jesus as a prophet, then as a “man close
to God,” and after his expulsion from the temple he recognize him as the Messiah.
Pope Francis said, this is “the drama of interior blindness of many people, and ours
also, because we have many moments of interior blindness.” The Holy Father thus
urged all to open “ourselves to the Lord. He always waits for us, to make us better,
to give us light, to forgive us.”