Even if we face trials, if we follow the way of Jesus, we will find happiness. With this message, Pope Francis addressed the faithful gathered in a sunny St. Peter’s Square on the Second Sunday of Lent.
The Holy Father reflected on today’s Gospel, which recounts the event of the Transfiguration, when Jesus gives Peter, James, and John a glimpse of his glory, to confirm them in the faith and encourage them to follow Him and the path of the Cross.
“Jesus doesn’t deceive us,” Pope Francis told the faithful.
Although we, like the Apostles at times were, can be scared and doubtful, this should never deter us from following our Lord.
Francis stressed that when we follow Him, we will always find happiness.
“The Lord,” he rejoiced, “is able to transform us!”
Francis then asked the crowds: “Do you believe in this?” Not satisfied with their response, he said, “Not much from what I can hear.” He asked again. Pleased with the more enthusiastic response the second time he posed the question, he said, “Better.”
The message for the disciples and for us, Francis said, is this: «Listen to him!»
“Listen to Jesus. He is the Savior: follow him.»
Listening to Christ, in fact, involves taking the logic of his Paschal Mystery,» which, he said, requires us making our lives a gift of love to others, in docile obedience to the will of God.
«What we must have is an attitude of detachment from worldly things and interior freedom,» the Pope stressed.
In other words, he continued, we must be prepared to lose our lives, in order to realize God’s divine plan of salvation for all mankind.
Before leading the faithful in the Angelus prayer, the Holy Father encouraged the faithful to stop and contemplate the face of Jesus “in order to accept the message,» «put it into our own lives,” and «be transformed in love.”
