“The gift of God’s salvation opens the door to all,” Pope Francis said on October 19, 2017, in his homily at mass in Santa Marta, according to Vatican Radio. The Pope recalled the story in the Gospel of Luke where the Scribes and Pharisees thought themselves righteous – but Jesus explained that only God is just.
“This leads us to understand the revelation of God, to understand God’s heart, to understand God’s salvation – the key to knowledge – we can say it is very neglected. One forgets the freedom of salvation; forgetting the closeness of God and forgetting God’s mercy,” the Holy Father said in Italian, reported by Vatican Radio in English. He continued that “those who forget the gift of salvation, the closeness of God, and the mercy of God, have taken away the key to knowledge.”
The Pope reminded the congregation that it is God who made the law, but not the God of revelation: “The God of revelation …has begun to walk with us from Abraham to Jesus.”
The Holy Father warned that when there isn’t closeness to God, prayer is lacking. And he encouraged works of mercy, “the stone of the fulfillment of the law,” because they touch the flesh of Christ.
“The Pharisees, doctors of the law are not people of the past,” Francis said. “Even today there are many of them. That is why we need prayers for us shepherds.”
