Here and Now with Francis 6/24/16 (Christ, prayer, goodness, trust,refugees, Christianity, flesh)

By Anonymous

When we present ourselves to Jesus long speeches are not necessary. A few words suffice, though accompanied by full confidence in His omnipotence and in His goodness. In fact, to entrust ourselves to the will of God means to submit to His infinite mercy. 

 From the audience
I will also share something personal with you. In the evening, before going to bed, I pray this brief prayer: “Lord, if you will, you can cleanse me!” And I pray five “Our Fathers,” one for each wound of Jesus, because Jesus has purified us with His wounds. But if I do this, you can also do it at home, and say: “Lord, if you will, you can cleanse me!” –and think of Jesus’ wounds and say an “Our Father for each one of them. And Jesus always listens to us. Against the dispositions of the Law of Moses, which prohibited coming close to a leper (cf. Leviticus 13:45-46), Jesus stretches His hand and even touches him. How many times we meet a poor man who comes to us! We can even be generous, we can have compassion, but usually we do not touch him. We offer him money, we throw it there, but we avoid touching his hand. And we forget that that is the body of Christ! Jesus teaches us not to be afraid to touch the poor and the excluded, because He is in them. To touch a poor man can purify us of hypocrisy and render us anxious for his condition. They are refugees, but so many consider them excluded: Please, they are our brothers! A Christian does not exclude anyone, but gives a place to everyone, allows everyone to come.  [full text]

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