Let us truly recognize Jesus, Pope tells pilgrims
January 27, 2025
» Continue to this story on Vatican Press Office
CWN Editor's Note: Reflecting on the Gospel reading of the day, Pope Francis encouraged the pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for his January 26 Angelus address to recognize Jesus.
“The Evangelist tells us that the Nazarenes failed to recognize the Lord’s anointed one in Jesus,” the Pope said. “They thought they knew Him too well, and this, instead of facilitating the opening of their minds and hearts, prevented them from doing so, like a veil obscuring the light.”
The Pope warned that “this event, with the due analogies, also happens for us today.” He explained:
We too are challenged by the presence and words of Jesus; we too are called to recognize in Him the Son of God, our Savior. But it may happen to us, as it did to His countrymen, to think that we already know Him, that we already know everything about Him, that we have grown up with Him, in school, in the parish, in catechism, in a country with a Catholic culture.
The Pope asked, “Do we sense the unique authority with which Jesus of Nazareth speaks? Do we recognize that He is the bearer of a proclamation of salvation that no one else can give us? And I, do I feel in need of this salvation? Do I feel that I too am in some way poor, imprisoned, blind, oppressed? Then, only then, ‘the year of grace’ will be for me!”
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