The Holy Father this past week spoke to the priests of the diocese of Rome. He reflected upon a passage from the Acts of the Apostles (20: 17-38). During his comments he made the following statement: (My translation of the Italian original>)
This is important – the Apostle did not preach a Christianity “รก la carte”, according to his own tastes, he did not preach a Gospel according to his own preferred theological ideas; he did not excuse himself from the duty of announcing the entire will of God, even the uncomfortable aspects of that will, in its totality and ultimate simplicity. It is important that we are obligated instruct and preach, as St. Paul says here, and really put forth the the entire will of God. And I think that today’s world is curious to know everything; thus we must even more be curious to know the will of God. What could be more interesting, more important, more essential for us than to know what God wants, to know the will of God, the face of God?”
My brother deacons, when we preach, we must do so with our hearts and boldly. We must preach the Gospel in its entirety, even if it means we speak of difficult topics for people to hear. We must do so with respect and care, both to those who will be hearing as well as to the Gospel of which we are heralds.
I can’t help but think of this today. If you have reviewed the Scripture for Mass this weekend, you know the topic is temptation. Not exactly something that brings a smile to people’s faces, but something the Church is asking us to preach on.
