“It is a vital dimension for the Church,” he explained. “It can happen, however, that the apostolic ardor, the desire to reach others with the good news of the Gospel, diminishes.”
“When Christian life loses sight of the horizon of proclamation, it grows sick,” he continued, “it closes in on itself, becomes self-referential, it becomes atrophied. Without apostolic zeal, faith withers. Mission, on the other hand, is the oxygen of Christian life: it invigorates and purifies it.”
The pope said the way in which Jesus called St. Matthew to leave his former life behind is an example for Christians today.
Pope Francis speaks to a family during his general audience on Jan. 11, 2023. Vatican Media
He recalled that Matthew, as a tax collector for the Roman empire, would have been viewed by others as a “publican” and a traitor to the people.
“But in the eyes of Jesus, Matthew is a man, with both his miseries and his greatness,” he said.
Jesus, Francis emphasized, does not see someone as the “adjectives” which are used to describe him or her, but as a person.
“We can ask ourselves: how do we look upon others? How often do we see their faults and not their needs; how often do we label people by what they do or think,” he said. “Even as Christians we say to ourselves: is he one of us or not? This is not the gaze of Jesus: He always looks at each person with mercy, actually, with predilection.”
“And Christians,” Pope Francis said, “are called to do as Christ did, looking like him, especially at the so-called ‘distant ones.’ Indeed, Matthew’s account of the call ends with Jesus saying, ‘I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.’”