Vatican City, 17 July, 2022 / 8:00 pm (ACI Africa).
Practical effort, while necessary, will be only “sterile activism” unless it flows from listening to the Word of God, Pope Francis said Sunday.
In his message before the Angelus prayer July 17, the pope reflected on the Gospel story of Jesus’ visit to the sisters Mary and Martha in Bethany.
Jesus “acknowledges Martha’s effort. However, he wants to make her understand that there is a new order of priorities, different from the one she had followed until then,” the 85-year-old Francis said from a window overlooking St. Peter’s Square.
“Mary had intuited that there is a ‘better part’ that must be accorded first place,” he continued. “Everything else comes after, like a stream flowing from the source. And so we wonder: what is this ‘better part?’ It is listening to Jesus’ words.”
According to the Vatican gendarmes, around 12,000 people were in St. Peter’s Square for the pope’s weekly message.