Francis' homily: 'You cannot know Jesus in first class'

In today's Gospel reading from Luke, Herod asks about Jesus: "Who then is this about whom I hear such things?" Pope Francis offers three ways to best get to know who Jesus is: by studying about him, by praying to him, and by walking the life he walked.

If "I know Jesus in these ways, I involve myself with him," he said during his homily at Casa Santa Marta, according to Vatican Radio.

Francis tells us to study Jesus by refamiliarizing ourselves with Catechism of the Catholic Church, which, he says, "teaches us many things about Jesus ... we have to study it, we have to learn it."

Next, we must stay in constant conversation with Jesus through prayer, he says. "If you do not pray, if you do not talk with Jesus, you do not know him."

Finally, the pope instructs us to get out of our comfort zones to really find and know Jesus.

"You cannot know Jesus without having problems. And I dare say, 'But if you want to have a problem, go to the street to know Jesus -- you'll end up having not one, but many.' ... You cannot know Jesus in first class. One gets to know Jesus in going out [into] every day [life]. You cannot get to know Jesus in peace and quiet, nor even in the library."

Editor's note: We can send you a biweekly email alert with content from The Francis Chronicles. Follow the directions on our email alert sign up page.

Latest News

Advertisement