- Feb 5, 2002
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Like St. Paul, Christians must not only know Jesus with their heads but invite him into their hearts through a personal encounter with Christ, Pope Francis said.
“An encounter with the Lord is what changed a life,” the pope said during his March 29 general audience in St. Peter’s Square in which he reflected on St. Paul’s conversion and praised him as a model of what it means to have a “passion for the Gospel.”
St. Paul participated in the persecution of early Christians before converting and founding several Christian communities.
Pope Francis said that St. Paul’s experience of Christ converted the saint’s zeal for the Jewish law as a Pharisee into a zeal for the Gospel and changed him from someone determined to destroy the Church into an apostle.
“Becoming Christian is not a type of makeup that alters your face,” said the pope. “True change takes place in the heart, and that’s what happened to Paul.”
He explained that while studying the faith has its value, developing a passion for the Gospel like St. Paul had is “not a matter of understanding or study,” but of lived experience.
“You can study all the theology you want. You can study the Bible, all that, and become atheist or worldly,” he said. “Studying is important, but it doesn’t generate a new life of grace.”
Continued below.
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“An encounter with the Lord is what changed a life,” the pope said during his March 29 general audience in St. Peter’s Square in which he reflected on St. Paul’s conversion and praised him as a model of what it means to have a “passion for the Gospel.”
St. Paul participated in the persecution of early Christians before converting and founding several Christian communities.
Pope Francis said that St. Paul’s experience of Christ converted the saint’s zeal for the Jewish law as a Pharisee into a zeal for the Gospel and changed him from someone determined to destroy the Church into an apostle.
“Becoming Christian is not a type of makeup that alters your face,” said the pope. “True change takes place in the heart, and that’s what happened to Paul.”
He explained that while studying the faith has its value, developing a passion for the Gospel like St. Paul had is “not a matter of understanding or study,” but of lived experience.
“You can study all the theology you want. You can study the Bible, all that, and become atheist or worldly,” he said. “Studying is important, but it doesn’t generate a new life of grace.”
Continued below.
Don't treat Jesus as an idea, invite him into your heart, pope says
"An encounter with the Lord is what changed a life," the pope said during his March 29 general audience in which he reflected on St. Paul's conversion
www.oursundayvisitor.com
