Be not afraid, because God is always near, pope says

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — God tells Christians not to be afraid because he is always close, accompanying the faithful throughout their lives and through all their challenges, Pope Francis said.

“God says ‘Do not be afraid’ to Abraham, Isaac” and many others in the Bible, but “he says it to us, too. ‘Be not afraid,’ keep going,” because God “is your traveling companion,” the pope said Jan. 22 during his weekly general audience in the Paul VI Audience Hall.

The pope also expressed his closeness to and prayers for the people of Los Angeles, where severe wildfires continue to burn. “I want you to know that my heart is with the people of Los Angeles,” he said.

“May Our Lady of Guadalupe intercede for all residents so that they may be witnesses of hope through the strength of diversity and creativity for which they are known around the world,” he said at the end of his general audience.

The pope also told those gathered in the audience hall that during his daily phone call with the Holy Family Parish in Gaza yesterday, the people living there were happy with the ceasefire.

“Inside, there are 600 people in the parish and the school. And they told me, ‘Today, we ate lentils with chicken — something we weren’t used to in these times. Just some vegetables, a little something… They were happy,” he said.

He again invited Catholics to pray for Gaza, “for peace there, and in so many parts of the world,” and to “remember in your prayers the elderly in Ukraine, who are living through the tragedy of war.”

In his main address, the pope continued a series of talks on “Jesus Christ our hope,” which is the theme for his weekly catechesis throughout the Jubilee Year, by looking at the effect of God’s transforming power on a young Mary in Nazareth.

The angel Gabriel “brings a message of an entirely unheard-of form and content, so much so that Mary’s heart is shaken, disturbed,” the pope said.

Gabriel’s greeting, “Hail!” is an invitation to rejoice, and “God calls Mary with a loving name unknown to biblical history, ‘kecharitoméne,’ which means ‘filled with divine grace,'” he said.

Mary, full of grace, means that “God’s love has already for some time inhabited, and continues to dwell, in Mary’s heart … making her his masterpiece,” he said.

God immediately reassures Mary to “be not afraid,” he said, because “the Lord’s presence gives this grace of not being afraid.”

Mary learns of her mission to be “the mother of the long-awaited Davidic Messiah” whose name will be “‘Jesus,’ which means ‘God saves,’ reminding everyone forever that it is not man who saves, but only God,” the pope said.

“This absolutely unique motherhood shakes Mary to the core,” he said, but she reflects and hears an invitation to trust completely in God.

“Illuminated with trust,” he said, “Mary welcomes the Word in her own flesh and thus launches the greatest mission ever entrusted to a human creature,” placing herself in service, collaborating with God’s plan.

“Let us learn from Mary, mother of the Savior and our mother, to open our ears to the divine Word, to welcome it and cherish it, so that it may transform our hearts into tabernacles of his presence, into hospitable homes where hope grows,” the pope said.

Greeting different language groups after his main catechesis, the pope welcomed representatives of other Christian communities who were in Rome for the week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which concludes Jan. 25.

“This unity is not the fruit of our own efforts, but a gift we must ask the Father for, so that the world may believe in his only son, Christ the savior,” the pope told German-speaking visitors.