Angelus: Listen to the Lord not horoscopes or fortune tellers
(Vatican Radio)”When you do not cling to the word of the Lord, but have more security in consulting horoscopes and fortune tellers you become submerged”. Those were Pope Francis’ words during his Angelus address on Sunday in St Peter’s Square.
He was referring to the Gospel of the day where Jesus walks on the waters of Lake Galilee to save Peter and the disciples from sinking in their boat due to the heavy waves of the sea.
Listen to Lydia O’Kane’s report:
The Pope recounted how this story is rich in symbolism. The boat, he continued, “is the life of each of us, but it is also the life of the Church; The wind represents difficulties and trials.”
Peter’s invocation: “Lord, command me to come to you!” And his cry, “Lord, save me”, the Holy Father noted “are so much like our desire to feel the closeness of the Lord, but also the fear and anguish that accompany the toughest moments of our lives and our communities, marked by internal fragility and external difficulties.”
Pope Francis explained, that at that moment, Peter was not sure of the word of Jesus, which was like a rope to cling to in hostile and turbulent waters. This is what can happen to us as well, he said, “when you do not cling to the word of the Lord, but to have more security in consulting horoscopes and fortune tellers you become submerged”.
The Gospel of today, the Pope underlined, “reminds us that faith in the Lord and in his word does not open a path where everything is easy and quiet for us; It does not take away the storms of life.
But faith, the Holy Father went on to say, “gives us the assurance of a Presence, that is Christ, which pushes us to overcome the existential buffs; Faith, in short, is not a loophole from the problems of life, but it sustains our journey and gives it meaning.