One form of prayer moves us particularly to take up the task of evangelization and to seek the good of others: it is the prayer of intercession. Let us peer for a moment into the heart of Saint Paul, to see what his prayer was like. It was full of people: "...I constantly pray with you in every one of my prayers for all of you... because I hold you in my heart" (Phil 1:4, 7). Here we see that intercessory prayer does not divert us from true contemplation, since authentic contemplation always has a place for others.
Pope FrancisIf evil is contagious, so is good:therefore, we must allow good to abound in us, more and more;let us be infected by goodness, and let us spread the good contagion.
Pope FrancisWe must avoid the spiritual disease of the Church that can become self-referential: when this happens, the Church itself becomes sick. Itโs true that accidents can happen when you go out into the street, as can happen to any man or woman. But if the Church remains closed onto itself, self-referential, it grows old. Between a Church that goes into the street and gets into an accident and a Church that is sick with self-referentiality, I have no doubts in preferring the first.
Pope FrancisObeying God is listening to God, having an open heart to follow the path that God points out to us.
Pope FrancisWe have so many priests who have gone half way โฆ itโs sad that they did not manage to go the whole way; they have something of the employee in them, something of the bureaucrat in them and this is not good for the Church. Please be careful you donโt fall into this! You are becoming pastors in the image of Jesus, the good pastor. Your aim is to resemble him and act on behalf of him amidst his flock, letting his sheep graze.
Pope Francis