Pope Francis invited the faithful gathered this Sunday in St. Peter’s Square to not be so “attentive to appearances” and, instead, to worry about the “care of the interior life” by dedicating time to the Lord and his Word.
“So many times we are very attentive to appearances, what matters to us is taking good care of our image, making a good impression on others. But Jesus says that the wisdom of life lies in another dimension: in taking care of what is not seen, but more importantly, taking care of the heart. The care of the inner life,” he indicated during the Angelus prayer this November 12 .
This care, Francisco explains, “means knowing how to stop to listen to the heart, attend to thoughts and feelings,” giving space “to silence, to be able to listen to ourselves and others.”
“It means knowing how to give up the time spent in front of the phone screen to see the light in the eyes of others, in our own hearts, in God’s gaze towards us. It means not getting caught up in activism, but dedicating time to the Lord, listening to His Word,” he adds.
In this Sunday’s Angelus prayer, Francis reflected on the parable of the ten virgins, which is found in the Gospel according to Saint Matthew, in chapter 25, verses 1 to 13. In this parable, Jesus compares the Kingdom of Heaven with ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to welcome the bridegroom.
Five of these virgins were wise and brought extra oil for their lamps, while the other five were foolish and did not bring extra oil. Those who had enough oil in their lamps were able to light them and accompany the bridegroom to the wedding party. However, those who did not have enough oil had to go buy more, and meanwhile, the bridegroom arrived and those who were ready entered with him into the party, and the door was closed.
According to the Pontiff, earthly life is mainly a “great preparation for the day, when we will be called to go out to meet Jesus!”
When referring to the parable, he explained that the difference between the wise women and the foolish ones was “preparation.” Those who were wise, she explains, “also took oil,” which is “inside the lamps, it does not attract attention, but without it the lamps have no light.”
Pope Francis went on to point out that the Gospel “gives appropriate advice not to neglect the oil of the interior life” or “of the soul,” since “it tells us that it is important to prepare it.”
“The inner life is not improvised, it is not a matter of a moment, from time to time, once and for all; The inner life must be prepared by dedicating a little time each day, with perseverance, as is done for every important thing,” he assured.
Finally, the Holy Father asked those present to ask themselves: “Am I also thinking about dedicating time to caring for the heart, to prayer, to service to others, to the Lord, who is the goal of life?”
“In short, how is the oil of my soul? Let each of us ask ourselves the following: how is the oil of my soul? Do I feed it and keep it well? May the Virgin help us guard the oil of inner life,” concluded the Pope.