Holding Back Nothing by Jorge Mario Bergoglio

THE TEXT with which I first introduced this theme of Christ's self-emptying contained allusions and exhortations regarding our own conduct. I would like now to speak of how we personally relate to what was said about the immolation of Jesus and about his priesthood. I have already said something about this in passing, but I would like now to stress what I consider to be the true backbone of Christian behavior, and I do so without using adjectives, as if the simple fact of "being Christian" was not enough. We experience in our daily lives a certain inability-even a certain resistance-to take on ourselves all that is implied in Jesus' "entering in patience. " The letter to the Hebrews warns us: "We must pay greater attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it" (Heb 2: 1). The inability I speak of comes from our failure to discover the glory of God in the mystery of the living Jesus Christ. The patient, devastated Christ is God's glory. The risen Christ, glorious in flesh and spirit, is God's glory. Our inability to appreciate this glory is what makes it difficult for us to draw out the consequences of what we have seen and heard. Jesus told his adversaries: "I do not accept glory from human beings. But I know that you do not have the love of God in you. I have come in my Father's name, and you do not accept me; if another comes in his own name, you will accept him. How can you believe when you accept glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the one who alone is God? " (John 5: 41-44). Here is the origin of the rejection of the mystery of Jesus the Christ, whether the rejection be blatant or craftily camouflaged. Our hearts are more prone to accept glory from others than to give glory to God; we are more ready to receive those who come in their own name than those who come in God's name. We prefer to converse and discuss rather than to pray and proclaim.

Hebrews encourages us to let "our hearts be strengthened by grace," as were the hearts of our ancestors, so that we are not "carried away by all kinds of strange teachings" (Heb 13: 9). We are warned: "Take care that none of you may have an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God" (Heb 3: 12). The debilitated heart is a cowardly heart, an unfeeling heart; we are urged to shake our hearts free of every useless weight (cf. Heb 12: 1). We are encouraged to renounce every form of paralyzing "quietude. " We are asked to "run" courageously. But run where? Toward the test that is set before us, and that test is bearing witness to Jesus the Christ, the one who "entered in patience" and who now is alive among us, giving us new life. That is why we are exhorted to "look to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that you may not grow weary or lose heart" (Heb 12: 2-3). As we look upon Jesus who "suffered outside the city," we are asked to "go to him outside the camp and bear the abuse he endured" (cf. Heb 13: 10-16). The contemplation of Jesus, who has been constituted Lord for having entered in patience, helps us to correct our vitiated attitudes: "Now, discipline always seems painful rather than pleasant at the time, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed" (Heb 12: 11-13). The spirit's lameness ends up separating us from our body: in the long run, all lameness numbs and paralyzes us.