<table id=cafe_editor_main_table_color bgColor='#e4f7ba' cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 width=100%><tr><td id=cafe_editor_main_table class=text><p><br></p><h1 class="printtitle" style="font-size: 25px;"><!--Search Word Highlight--> Closed hearts 'unable to be surprised by the Resurrection' <!--Search Word Highlight--> </h1><div style="width: 100%; height: auto; float: left;"><h3 class="printexcerpt" style="margin-bottom: 10px;"> Resurrection is the heart of the Christian message, pope says </h3></div><div class="printimg"><img width="100%" alt="Closed hearts 'unable to be surprised by the Resurrection'" src="https://img1.daumcdn.net/relay/cafe/original/?fname=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ucanews.com%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F04%2F1492751385.jpg"></div><div class="imgcapt"><p>Pope Francis holds the book of the gospels at St. Peter's Basilica in this April 15, 2017 photo at the Vatican. (Photo by Tiziana Fabi/AFP</p></div><div class="auth" style="width: 100%; height: auto; padding-bottom: 10px; margin-bottom: 5px; border-bottom-color: rgb(214, 214, 214); border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; float: left;"><div style="width: 77%; height: auto; float: left;">
<style>
.boder_no{ text-decoration:none!important; color:#000000;}
.boder_no a{ text-decoration:none!important; color:#000000;}
</style>
<h5 class="boder_no" style="margin-bottom: 0px;"><a href="http://www.ucanews.com/category/author/junno-arocho-esteves"> Junno Arocho Esteves, Catholic News Service </a> <br><a href="http://www.ucanews.com/country/vatican-city/218"> Vatican City </a> </h5></div><div style="width: 22%; height: auto; margin-top: 20px; float: left;"><h4> April 21, 2017 </h4></div></div><p><br></p><div class="printcontent"><div class="printn"><p>Christian faith is a grace and can be perceived only in the hearts of those willing to be surprised by the joy of the Resurrection, Pope Francis said.</p><p><br></p><p>"A closed heart, a rationalistic heart" is incapable of understanding the Christian message which has God's love — manifested in Christ's victory over death — at its center, the pope said at his weekly general audience April 19.</p><p><br></p><p>"How beautiful it is to think that Christianity is essentially this: It is not so much our search for God — a search that is, truthfully, somewhat shaky — but rather God's search for us," the pope said.</p><p><br></p><p>Continuing his series of talks on hope, the pope reflected on St. Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians in which the apostle emphasizes the Resurrection as "the heart of the Christian message."</p><p><br></p><p>"Christianity is born from here. It is not an ideology nor a philosophic system but a path of faith that begins from an event, witnessed by Jesus' first disciples," the pope said.</p><p><br></p><p>St. Paul's summary of those who witnessed the risen Christ, he noted, ends by describing himself as the "least worthy of all" given his dramatic history as a one-time adversary of the early Christians.</p><p><br></p><p>St. Paul "wasn't a 'choirboy.' He was a persecutor of the church, proud of his own convictions," the pope said. But "one day something completely unpredictable happens: the encounter with the risen Jesus on the road to Damascus."</p><p><br></p><p>It is the surprise of this encounter, the pope continued, that all Christians are called to experience "even if we are sinners."</p><p><br></p><p>Like the first disciples who saw the stone overturned at Jesus' tomb, all men and women can find "happiness, joy and life where everyone thought there was only sadness, defeat and darkness," the pope said.</p><p><br></p><p>God, Pope Francis said, is greater than "nothingness and just one lit candle is able to overcome the darkest night."</p><p><br></p><p>"If we are asked the reason for our smile and our patient sharing, we can respond that Jesus is still here, he continues to be alive in our midst," the pope said. "Jesus is here, in this square with us, alive and risen."</p><p> </p><p>Full Story: <a href="http://www.catholicnews.com/services/englishnews/2017/closed-hearts-unable-to-be-surprised-by-the-resurrection-pope-says.cfm" target="_blank"><u><font color="#0066cc">Closed hearts unable to be surprised by the Resurrection, pope says</font></u></a></p><p>Source: <a href="http://www.catholicnews.com/index.cfm" target="_blank"><u><font color="#0066cc">Catholic News Service</font></u></a><br></p></div></div><p><br></p></tr></td></table>
<!-- -->
