{"id":18587,"date":"2017-03-05T12:22:00","date_gmt":"2017-03-05T12:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/do-you-read-the-bible-as-often-as-you-check-your-phone-francis-asks-38236\/"},"modified":"2017-03-05T12:22:00","modified_gmt":"2017-03-05T12:22:00","slug":"do-you-read-the-bible-as-often-as-you-check-your-phone-francis-asks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/03\/do-you-read-the-bible-as-often-as-you-check-your-phone-francis-asks\/","title":{"rendered":"Do you read the Bible as often as you check your phone? Francis asks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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Vatican City, Mar 5, 2017 \/ 05:22 am (CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- On the first Sunday of Lent, Pope Francis said if we want to fight against the temptation of sin, we must be familiar with the Word of God \u2013 treating the Bible more like how we treat our cellphone.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring the forty days of Lent, as Christians we are called to follow in the footsteps of Jesus and address the spiritual battle against evil with the power of the Word of God,\u201d he said March 5. \u201cFor this you have to become familiar with the Bible, read it often, meditate on it, assimilate it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSomeone said: what would happen if we treated the Bible like we treat our cell phone? If we always carried it with us; or at least the small pocket-sized Gospel, what would happen?\u201d<\/p>\n

Pope Francis spoke to pilgrims before leading the Angelus in St. Peter\u2019s Square, drawing a stark comparison between the attention we give our cellphones and the attention we give Scripture, for example, always taking it with us, and going back if we forget it at home.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou forget you mobile phone \u2013 oh! I do not have it, I go back to look for it; if you read the messages of God contained in the Bible as we read the messages of the phone\u2026\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Pope reflected on the day\u2019s Gospel reading from Matthew, which tells about the temptation of Jesus in the desert by Satan.<\/p>\n

The episode comes at a specific point, he said, soon after Jesus\u2019 baptism in the Jordan River but before his public prosecution.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has just received the solemn investiture: the Spirit of God descended upon Him, the Father from heaven declared him \u2018my beloved Son\u2019 (Matt. 3:17). Jesus is now ready to begin his mission,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But first he must go up against the Enemy, Satan, who presents him with three temptations. \u201cBy means of this triple temptation, Satan wants to divert Jesus from the path of obedience and humiliation \u2013 because he knows that in this way evil will be defeated,\u201d the Pope said.<\/p>\n

But the Word of God is like a shield against the poisonous arrows of the devil, Francis said. Jesus doesn\u2019t use just any words \u2013 he uses the words of God, and in this way, the Son, full of the Holy Spirit, emerges victorious from the desert.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is what we must do against the temptations of the devil, the Pope said. The comparison between the Bible and our cellphones \u201cis strange, but sobering.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn effect, if we had the Word of God always in our heart, no temptation could turn us away from God and no obstacle could deflect us from the path of goodness,\u201d he stressed. We would know how \u201cto win\u201d against the daily temptations within and around us.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would be better able to live a resurrected life in the Spirit, accepting and loving our brothers, especially the most vulnerable and needy, and even our enemies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Let us ask the Virgin Mary, \u201cthe perfect icon of obedience to God and of unconditional trust to his will,\u201d to help us during this Lent to listen to the Word of God in the Bible and \u201cto make a real change of heart,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd, please, do not forget \u2013 do not forget! \u2013 What would happen if we treated the Bible like we treat our cellphone. Think about this. The Bible always with us, close to us!\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

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