Reading the Gospel and knowing the Catechism is not enough to truly know Jesus: “prayer is needed”. Pope Francis said this during the Mass he celebrated at the Casa Santa Marta today. The theme for his homily “Gaining Christ” was taken from St Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians. St Paul, the Pope noted, “plunges” into “the deep sea which is the person of Christ”. But, Pope Francis asked, “how can we know Christ?”, how can we understand “Christ’s love which goes beyond any knowledge?”. “Christ is present in the Gospel, so by reading the Gospel, we know Christ”, the Pope answered. “And we all do this, we all hear the Gospel when we go to Mass. And by studying the Catechism: the Catechism teaches us who Jesus is. But this is not enough. In order to be able to understand what the width, length, height and depth of Jesus Christ are, we need to first enter a context of prayer, as St Paul does, on our knees: ‘Father, send me your Spirit that I may know Jesus Christ”. In order to truly know Christ, first, “we need prayer”. “We cannot know the Lord without this habit of adoration, adoring in silence. Adoration”, is the second indication given by the Pope, according to whom “this prayer of adoration is what we know less, what we do less. Wasting time – I would dare to say – in front of the Lord, before the mystery of Jesus Christ. Adoring Him. He is there, in silence, the silence of adoration. He is the Lord and I adore Him”. Third, the Pope said, in order to know Christ we have to be aware of our conscience, that is to say, to have the habit to accuse ourselves”, acknowledging we are “sinners”: “We cannot adore Him without accusing ourselves”. “In order to enter this bottomless and borderless sea which is the mystery of Jesus Christ – the Pope concluded –, we need these things. First prayer: ‘Father, send me your Spirit that He may lead me to know Jesus’. Second, adoration of the mystery, to enter the mystery through adoration. And third, accusing ourselves: ‘I am a man of unclean lips’”.