JUBILEE AUDIENCE POPE FRANCIS
EXTRAORDINARY
JUBILEE OF MERCY
St Peter's
Square
Thursday, 30 June 2016
Thursday, 30 June 2016
Works of
Mercy (cfr Mt 25:31-46)
Dear
Brothers and Sisters, Good morning!
How many times, during these
first months of the Jubilee, have we heard about the works of mercy!
Today the Lord invites us to make a serious examination of conscience. Indeed,
it is good to never forget that mercy is not an abstract word, but it is a way of
life: a person can either be merciful or unmerciful; it is a lifestyle. I
choose to live in a way that is merciful or I choose to live in a way that is
unmerciful. It is one thing to speak of mercy, and it is
another to live mercy. Paraphrasing the words of St James the
Apostle (cf. 2:14-17), we could say: mercy without works is dead within
itself. That’s it! What makes mercy come alive is its constant
dynamism in order to go and meet those in need and the necessities of those in
spiritual and material hardship. Mercy has eyes to see, ears to hear, hands to
lift up again....
 |
Daily life allows us to touch,
with our hands, many demands that concern the poorest and most tested of
people. We are asked for that particular attention that leads us to notice the
state of suffering and need in which so many brothers and sisters find
themselves. Sometimes we pass by situations of dramatic poverty and it seems
that they do not touch us; everything continues as if it were nothing, into an
indifference that eventually creates hypocrites and, without our realizing it,
leads to a form of spiritual lethargy that numbs the soul and renders life
barren. People who pass by, who move on in life without noticing the needs of
others, without seeing many spiritual and material needs, are people who pass
by without living, they are people who do not need others. Remember well: those
who do not live to serve, do not serve to live.
There are so many aspects of
God’s mercy toward us! In the same way, there are so many faces turned to us in
order to obtain mercy. Those who have experienced in their own lives the
Father’s mercy cannot remain indifferent before the needs of their brothers.
The lesson of Jesus that we have heard does not allow escape routes: I was
hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was naked,
displaced, sick, in prison and you assisted me (Mt 25:35-36). You cannot
stonewall a person who is hungry: he must be fed. Jesus tells us this! The
works of mercy are not theoretical ideas, but concrete testimonies. They oblige
us to roll up our sleeves to alleviate suffering.
Due to changes in our
globalized world, certain material and spiritual forms of poverty have
multiplied: let us give space, therefore, to the imaginings of charity so as to
find new ways of working. In this way, the way of mercy will become more and
more concrete. It is necessary therefore, that we remain as vigilant as
watchmen, so that, when facing the poverty produced by the culture of
wellbeing, the Christian gaze does not weaken and become incapable of focusing
on what is essential. Focus on the essentials. What does this mean? To focus on
Jesus, to see Jesus in the hungry, in prisoners, in the sick, the naked, in
those who don’t have work and need to lead their family forward. To see Jesus
in these people, our brothers and sisters; to see Jesus in those who are
lonely, sad, in those who have made mistakes and need counsel, in those who
need to walk with Him in silence so that they feel accompanied. These are the
works that Jesus asks of us! To see Jesus in them, in these people. Why?
Because this is the way Jesus sees me, sees all of us.
Now let us move on to another
thing.
In recent days the Lord
allowed me to visit Armenia, the first
nation to embrace Christianity at the beginning of the fourth century. It is a
nation that, over the course of its long history, has witnessed the Christian
faith with martyrdom. I thank God for this journey, and I am deeply grateful to
the President of the Republic of Armenia, to Catholicos Karekin ii, to the Patriarch, the Catholic
bishops, and the entire Armenian people for welcoming me as a pilgrim of
brotherhood and peace.
In three months, God willing,
I will make another journey to Georgia and Azerbaijan, two more countries of
the Caucasus region. I accepted the invitation to visit these countries for two
reasons: on the one hand to highlight the ancient Christian roots present in
those lands — again in a spirit of dialogue with other religions and cultures —
and on the other to encourage hope and paths of peace. History teaches us that
the path of peace requires great tenacity and continuous steps, starting with
small steps and gradually increasing them, going to meet one another. Precisely
for this reason my hope is that each and every person may give his or her own
contribution to peace and reconciliation.
As Christians we are called to
strengthen the fraternal communion among us, so as to bear witness to the
Gospel of Christ and to be a leaven of a more just and united society. For this
reason, the entire visit was shared with the Supreme Patriarch of the Armenian
Apostolic Church, who fraternally hosted me for three days in his home.
I renew my embrace to the
Bishops, priests, men and women religious, and to all the faithful of Armenia.
May the Virgin Mary, our Mother, help them to remain steadfast in faith, open
to encounter and generous in works of mercy. Thank you.
Special
greetings:
Let us not allow the culture
of wellbeing to weaken our sensitivity to the suffering of our brothers and
sisters. Let us be ever vigilant so as to discover their needs, and generous so
as to come to their aid.
May God bless you!
I greet the English-speaking
pilgrims present at today’s Audience, particularly those from Sweden, China,
India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Canada and the United States of America. With
heartfelt wishes that the current Jubilee of Mercy may be a time of grace and
spiritual renewal for you and your families, I invoke upon all of you joy and
peace in the Lord Jesus!
I cordially greet the Polish
pilgrims. Dear brothers and sisters, I thank you for accompanying me with your
prayers during my visit to Armenia. I ask you to continue praying for me and
for the young people in Poland and throughout the world who are preparing for
our now imminent meeting in Krakow. May the remembrance of “blessed are the
merciful” be ever alive in our hearts and in our deeds. I bless you
wholeheartedly. Praised be Jesus Christ!
Lastly, I address my greeting
to young people, to the sick and to newlyweds.
Today we celebrate the first martyrs of the Church of Rome and we pray for
those who to this day pay dearly for belonging to the Church of Christ. Dear young
people, may faith have a place and may it give meaning to your life; dear sick
people, may you offer your suffering in order that those far away may
encounter the love of Christ; dear newlyweds, may you be educators
of life and models of faith for your children.
© Copyright - Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Post a Comment