ANGELUS
POPE FRANCIS
Saint Peter's Square
Sunday, 11 September 2016
Sunday, 11 September 2016
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| PHOTO: www.mycatholic.life |
Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good morning!
Today’s
liturgy brings us to Chapter 15 of the Gospel of Luke, considered the chapter
on mercy. It relates three parables with which Jesus responds to the grumbling
of the scribes and the Pharisees, who are criticizing his actions, saying,
“This man receives sinners and eats with them” (v. 2).
With
these three stories, Jesus wants to make us understand that God the Father is
the first one to have a welcoming and merciful attitude toward sinners. This is
God’s attitude.
In
the first parable, God is presented as a shepherd who leaves 99 sheep to go and
look for the one that is lost. In the second, he is compared to a woman who has
lost a coin and searches until she finds it. In the third parable, God is
imagined as a father who welcomes the son who had distanced himself; the figure
of the father reveals the heart of a merciful God, manifested in Jesus.
A
common element in these parables is expressed by the verbs that mean rejoice
together, join in merry-making. Mourning is not spoken of; there is
rejoicing, there is celebrating. The shepherd calls his friends and neighbours
and says, “Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost” (v 6).
The woman calls her friends and neighbours, saying, “Rejoice with me, for I
have found the coin which I had lost” (v. 9). And the father says to his other
son: “It was fitting to make merry and be glad, for this your brother was dead,
and is alive; he was lost, and is found” (v. 32).
In
the first two parables, the focus is on the joy that is so uncontainable that
it must be shared with “friends and neighbours”. In the third parable, the
focus is on the joy that springs from the heart of the merciful father and
expands to the whole household. God’s rejoicing over those who return to Him
repentant is intoned as never before in this Jubilee Year that we are living,
as the term itself expresses: “jubilee”, that is, jubilation!
With
these three parables, Jesus presents to us the true face of God, a God with
open arms, a God who deals with sinners with tenderness and compassion. The
parable that is most moving for everyone — because it manifests the infinite
love of God — is that of the father who enfolds in a close embrace the son who
has been found. What strikes us is not so much the sad story of a youth who
falls into dissolute ways, but rather his decisive words, “I will arise and go
to my father” (v. 18).
The
path to return home is the path of hope and new life. God always expects us to
resume our journey, he awaits us with patience, he sees us when we are still a
long way off, he runs to meet us, he embraces us, he kisses us, he forgives us.
That is how God is. That is how our Father is. And his forgiveness cancels the
past and regenerates us in love. Forgetting the past — this is God’s weakness.
When he embraces us, he forgives us, and forgets it. He doesn’t remember. He
forgets the past. When we sinners convert and let ourselves be re-encountered
by God, reproach and sternness do not await us, because God saves, he welcomes
us home again with joy and prepares a feast.
Jesus
himself in today’s Gospel says, “there will be more joy in heaven over one
sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of
repentance” (Lk 15:7).
Let
me ask you a question: Have you ever thought about how each time we go to the
confessional, there is joy and celebration in heaven? Have you ever thought
about this? It’s beautiful.
This
fills us with a great hope because there is no sin into which we may have
fallen, from which, with the grace of God, we cannot rise up again. There is
never a person who can’t be recovered; no one is irrecoverable, because God
never stops wanting our good — even when we sin!
May
the Virgin Mary, Refuge of Sinners, kindle in our hearts the confidence that
was lit in the heart of the prodigal son: “I will arise and go to my father and
I shall say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you’” (v.
18). On this path, we can give glory to God, and his glory can become his
celebration, and ours.
After the Angelus:
Dear
brothers and sisters, I would like to invite you all to say a special prayer
for Gabon, which is experiencing a serious political crisis. I entrust the
victims of the conflict, and their families, to the Lord. I join the Bishops of
this African country in inviting the contendents to reject all violence and to
always have the common good as their goal. I encourage everyone, Catholics in
particular, to be builders of peace with respect for the law, in dialogue and
fraternity.
Today
Ladislaus Bukowiński was proclaimed Blessed in Karaganda, Kazakhstan. He was a
priest and pastor who was persecuted for his faith. This man suffered greatly!
So greatly! In his life he always showed great love for the weakest and
neediest of people, and his testimony appears as an exemplar of the spiritual
and corporal works of mercy.
I
affectionately greet all of you, people of Rome and pilgrims from various
countries: families, parish groups, and associations.
I
wish you all a good Sunday, and please, do not forget to pray for me. Have a
good lunch. Arrivederci!
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