GENERAL AUDIENCE POPE FRANCIS
Saint Peter's Square -- Wednesday,
22 February 2017
Christian hope - 12. For in this
hope, we were saved (cf Rom 8:19-27)
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| PHOTO: pinterest.com |
Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good
morning!
We are often tempted to think
that Creation is our property, a possession that we can exploit as we please,
and for which we must account to no one. In the passage of the Letter to the
Romans (8:19-27), a part of which we have just heard, the Apostle Paul reminds
us that instead, Creation is a wondrous gift that God has placed in our hands,
so that we may enter a relationship with him and we may recognize in it the
imprint of his loving plan, the fulfillment of which calls us all to work
together, day after day.
However, when a human being
allows himself to succumb to selfishness, he ends up defacing even the most
beautiful things that have been entrusted to him. And this has also happened
with Creation. Let us think about water. Water is something beautiful and very
important. Water gives us life; it helps us in everything, but, in order to
exploit minerals, water is contaminated; Creation is sullied and Creation is
destroyed. This is just one example. There are many others. With the tragic
experience of sin, our broken communion with God, we have shattered the
original communion with all that surrounds us and we have ended by corrupting
Creation, thereby rendering it a slave, subjugated to our shortsightedness.
Unfortunately the result of all this is dramatically before our eyes, every
day. When communion with God is broken, man loses his original beauty and ends
up disfiguring everything around him; and whereas before everything referred to
the Father Creator and his infinite love, all is now marked by the sad and
desolate sign of pride and of human greed. Human pride, in exploiting Creation,
destroys.
The Lord, however, does not leave
us on our own and even in this distressing context, he offers us a new prospect
of freedom, of universal salvation. It is what Paul highlights joyfully,
inviting us to listen to the groans of the whole of Creation. Indeed, if we pay
attention, around us everything is groaning: Creation itself groans; we human
beings groan and the Holy Spirit groans within us, in our heart. Now, these groans
are not a barren, disconsolate lament, but — as the Apostle explains — they are
the groaning of a woman in labour; they are the groans of those who suffer, but
know that a new life is about to be born. And in our case, it is truly so. We
are still gripped by the consequences of our sin and everything, around us,
still bears the sign of our weariness, of our shortcomings, of our closure. At
the same time, however, we know we have been saved by the Lord and that we have
already been able to contemplate and to foretaste, in ourselves and in what
surrounds us, the signs of the Resurrection, of Easter, which brings about a
new Creation.
This is the content of our hope.
The Christian does not live outside of the world; he knows how to recognize in
his life and in what surrounds him the signs of evil, of selfishness and of
sin. He is in solidarity with those who suffer, with those who weep, with those
who are marginalized, with those who despair.... However, at the same time, the
Christian has learned to read all of this with the eyes of Easter, with the
eyes of the Risen Christ. Thus, he knows that we are living in the time of
waiting, the time of longing which transcends the present, the time of
fulfillment. In hope we know that the Lord wants to definitively heal with his
mercy the wounded and humiliated hearts and all that man has spoiled by his
impiety, and that in this way, He regenerates a new world and a new humanity,
finally reconciling them in his love.
How often are we Christians
tempted to give in to disappointment, to pessimism.... At times we allow
ourselves to resort to pointless complaining, or we remain speechless and do
not even know what to ask for, what to hope for.... Yet once more, however, the
Holy Spirit — the breath of our hope, who keeps the groans and the expectation
alive in our heart — comes to help us. The Spirit sees for us beyond the
negative semblance of the present; he already reveals to us the new heavens and
the new earth that the Lord is preparing for mankind.
Special greetings:
Particular apprehension is aroused by the painful news
arriving from war-torn South Sudan, where a fratricidal conflict coincides with
a serious food crisis that afflicts the region of the Horn of Africa and that
condemns millions of people, among them many children, to die of hunger. At this time
the commitment of everyone is more necessary than ever in order to transcend
mere declarations and to enable concrete food aid to reach the suffering
populations. May the Lord sustain these brothers and sisters of ours and those
working to help them.
I greet the English-speaking
pilgrims and visitors taking part in today’s Audience, particularly those from
England, Ireland, Norway, India and the United States of America. Upon all of
you, I invoke the gifts of mercy and peace, and I pray to the Lord that they
may help you to care for Creation and one another. May God bless you!
I address a special thought to young people,
to the sick and to newlyweds. Today we are
celebrating the Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter, a day of special communion
of believers with the Successor of Saint Peter Apostle, and with the Holy See.
Dear young people, I encourage you to intensify your prayer in
favour of my Petrine Ministry; dear sick people, I thank you for
the witness of life given in suffering for the edification of the ecclesial
community; and you, dear newlyweds, build your family on the same
love that binds the Lord Jesus to his Church.
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