GENERAL AUDIENCE POPE FRANCIS
Saint Peter's Square
Wednesday, 17 June 2015
The
family - 19. Death
Dear
Brothers and Sisters, Good morning!
In
the course of our catecheses on the family, today we take direct inspiration
from the episode narrated by Luke the Evangelist, which we have just heard (cf.
Lk 7:11-15). It is a very moving scene, which shows us Christ’s compassion for
those who suffer — in this case a widow who has lost her only child — and it
also shows us Jesus’ power over death.
Death
is an experience which touches all families, without exception. It is part of
life; yet, where familial love is concerned, death never seems natural. For
parents, surviving their own children is particularly heartbreaking; it
contradicts the fundamental nature of the very relationships that give meaning
to the family. The loss of a son or daughter is like time stopping altogether:
it opens a chasm that swallows both past and future. Death, which takes away a
little child or young person, is a blow to the promises, to the gifts and the
sacrifices of love joyfully brought to the life we gave birth to. Frequently
parents come to Mass at Santa Marta with the photo of a son, a daughter, a
baby, a boy, a girl, and they say to me: “He’s gone, she’s gone”. And their
faces are filled with grief. Death touches us and when it is a child’s, it
touches us profoundly. The whole family is left paralyzed, speechless. And the
child left alone by the loss of one or both parents suffers in a similar way.
She asks: “Where is my daddy? Where is my mama? — Well, she is in heaven” —
“Why can’t I see her?”. This question covers the agony in the heart of a child
left alone. The emptiness of abandonment that opens up in him is made all the
more agonizing by the fact that he doesn’t have the life-experience to even
“give a name” to what has happened. “When is daddy coming back?” When is mama
coming?”. What do you say when a child suffers? This is what death in the
family is like.
In
these cases, death is like a black whole that opens up in the life of the
family and for which we have no explanation. And at times we even go so far as
to lay the blame on God. How many people — I understand them — get angry with
God, blaspheme: “Why did you take my son, my daughter? There is no God, God
does not exist! Why did he do this?”. We hear this so often. But this anger is
basically what comes from the heart in great pain; the loss of a son or of a
daughter, of a father or of a mother, is a great sorrow. This happens over and
over in families. In these cases, I said, death is like a hole. But physical
death has “accomplices” even worse than itself, which are called hate, envy,
pride, greed; in short, the sin of the world which works for death and makes it
even more painful and unjust. Family bonds seem to be the predestined and
helpless victims of these helping powers of death, trailing the history of
mankind. Let us think of the absurd “normality” with which, at certain moments
and in certain places, events adding to the horror of death are provoked by the
hatred and indifference of other human beings. May the Lord keep us free from
being accustomed to this!
In
the People of God, by the grace of his compassion granted in Jesus, many
families prove by their deeds that death does not have the last word: this is a
true act of faith. Every time a family in mourning — even terrible mourning —
finds the strength to guard the faith and love that unite us to those we love,
it has already prevented death from taking everything. The darkness of death
should be confronted with a more intense work of love. “My God, lighten my
darkness!”, is the invocation of evening prayer. In the light of the
Resurrection of the Lord, who abandons none of those whom the Father entrusted
to him, we can take the “sting” out of death, as the Apostle Paul says (1 Cor
15:55); we can prevent it from poisoning life, from rendering vain our love,
from pushing us into the darkest chasm.
In
this faith, we can console one another, knowing that the Lord has conquered
death once and for all. Our loved ones are not lost in the darkness of nothing:
hope assures us that they are in the good and strong hands of God. Love is
stronger than death. Thus, the way is to let love grow, make it stronger, and
love will guard us until the day that every tear shall be wiped away, when
“death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain
any more” (Rev 21:4). If we allow ourselves to be sustained by this faith, the
experience of grief can generate even stronger family bonds, a new openness to
the pain of other families, a new brotherhood with families that are born and
reborn in hope. To be born and reborn in hope, this gives us faith. But I would
like to stress the last phrase of the Gospel which he heard today (cf. Lk
7:11-15). After Jesus brought the young man, the only son of a widow, back to
life, the Gospel says: “Jesus gave him back to his mother”. And this is our
hope! All our loved ones who are gone, the Lord will give them back to us and
we will be together with them. This hope does not disappoint! Let us remember
well this action of Jesus: “And Jesus gave him back to his mother”, thus the
Lord will do with all our loved ones in the family!
This
faith protects us from the nihilist vision of death, as well as from the false
consolations of the world, so that the Christian truth “does not risk mixing
itself with myths of various types”, surrendering to superstitions beliefs (Benedict XVI, Angelus, 2
November 2008). Today it is necessary that Pastors and all
Christians express in a more concrete way the meaning of the faith in regards
to the family experience of grief. We should not deny them the right to weep —
we must weep in mourning — “Jesus wept” and was “deeply troubled” by the grave
loss of a family that he loved (cf. Jn 11:33-37). We can draw from the simple
and strong testimony of the many families who have been able to grasp, in the
most arduous transition of death, the safe passage of the Lord, Crucified and
Risen, with his irrevocable promise of the resurrection of the dead. God’s work
of love is stronger than the work of death. It is of that love, it is precisely
of that love, that we must make ourselves hard-working “accomplices”, with our
faith! And let us remember Jesus’ deed: “And Jesus gave him back to his
mother”, so he will do with all our loved ones and with us when we meet again,
when death will be definitively conquered in us. It was conquered by Jesus’
Cross. Jesus will give us all back to the family!
Special
greetings:
Tomorrow,
as you know, the Encyclical on the care of “our common home” , which is
creation, will be released. This “home” of ours is deteriorating and this harms
everyone, especially the poorest. Mine is therefore a call to responsibility,
based on the task God gave to human beings in creation: “to till and keep” the
“garden” in which he placed him (cf. Gen 2:15). I invite all people to accept
with an open heart this Document, which is in line with the Social Teaching of
the Church.
This
coming Saturday is the World Day for Refugees, sponsored by the United Nations.
Let us pray for the many brothers and sisters who seek refuge far from their
land, who seek a home where they will be able to live without fear, that they
might be ever respected in their dignity. I encourage the work of those who
bring them aid and I wish for the international community to act unanimously
and effectively to prevent the causes of forced emigration. And I invite all of
you to ask forgiveness for the people and institutions who close the door to
these people who seek a family, who seek protection.
I
greet the English speaking pilgrims and visitors taking part in today’s
Audience, including those from England, Scotland, Zambia, Hong Kong, Indonesia,
Japan, Pakistan, Vietnam, Puerto Rico and the United States. I pray especially
for families mourning loved ones. May the Church’s pastors and communities come
to their aid in prayer, acts of concrete help, and with tenderness. Upon all of
you and your loved ones, I invoke the Lord Jesus’ abundant blessings of peace
and joy. May God bless you all!
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Copyright - Libreria Editrice Vaticana
