ANGELUS POPE FRANCIS 25 OCTOBER 2015
ANGELUS POPE
FRANCIS
Saint Peter's Square
Sunday, 25 October 2015
Sunday, 25 October 2015
Dear
Brothers and Sisters, Good morning!
This morning, with the Holy Mass celebrated
in St Peter’s Basilica, the Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops
on the Family has concluded. I invite everyone to give thanks to God for these
three weeks of intense work, enlivened by prayer and by a spirit of true
communion. It was demanding, but it was a true gift of God, which will surely
bear much fruit.
The word “synod” means “walking
together”. And what we have experienced was an experience of the Church on a
journey, journeying especially with the families of the holy People of God
spread throughout the world. For this reason I was struck by the Word of God
which comes to us today in the prophecy of Jeremiah. It says: “Behold, I will
bring them from the north country, and gather them from the farthest parts of
the earth, among them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and those in
labour, together; a great company, they shall return here”. And the Prophet
adds: “With weeping they departed, and with consolations I will lead them back,
I will make them walk by brooks of water, in a straight path in which they
shall not stumble; for I am a father to Israel” (cf. 31:8-9).
This Word of God tells us that
the first to want to walk with us, to be “in synod” with us, is actually He,
our Father. His “dream”, for ever and always, is that of forming a people, of
gathering it, of guiding it toward the land of liberty and peace. And this
people is made up of families: there are “the woman with child and those in
labour”; it is a people that while walking, sends life forth, with God’s
blessing.
It is a people that does not
exclude the poor and underprivileged, but instead, includes them. The Prophet
says: “among them the blind and the lame”. It is a family of families, in which
one who toils is not marginalized, left behind, but manages to stay in step
with the others, because this people walks in step with the least; as is done
in families, and as we are taught by the Lord, who made himself poor with the
poor, little with the little ones, last with the least. He did not do so in
order to exclude the wealthy, the great and first, but because this is the only
way to save even them, to save everyone: to go with the least, with the
excluded, with the lowliest.
I confess that I compared this
prophecy of the people on a journey with refugees trudging the streets of
Europe, a tragic reality of our time. To them too the Lord says: “With great
weeping they departed, and with consolations I will lead them back”. These
greatly suffering families, uprooted from their lands, were also present with
us in the Synod, in our prayers and in our work, through the voice of several
of their pastors present in the Assembly. These people seeking dignity, these
families seeking peace, are still with us, the Church does not abandon them,
because they are part of the people that God wants to set free from slavery and
guide to freedom.
Thus, both the synodal
experience that we lived, and the tragedy of the refugees trudging the streets of
Europe are reflected in this Word of God. May the Lord, through the
intercession of the Virgin Mary, help us, too, to put [the Word of God] into
practice by way of fraternal communion.
After
the Angelus:
Dear brothers and sisters, I
greet you all, faithful of Rome and pilgrims from various countries.
In particular I greet the
“Hermandad del Señor de los Milagros” of Rome. [In Spanish: there are so many
Peruvians in the Square!], who with such devotion have carried in procession
the Image venerated in Lima, Peru, and wheresoever Peruvians have emigrated.
Thank you for your witness!
I wish everyone a pleasant
Sunday, and please, do not forget to pray for me. Enjoy
your lunch. Arrivederci.
HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS
HOLY MASS FOR THE CLOSING
OF THE XIV ORDINARY GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE SYNOD OF
BISHOPS
Vatican
Basilica
30th
Sunday in Ordinary Time, 25 October 2015
The
three Readings for this Sunday show us God’s compassion, his fatherhood,
definitively revealed in Jesus.
In the
midst of a national disaster, the people deported by their enemies, the prophet
Jeremiah proclaims that “the Lord has saved his people, the remnant of Israel”
(31:7). Why did he save them? Because he is their Father (cf. v. 9); and as a
Father, he takes care of his children and accompanies them on the way,
sustaining “the blind and the lame, the women with child and those in labour”
(31:8). His fatherhood opens up for them a path forward, a way of consolation
after so many tears and great sadness. If the people remain faithful, if they
persevere in their search for God even in a foreign land, God will change their
captivity into freedom, their solitude into communion: what the people sow
today in tears, they will reap tomorrow in joy (cf. Ps 125:6).
We too
have expressed, with the Psalm, the joy which is the fruit of the Lord’s
salvation: “our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongues with shouts of
joy” (v. 2). A believer is someone who has experienced God’s salvific action in
his life. We pastors have experienced what it means to sow with difficulty, at
times in tears, and to rejoice for the grace of a harvest which is beyond our
strength and capacity.
The
passage from the Letter to the Hebrews shows us Jesus’ compassion. He also “is
beset with weakness” (5:2), so that he can feel compassion for those in
ignorance and error. Jesus is the great high priest, holy and innocent, but
also the high priest who has taken on our weakness and been tempted like us in
all things, save sin (cf. 4:15). For this reason he is the mediator of the new
and definitive covenant which brings us salvation.
Today’s
Gospel is directly linked to the First Reading: as the people of Israel were
freed thanks to God’s fatherhood, so too Bartimaeus is freed thanks to Jesus’
compassion. Jesus has just left Jericho. Even though he has only begun his most
important journey, which will take him to Jerusalem, he still stops to respond
to Bartimaeus’ cry. Jesus is moved by his request and becomes involved in his
situation. He is not content to offer him alms, but rather wants to personally
encounter him. He does not give him any instruction or response, but asks him:
“What do you want me to do for you?” (Mk 10:51). It might seem a senseless
question: what could a blind man wish for if not his sight? Yet, with this
question made face to face, direct but respectful, Jesus shows that he wants to
hear our needs. He wants to talk with each of us about our lives, our real
situations, so that nothing is kept from him. After Bartimaeus’ healing, the
Lord tells him: “Your faith has made you well” (v. 52). It is beautiful to see
how Christ admires Bartimaeus’ faith, how he has confidence in him. He believes
in us, more than we believe in ourselves.
There is
an interesting detail. Jesus asks his disciples to go and call Bartimaeus. They
address the blind man with two expressions, which only Jesus uses in the rest
of the Gospel. First they say to him: “Take heart!”, which literally means
“have faith, strong courage!”. Indeed, only an encounter with Jesus gives a
person the strength to face the most difficult situations. The second
expression is “Rise!”, as Jesus said to so many of the sick, whom he took by
the hand and healed. His disciples do nothing other than repeat Jesus’
encouraging and liberating words, leading him directly to Jesus, without
lecturing him. Jesus’ disciples are called to this, even today, especially
today: to bring people into contact with the compassionate Mercy that saves.
When humanity’s cry, like Bartimaeus’, becomes stronger still, there is no
other response than to make Jesus’ words our own and, above all, imitate his
heart. Moments of suffering and conflict are for God occasions of mercy. Today
is a time of mercy!
There
are, however, some temptations for those who follow Jesus. Today’s Gospel shows
at least two of them. None of the disciples stopped, as Jesus did. They
continued to walk, going on as if nothing were happening. If Bartimaeus was
blind, they were deaf: his problem was not their problem. This can be a danger
for us: in the face of constant problems, it is better to move on, instead of
letting ourselves be bothered. In this way, just like the disciples, we are
with Jesus but we do not think like him. We are in his group, but our hearts
are not open. We lose wonder, gratitude and enthusiasm, and risk becoming
habitually unmoved by grace. We are able to speak about him and work for him,
but we live far from his heart, which is reaching out to those who are wounded.
This is the temptation: a “spirituality of illusion”: we can walk through the
deserts of humanity without seeing what is really there; instead, we see what
we want to see. We are capable of developing views of the world, but we do not
accept what the Lord places before our eyes. A faith that does not know how to
root itself in the life of people remains arid and, rather than oases, creates
other deserts.
There is
a second temptation, that of falling into a “scheduled faith”. We are able to
walk with the People of God, but we already have our schedule for the journey,
where everything is listed: we know where to go and how long it will take;
everyone must respect our rhythm and every problem is a bother. We run the risk
of becoming the “many” of the Gospel who lose patience and rebuke Bartimaeus.
Just a short time before, they scolded the children (cf. 10:13), and now the
blind beggar: whoever bothers us or is not of our stature is excluded. Jesus,
on the other hand, wants to include, above all those kept on the fringes who
are crying out to him. They, like Bartimaeus, have faith, because awareness of
the need for salvation is the best way of encountering Jesus.
In the
end, Bartimaeus follows Jesus on his path (cf. v. 52). He did not only regain
his sight, but he joined the community of those who walk with Jesus. Dear Synod
Fathers, we have walked together. Thank you for the path we have shared with
our eyes fixed on Jesus and our brothers and sisters, in the search for the
paths which the Gospel indicates for our times so that we can proclaim the
mystery of family love. Let us follow the path that the Lord desires. Let us
ask him to turn to us with his healing and saving gaze, which knows how to
radiate light, as it recalls the splendour which illuminates it. Never allowing
ourselves to be tarnished by pessimism or sin, let us seek and look upon the
glory of God, which shines forth in men and women who are fully alive.
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