STORIA, GIOCO, E INCONTRO
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| FOTO: pixabayfree |
Tre parole per il catechismo di oggi: storia, gioco e incontro. Prima, abbiamo iniziato con la preghiera e continua con il racconto delle nostre attività durante la settimana. Secondo, abbiamo fatto un gioco. Drammatizzare una delle beatitudini. Interessante qui perché un gruppo fa il dramma e l’altro guarda. Terzo, abbiamo fatto l’incontro con i genitori. Il mio amico Carlos ha partecipato qui mentre io ho accompagnato i bambini a giocare calcetto e pingpong dentro la saletta.
Una cosa bella oggi è l’istruzione dei genitori ai bambini quando abbiamo fatto il gioco fuori sala. I genitori hanno visto che i bambini non hanno indossato la giacca pesante. Poi, uno ha chiesto ai bambini di mettere la giacca. Ne anche noi non siamo accorti di metterci la giacca. Io ero con la giacca abbastanza per affrontare il freddo.
È bello questo. È il segno d’amore dai genitori ai bambini. Ma anche per me è una cosa bella. Mi hanno ricordato di fare questa istruzione ai bambini. Anche io con la mamma a casa mia quando ero bambino, mia mamma mi faceva così.
Grazie a voi i genitori.
JUBILEE AUDIENCE POPE FRANCIS 12 NOVEMBER 2016
JUBILEE AUDIENCE POPE FRANCIS
St Peter's Square
Saturday, 12 November 2016
EXTRAORDINARY JUBILEE OF MERCY
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| PHOTO: L'OSSERVATORE ROMANO |
Mercy and inclusion
Dear brothers and sisters, Good morning!
In this last Saturday Jubilee
Audience, I would like to present an important aspect of mercy: inclusion.
Indeed, God, in his design of love, does not want to exclude anyone, but wants
to include everyone. For example, through Baptism, he makes us his children in
Christ, members of his Body which is the Church. And we Christians are invited
to use the same criteria: mercy is the way one acts, that style, with which we
try to include others in our lives, and avoid closing in on ourselves and our
selfish securities.
In the passage from the Gospel of
Matthew that we have just heard, Jesus addresses a truly universal invitation:
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest”
(11:28). No one is excluded from this call, because Jesus’ mission is to reveal
the Father’s love to everyone. Our task is to open our hearts, to trust in
Jesus and accept this message of love, which makes us enter into the mystery of
salvation.
This aspect of mercy, inclusion, is
manifested in opening one’s arms wide to welcome, without excluding; without
labeling others according to their social status, language, race, culture or
religion: there is, before us, only a person to be loved as God loves them. The
person whom I find at my work, in my neighbourhood, is a person to love, as God
loves. “But he is from that country, or that other country, or of this
religion, or another... He
is a person whom God loves and I have to love him”. This
is to include, and this is inclusion.
We encounter so many weary and
oppressed people today! In the street, in public offices, in medical
practices... Jesus’ gaze rests on each one of those faces, even through our
eyes. And how is our heart? Is it merciful? And our way of thinking and acting,
is it inclusive? The Gospel calls us to recognize, in the history of humanity,
the design of a great work of inclusion, which fully respects the freedom of
every person, every community, every nation, and calls everyone to form a
family of brothers and sisters, in justice, solidarity and peace, and to be
part of the Church, which is the Body of Christ.
How true are Jesus’ words, which
invite those who are tired and weary to come to Him to find rest! His arms
outstretched on the cross show that no one is excluded from his love and his
mercy, not even the greatest sinner: no one! We are all included in his love and in
his mercy. The most immediate expression with which we feel welcomed and
included in him is that of forgiveness. We all need to be forgiven by God. And
we all need to encounter brothers and sisters who help us to go to Jesus, to
open ourselves to the gift he has given us on the cross. Let
us not hinder each other! Let us not exclude anyone! Rather, with humility and
simplicity let us become instruments of the Father’s inclusive mercy. The
inclusive mercy of the Father: it is like this. The Holy Mother Church prolongs
in the world the great embrace of Christ who died and rose. Also this Square,
with its colonnade, expresses this embrace. Let us engage in this movement of
including others, to be witnesses of the mercy with which God has accepted and
welcomed each one of us.
Special greetings:
I greet the English-speaking pilgrims
and visitors taking part in today’s Audience, particularly those from Ireland
and Pakistan. With prayerful good wishes that the present Jubilee of Mercy will
be a moment of grace and spiritual renewal for you and your families, I invoke
upon all of you joy and peace in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Dear brothers and sisters, live this
last Saturday Audience of the Jubilee with faith, in order to experience
forgiveness, mercy and the love of God in your life. I greet with particular
affection you volunteers of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy. You have been
great! You all have come from different countries, and I thank you for the
valuable service you have provided so that pilgrims could live this experience
of faith well. Over the course of these months, I have noticed your discreet
presence in the Square with the Jubilee logo and have admired the dedication,
patience and enthusiasm with which you have carried out your work. Thank you
very much!
In particular, I extend a greeting to
young people, the sick and newlyweds. Yesterday we commemorated Saint Martin of
Tours, the patron saint of beggars, whose 17th centenary of the birth we
celebrate this year. May his example inspire in you, dear young people,
especially you Erasmus students in Europe, the desire to perform acts of
solidarity; may his faith in Christ the Lord sustain you, dear sick people, in
the trials of disease; and may his moral rectitude remind you, dear newlyweds,
of the importance of values in the education of children.
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GENERAL AUDIENCE POPE FRANCIS 9 NOVEMBER 2016
GENERAL AUDIENCE POPE FRANCIS
Saint Peter's Square
Wednesday, 9 November 2016
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| PHOTO: L'OSSERVATORE ROMANO |
35. To visit the
sick and the imprisoned
Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good morning!
Jesus’ life, especially during the
three years of his public ministry, was a continual encounter with people.
Among them, the sick had a special place. How many pages of the Gospel tell of
these encounters! The paralytic, the blind man, the leper, the possessed man,
the epileptic, and the countless people suffering from illnesses of every
kind.... Jesus made himself close to each of them, and cured them with his
presence and his healing power. Therefore, among the works of mercy, we cannot
fail to visit and assist those who are sick.
Together
with this, we can also include being close to those who are in prison. Indeed,
both the sick and the imprisoned live in conditions which limit their freedom.
It is precisely when we lack [freedom] that we realize how precious it is! Jesus has given us the possibility of being free regardless of the
limitations of illness and of restrictions. And he offers us the freedom which
comes from an encounter with him, and the new sense which this brings to our
personal conditions.
With this work of mercy, the Lord
invites us to make an act of great humanity: sharing . Let us remember this
word: sharing. Those who are sick often feel alone. We cannot hide the fact
that, especially in our days, in sickness one experiences greater loneliness
than at other times in life. A visit can make a person who is sick feel less
alone, and a little companionship is great medicine! A smile, a caress, a
handshake are simple gestures, but they are very important for those who feel
abandoned. How many people dedicate themselves to visiting the sick in
hospitals or in their homes! It is a priceless voluntary work. When it is done
in the Lord’s name, moreover, it also becomes an eloquent and effective
expression of mercy . Let us not leave the sick alone! Let us not prevent them
from finding consolation, or ourselves from being enriched by our closeness to
those who suffer. Hospitals are true “cathedrals of suffering” where, however,
the power of supportive and compassionate charity is also made evident.
In the same way, I think of those who
are locked up in prison. Jesus has not forgotten them either. By including the
act of visiting of those in prison among the works of mercy, he wanted first
and foremost to invite us to judge no one. Of course, if someone is in prison
it is because he has done wrong, and did not respect the law or civil harmony.
Therefore, in prison, he is serving his sentence. However, whatever a detainee
may have done, he remains always beloved by God. Who is able to enter the depths
of [an inmate’s] conscience to understand what he is experiencing? Who can
understand his suffering and remorse? It is too easy to wash our hands,
declaring that he has done wrong. A Christian is called, above all, to assume
responsibility, so that whoever has done wrong understands the evil he has
carried out, and returns to his senses. The absence of freedom is, without a
doubt, one of the hardest pills for a human being to swallow. Add this to
degradation arising from the conditions which are often devoid of humanity in
which these persons live, it is then truly the case in which a Christian is
motivated to do everything to restore his dignity.
Visiting people in prison is a work of
mercy which, especially today, takes on a particular value due to the various
forms of “justicialism” to which we are exposed. Therefore, let no one point a
finger at another. Instead, let us all be instruments of mercy, and have
attitudes of sharing and respect. I often think about detainees... I think of
them often, I carry them in my heart. I wonder what led them to delinquency,
and how they managed to succumb to various forms of evil. Yet, along with these
thoughts, I feel that they all need closeness and tenderness, because God’s
mercy works wonders. How many tears I have seen shed on the cheeks of prisoners
who had perhaps never wept before in their lives; and this is only because they
feel welcomed and loved.
And let us not forget that even Jesus
and his Apostles experienced imprisonment. In the account of the Passion, we
know of the suffering which the Lord endured: captured, dragged about like a
criminal, derided, scourged, crowned with thorns.... He, the sole Innocent! And
even Saint Peter and Saint Paul were in prison (cf. Acts 12:5; Phil 1:12-17).
Last Sunday afternoon — which was the Sunday of the Jubilee for Prisoners — a
group of detainees from Padua came to visit me. I asked them what they were
going to do the following day, before returning to Padua. They told me: “We
will go to the Mamertine prison to share the experience of Saint Paul”. It was
beautiful; hearing this did me good. These detainees wanted to find the
imprisoned Paul. It was a beautiful thing, and it did me good. And even there,
in prison, [Saints Peter and Paul] prayed and evangelized. The page from the
Acts of the Apostles, which recounts Paul’s imprisonment, is moving: he felt
alone, and wished that some of his friends would pay him a visit (cf. 2 Tim
4:9-15). He felt alone because the vast majority had left him alone... the
great Paul.
These works of mercy, as you can see, are age-old, yet
ever timely. Jesus left what he was doing to go and visit Peter’s
mother-in-law; an age-old work of charity. Jesus did it.
Let us not fall into indifference, but
become instruments of God’s mercy. All of us can be instruments of God’s mercy,
and this will do more good to us than to others because mercy passes through a
gesture, a word, a visit, and this mercy is an act of restoring the joy and
dignity which has been lost.
Special greetings:
I greet the English-speaking pilgrims
and visitors taking part in today’s Audience, particularly those from England,
Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Vietnam, Canada and the United
States of America. With prayerful good wishes that the present Jubilee of Mercy
will be a moment of grace and spiritual renewal for you and your families, I
invoke upon all of you joy and peace in our Lord Jesus Christ.
May the passage through the Holy Door
remind each of you that only through Christ is it possible to enter into the
love and mercy of the Father, who welcomes and forgives everyone.
I extend a particular greeting to
young people, to the sick, and to newlyweds. Today, we celebrate the Dedication of
the Lateran Basilica, the Cathedral of Rome. Pray for the Successor of the
Apostle Peter, dear young people, in order that he may always confirm his
brothers and sisters in the faith; may you feel the closeness of the Pope in
prayer, dear sick people, in order to confront the trials of illness; may you
teach your children the faith with simplicity, dear newlyweds, nourishing it
with love for the Church and her shepherds.
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ANGELUS POPE FRANCIS 6 NOVEMBER 2016
ANGELUS POPE
FRANCIS
Saint Peter's Square
Sunday, 6 November 2016
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| PHOTO: ANSA-en.radiovaticana.va |
Dear
Brothers and Sisters, Good morning!
Within
just days of the Solemnity of All Saints and of the Commemoration of the
faithful departed, this Sunday’s Liturgy invites us once again to reflect upon
the mystery of the resurrection of the dead. The Gospel (cf. Lk 20:27-38)
presents Jesus confronted by several Sadducees, who did not believe in the
resurrection and considered the relationship with God only in the dimension of
earthly life. Therefore, in order to place the resurrection under ridicule and
to create difficulty for Jesus, they submit a paradoxical and absurd case: that
of a woman who’d had seven husbands, all brothers, who died one after the
other. Thus came the malicious question posed to Jesus: in the resurrection,
whose wife will the woman be (v. 33)?
Jesus
does not fall into the snare and emphasizes the truth of the resurrection,
explaining that life after death will be different from that on earth. He makes
his interlocutors understand that it is not possible to apply the categories of
this world to the realities that transcend and surpass what we see in this
life. He says, in fact: “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage;
but those who are accounted worthy to attain to that age and to the
resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage” (vv.
34-35).
With
these words, Jesus means to explain that in this world we live a provisional
reality, which ends; conversely, in the afterlife, after the resurrection, we
will no longer have death as the horizon and will experience all things, even
human bonds, in the dimension of God, in a transfigured way. Even marriage, a
sign and instrument of God in this world, will shine brightly, transformed in
the full light of the glorious communion of saints in Paradise.
The
“sons of heaven and of the resurrection” are not a few privileged ones, but are
all men and all women, because the salvation that Jesus brings is for each one
of us. And the life of the risen shall be equal to that of angels (cf. v. 36),
meaning wholly immersed in the light of God, completely devoted to his praise,
in an eternity filled with joy and peace. But pay heed! Resurrection is not
only the fact of rising after death, but is a new genre of life which we
already experience now; it is the victory over nothing that we can already
anticipate.
Resurrection
is the foundation of the faith and of Christian hope. Were there no reference
to Paradise and to eternal life, Christianity would be reduced to ethics, to a
philosophy of life. Instead, the message of Christian faith comes from heaven,
it is revealed by God and goes beyond this world. Belief in resurrection is
essential in order that our every act of Christian love not be ephemeral and an
end in itself, but may become a seed destined to blossom in the garden of God,
and to produce the fruit of eternal life.
May the
Virgin Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth, confirm us in the hope of resurrection
and help us to make fruitful in good works her Son’s word sown in our hearts.
After
the Angelus:
Dear
brothers and sisters, on the occasion of today’s Jubilee for Prisoners, I would
like to address an appeal in favour of improving the living conditions in
prisons throughout the world, that the human dignity of detainees be fully
respected. In addition, I would like to emphasize the importance of reflecting
on the need for a criminal justice system that is not exclusively punitive, but
open to hope and the prospect of reintegrating the offender into society. In a
special way, I submit for the consideration of the competent civil authorities
of every country the possibility that, in this Holy Year of Mercy, an act of
clemency be carried out for those prisoners who are held to be eligible to
benefit from such a provision.
Two days
ago the Paris Agreement on the world climate was ratified. This important step
forward shows that humanity has the capacity to collaborate for the protection
of creation (cf. Laudato Si’, n. 13), in order to place
the economy at the service of people and to build peace and justice. Then
tomorrow, in Marrakech, Morocco, the new session of the Climate Change
Conference will begin, aimed among other things at the implementation of the
Agreement. I hope that this whole process may be guided by the awareness of our
responsibility for the care of our common home.
Yesterday
in Scutari, Albania, 30 martyrs were proclaimed Blessed: two bishops, many
priests and religious, a seminarian and several lay people, victims of the
terribly harsh persecution by the atheist regime that long controlled that
country in the last century. They preferred to submit to prison, torture and
finally death, in order to remain faithful to Christ and to the Church. May their
example help us to find in the Lord strength that supports in moments of
difficulty and that inspires attitudes of goodness, forgiveness and peace.
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LE ATTIVITA' DA RICORDARE NELLA NOSTRA SETTIMANA
Le attività da ricordare nella nostra settimana
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| anche questa è un'attività insieme il vescovo, FOTO 2014 |
Proprio questo che abbiamo fatto oggi nel catechismo cioè di ricordare la nostra settimana. Chi ha fatto tante cose in questi 6 giorni. Generalmente sono impegnati a scuola al mattino e al pomeriggio in varie attività . Chi fa il calcio, la ginnastica, ballo, playstation, ecc. Varie attività riempiono le giornate dei bimbi prima di cenare nella famiglia. Queste attività sono come la continuazione delle attività scolastiche che fanno al mattino.
Così il nostro catechismo di oggi che abbiamo fatto proprio nella nostra parrocchia insieme la parrocchia di Famiglia di Nazareth. Erano quasi venti bambini.
I catechisti hanno preparato una lista dei giorni. Sei giorni da lunedì fino sabato erano di colore blu, mentre la domenica era la rossa. Poi, hanno messo come primo la domenica. I bambini mi hanno chiesto perché comincia con la domenica invece di lunedì.
Le catechiste hanno spiegato bene cioè la nostra settimana comincia con la domenica e non lunedì. La domenica, poi, per noi è il giorno del Signore, della risurrezione, ricordiamoci la risurrezione del Signore. Quindi, a tutti noi, invitiamo ad andare alla messa per cominciare la settimana. Colore roso per indicare che la domenica è in vacanza. Ma non per dire di non fare niente. La domenica infatti è dedicato per il Signore. Quindi, tutti noi andiamo in chiesa ad incontrare Signore Gesù nell’ Eucaristia.
ANGELUS POPE FRANCIS 1 NOVEMBER 2016
ANGELUS POPE
FRANCIS
Swedbank
Stadion, Malmö
Tuesday, 1 November 2016
APOSTOLIC
JOURNEY OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS TO SWEDEN
(31 OCTOBER - 1 NOVEMBER 2016)
SOLEMNITY
OF ALL SAINTS
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| PHOTO: ANSA-en.radiovaticana.va |
As we
conclude this celebration, I would like to express my
gratitude to Bishop Anders Arborelius of Stockholm for his kind words, and to
the civil authorities and all who helped in the planning and execution of this
visit.
I offer
a cordial greeting to the President and the Secretary General of the Lutheran
World Federation, and to the Archbishop of the Church of Sweden. I also greet
the members of the ecumenical delegations and the diplomatic corps present on
this occasion, and all those who have joined us in this celebration of the
Eucharist.
I thank
God that I was able to visit this land and to meet with you, many of whom have
come from all over the world. As Catholics, we are part of a great family and
are sustained in the same communion. I encourage you to express your faith in
prayer, in the sacraments, and in generous service to those who are suffering
and in need. I urge you to be salt and light, wherever you find yourselves,
through the way you live and act as followers of Jesus, and to show great
respect and solidarity with our brothers and sisters of other churches and
Christian communities, and with all people of good will.
In our
life, we are not alone; we have the constant help and companionship of the
Virgin Mary. Today she stands before us as first among the saints, the first
disciple of the Lord. We flee to her protection and to her we present our
sorrows and our joys, our fears and our aspirations. We put everything under
her protection, in the sure knowledge that she watches over us and cares for us
with a mother’s love.
Dear
brothers and sisters, I ask you to keep me in your prayers. I keep you all very
present in my own.
Now,
together, let us turn to Our Lady and pray the Angelus.
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ANGELUS POPE FRANCIS 30 OCTOBER 2016
ANGELUS POPE
FRANCIS
St Peter's Square
Sunday, 30 October 2016
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| PHOTO: lasacrafamiglia.it |
Dear
Brothers and Sisters, Good morning!
Today’s
Gospel presents us with an event that happened in Jericho, when Jesus entered
the city and was welcomed by the crowd (cf. Lk 19:1-10). In Jericho lived
Zacchaeus, the chief of the “publicans”, that is, of the tax collectors.
Zacchaeus was a wealthy agent of the hated Roman occupation, an exploiter of
his people. Out of curiosity, he too wanted to see Jesus, but his status as a
public sinner did not allow him to approach the Master; moreover, he was small
of stature, and for this reason he climbed a sycamore tree, along the road
where Jesus was to pass.
When he
neared that tree, Jesus looked up and said to him: “Zacchaeus, make haste and
come down; for I must stay at your house today” (v. 5). We can imagine
Zacchaeus’ astonishment! Why does Jesus say “I must stay at
your house”? What duty does this refer to? We know that his highest duty is to
implement the Father’s plan for all of mankind, which is fulfilled in Jerusalem
with his death sentence, the crucifixion and, on the third day, the
Resurrection. It is the Father’s merciful plan of salvation. And in this plan
there is also the salvation of Zacchaeus, a dishonest man who is despised by
all, and therefore in need of conversion. In fact, the Gospel says that when
Jesus called him, “they all murmured, ‘He has gone into the house of a
sinner!’” (cf. v. 7). The people saw Zacchaeus as a scoundrel who became rich
at his neighbours’ expense. Had Jesus said: “Come down, you, exploiter, you
traitor of the people! Come to speak with me and settle the score!”, surely the
people would have applauded. Instead, they began to whisper: “Jesus is going to
his house, the house of the sinner, the exploiter”.
Guided
by mercy, Jesus looks for him precisely. And when he enters Zacchaeus’ house he
says: “Today, salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of
Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (vv. 9-10).
Jesus’ gaze goes beyond sins and prejudices. And this is important! We must
learn this. Jesus’ gaze goes beyond sins and prejudices; he sees the person
through the eyes of God, who does not stop at past faults, but sees the future
good; Jesus is not resigned to closing, but always opens, always opens new
spaces of life; he does not stop at appearances, but looks at the heart. And
here he sees this man’s wounded heart: wounded by the sin of greed, by the many
terrible things that Zacchaeus had done. He sees that wounded heart and goes
there.
Sometimes
we try to correct or convert a sinner by scolding him, by pointing out his
mistakes and wrongful behaviour. Jesus’ attitude toward Zacchaeus shows us
another way: that of showing those who err their value, the value that God
continues to see in spite of everything, despite all their mistakes. This may
bring about a positive surprise, which softens the heart and spurs the person
to bring out the good that he has within himself. It gives people the
confidence which makes them grow and change. This is how God acts with all of
us: he is not blocked by our sin, but overcomes it with love and makes us feel
nostalgia for the good. We have all felt this nostalgia for the good after a
mistake. And this is what God Our Father does, this is what Jesus does. There
is not one person who does not have some good quality. And God looks at this in
order to draw that person away from evil.
May the
Virgin Mary help us to see the good that there is in the people we encounter
each day, so that everyone may be encouraged to bring out the image of God
imprinted in their hearts. In this way we can rejoice in the surprises of the
mercy of God! Our God, who is the God of surprises!
After
the Angelus:
Dear
brothers and sisters, yesterday in Madrid, José Antón Gómez, AntolÃn Pablos
Villanueva, Juan Rafael Mariano Alcocer Martinez and Luis Vidaurrázaga Gonzáles
were beatified. They were martyrs, killed in Spain in the last century during
the persecution against the Church. They were Benedictine priests. Let us
praise the Lord and entrust to their intercession our brothers and sisters who,
sadly, still today, in various parts of the world, are persecuted for their
faith in Christ.
I
express my closeness to the people of central Italy who were struck by the
earthquake. Even this morning there was a powerful tremor. I pray for the
injured and for the families who have suffered major damage, as well as for the
personnel involved in the rescue operations. May the Risen Lord give them
strength and may Our Lady watch over them.
Over the
next two days I shall make an Apostolic Journey to Sweden, on the occasion of
the commemoration of the Reformation, which will see Catholics and Lutherans
gathered together in remembrance and prayer. I ask all of you to pray that this
trip may be a new step on the path of fraternity towards full communion.
I wish
you all a happy Sunday — the sun is shining — and a happy All Saints’ Day. And,
please, do not forget to pray for me. Have a good lunch. Arrivederci!
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GENERAL AUDIENCE POPE FRANCIS 26 OCTOBER 2016
GENERAL AUDIENCE POPE FRANCIS
St Peter's Square
Wednesday, 26 October 2016
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| PHOTO: L'OSSERVATORE ROMANO |
34. Works of welcoming the stranger and clothing the naked
Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good
morning!
Let us continue to reflect on the
corporal works of mercy, which the Lord Jesus gave us in order to keep our
faith ever alive and dynamic. These works, indeed, show that Christians are not
weary and idle as they await the final encounter with the Lord, but each day go
to meet him, recognizing his face in those of the many people who ask for help.
Today let us concentrate on these words of Jesus: “I was a stranger and you
welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me” (Mt 25:35-36). In our time, charitable
action regarding foreigners is more relevant than ever. The economic crisis,
armed conflicts and climate change force many people to emigrate. However,
migration is not a new phenomenon, it is part of the history of humanity. It is
a lack of historical memory to think that this phenomenon has only arisen in
recent years.
The Bible offers us many concrete
examples of migration. Suffice it to think of Abraham. God’s call spurred him
to leave his country in order to go to another: “Go from your country and your
kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you” (Gen 12:1).
It was so also for the people of Israel, who from Egypt, where they were
slaves, went marching in the desert for 40 years until they reached the land
promised by God. The Holy Family itself — Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus —
were forced to emigrate in order to escape Herod’s threat: Joseph “rose and
took the child and his mother by night, and departed to Egypt, and remained
there until the death of Herod” (Mt 2:14-15). The history of mankind is a
history of migrations: on every latitude, there is no people that has not known
the migratory phenomenon.
Over the course of the centuries we
have witnessed, in this regard, great expressions of solidarity, although there
has been no lack of social tension. Today, the context of the economic crisis
unfortunately fosters the emergence of attitudes of closure and not of welcome.
In some parts of the world walls and barriers are going up. At times it seems
that the silent work of so many men and women who, in various ways, do all they
can to help and assist the refugees and migrants, is obscured by the clamour of
others who give voice to an instinctive selfishness. However, closure is not a
solution, but instead it ends up fostering criminal trafficking. The only way
to a solution is that of solidarity. Solidarity with the migrant, solidarity
with the foreigner....
The commitment of Christians in this
field is as urgent today as it was in the past. Looking only at the last
century, we recall the splendid figure of Saint Frances Cabrini, who dedicated
her life, along with her companions, to immigrants to the United States of
America. Today too we need these witnesses so that mercy may reach the many who
are in need. It is a commitment that involves everyone, without exception. We
all, dioceses, parishes, institutes of consecrated life, associations and
movements, as individual Christians, are called to welcome our brothers and
sisters who are fleeing from war, from hunger, from violence and from inhuman
living conditions. All together we are a great supportive force for those who
have lost their homeland, family, work and dignity.
Several days ago, a little story took
place in the city. There was a refugee who was looking for a street and a lady
approached him and said: “Are you looking for something?”. That refugee had no
shoes, and he said: “I would like to go to Saint Peter’s to enter the Holy
Door”. And the lady thought: “But he has no shoes, how will he manage to walk
there?”. And she called a taxi. But the migrant, that refugee had a
disagreeable odour and the taxi driver almost didn’t want him to get in, but in
the end he let him board the taxi. And the lady, sitting next to him during the
ride, asked him a little about his history as a refugee and migrant: it took 10
minutes to get here. This man told his story of suffering, of war, of hunger
because he had fled from his homeland in order to migrate here. When they
arrived, the lady opened her purse to pay the taxi driver — who at first had
not wanted this immigrant to board because he smelled — told her: “No, ma’am, I
should be paying you because you made me listen to a story that has changed my
heart”. This lady knew what a migrant’s pain is, because she was of Armenian
descent and knew the suffering of her people. When we do something like this,
at first we refuse because it causes us a little inconvenience, “but... he
smells...”. In the end, the episode gives fragrance to our soul and changes us.
Consider this story and let us think about what we can do for refugees.
And the other thing is to clothe the
naked: what does it mean if not to restore dignity to one who has lost it?
Certainly giving clothing to one who has none; but let us also think about the
women victims of trafficking, cast onto the streets, or of other many ways of
using the human body as a commodity, even that of minors. Likewise, not having
a job, a house, a fair wage are forms of nakedness; being discriminated against
on account of race, of faith, are all forms of “nakedness”, to which as
Christians we are called to be attentive, vigilant and ready to act.
Dear brothers and sisters, let us not
fall into the trap of closing in on ourselves, indifferent to the needs of
brothers and sisters and concerned only with our own interests. It is precisely
in the measure to which we open ourselves to others that life becomes fruitful,
society regains peace and people recover their full dignity. Do not forget that
lady, do not forget that migrant who had a disagreeable odour and do not forget
that driver whose spirit was changed by the immigrant.
Special greetings:
I greet the English-speaking pilgrims
and visitors taking part in today’s Audience, particularly those from England,
Wales, Ireland, Finland, Norway, Israel, Australia, Indonesia, China, Japan,
Canada and the United States of America. With prayerful good wishes that the
present Jubilee of Mercy will be a moment of grace and spiritual renewal for
you and your families, I invoke upon all of you joy and peace in our Lord Jesus
Christ.
Lastly I offer my greeting to young
people, to the sick and to newlyweds. At the end of the month of October I wish
to recommend praying the Rosary. May this simple Marian prayer indicate to you,
dear young people, the way to interpret God’s will in your life. Love this prayer,
dear sick people, because it brings with it consolation for mind and heart. May
it become for you, dear newlyweds, a privileged moment of spiritual intimacy in
your new family.
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Editrice Vaticana
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