Vatican
City, 5 October 2013 (VIS) – After lunch at the Caritas soup
kitchen, the Pope visited the Hermitage of the Carceri (Prisons) at
Mount Subasio, five kilometres from Assisi and at an altitude of
eight hundred metres, surrounded by forests. There he visited the
grotto where St. Francis had retreated in order to devote himself to
contemplation, and the minute chapel dedicated to St. Mary where
Francis and his peers gathered to pray together.
The
visit lasted around half an hour; the Holy Father was welcomed by the
religious community and prayed in St. Francis' grotto. From there, he
transferred by car to the cathedral of St. Rufino to meet with the
clergy, consecrated persons and members of the pastoral council of
the diocese.
In
this cathedral, there is the font where St. Francis and St. Clare
were baptised, and the Pope mentioned this, emphasising the
importance of the memory of baptism, “our birth as children of the
Mother Church”. In his address, the pontiff spoke about the most
important aspects in the life of the diocesan community and referred
to the Synod that its members are about to commence.
The
first issue he considered was the Word of God. “The Church is
this”, said the Pope: “the community that listens, with faith and
love, to the Lord who speaks. … It is the Word of God that
engenders faith, that nourishes and regenerates it. The Word touches
hearts, converts them to God and to His reasoning, which is so
different from ours”. But “it is not enough to read the Sacred
Scriptures, it is necessary to listen to Jesus Who speaks through
them. We need to be antennae that receive, that tune in to the Word
of God. It is the Spirit of God that brings the Scriptures alive,
that allows them to be understood in depth, in their true and full
sense”.
The
second aspect is that of “walking. It is one of the words I like
best when I think of the Christian and the Church. But for you it has
a particular meaning – you are about to embark on a diocesan synod,
and 'synod' means to walk together. I think this is truly our most
beautiful experience: to be part of a community of people who walk
together, throughout history, alongside the Lord, who walks among us.
We are not isolated, we do not walk alone, but rather we are part of
Christ's single flock, which walks united. And here, when I think of
you priests – and allow me to include myself among you – I ask,
what is more beautiful for us than being able to walk with our
people? … united, without breaking away, without nostalgia for the
past. And while we walk, we speak, we get to know each other, we grow
together as a family”.
Finally,
the third aspect is to go out into the peripheries and proclaim.
“This is an element I experienced a lot when I was in Buenos Aires:
the importance of reaching out towards others, in the peripheries”,
in a geographical sense, and “above all, people in special life
situations … marginalised and disregarded human lives. These are
people who we perhaps find physically close to the 'centre' but
spiritually distant”.
“Do
not be afraid of going out towards these people, to these situations.
Do not allow yourselves to be obstructed by prejudices, habits,
mental or pastoral rigidity, the famous 'it's always been done this
way'! But you can reach the peripheries only if you carry the Word of
God in your heart and walk with the Church, like St. Francis.
Otherwise we only take ourselves with us, not the Word of God, and
this is not good, it is not useful to anyone. We do not save the
world ourselves; it is the Lord Who does this”.
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