Vatican City, 3 January 2014 (VIS) –
This morning, Pope Francis celebrated the Mass of the Feast of the
Most Holy Name of Jesus in the Church of Jesus, to give thanks for
the new Jesuit saint Pierre Favre. Concelebrating with the Holy
Father were Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for
the Causes of Saints; Cardinal Agostino Vallini, vicar general of His
Holiness for the diocese of Rome; Bishop Luis Francisco Ladaria
Ferrer, S.J., secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith; Bishop Yves Boivineau of Annecy, France, in whose diocese
Favre was born, and the vicar general Alain Fournier-Bidoz; the
superior general Fr. Adolfo Nicolas, S.J., and seven young Jesuit
priests.
Canonised by Pope Francis on 17
December, Pierre Favre, was the first companion of St. Ignatius of
Loyola – for this reason he is known as “the second Jesuit” –
and one of the founders of the Society of Jesus, of which he was also
the first priest. The tombs of St. Ignatius and St. Pierre Favre are
located in the Church of the Most Holy Name of Jesus.
Pope Francis dedicated his homily to
the new saint, and said that he was a “restless” man of “lofty
desires”: “it is necessary to search for God to find Him, and to
find him in order to seek him again, and for ever. Only this
restlessness brings peace to the heart of a Jesuit, a restlessness
that is also apostolic, so that we never tire of proclaiming the
kerygma, of evangelising with courage. And it is restlessness that
prepares us to receive the gift of apostolic fruitfulness. Without
restlessness, we are sterile”.
“And this was the restlessness of
Pierre Favre”, continued the Pope, “a man of lofty desires,
another Daniel. Favre was a 'modest, sensitive man with a profound
inner life. He was endowed with the gift of making friends with
people from every walk of life'. However, his was a restless,
indecisive spirit, never satisfied. Under the guidance of St.
Ignatius he learned to unite his restless but gentle – indeed
exquisite – sensibility with a capacity to make decisions. He was a
man of lofty desires; he took charge of his desires, he recognised
them. Rather, for Favre, it was precisely when faced with difficult
tasks that he demonstrated the true spirit that sets into action”.
“An authentic faith always implies a
deep desire to change the world. And this is the question we should
pose ourselves: do we too have great visions and zeal? Are we bold
too? Do our dreams fly high? Are we consumed by zeal? Or are we
mediocre and satisfied with our theoretical apostolic plans? Let us
always remember that the strength of the Church does not reside in
herself or in her organisational capacity, but is instead concealed
in the deep waters of God. And these waters agitate our desires, and
our desires expand our hearts. It is as St. Augustine said: pray to
desire and desire to expand your heart. It was precisely in his
desires that Favre was able to discern the voice of God. Without
desires, one cannot go forth, and this is why we must offer our
desires to the Lord. In the Constitutions it is said that we help our
neighbours with the wishes presented to the Lord God”.
Favre, affirmed Pope Francis, “had
the true and deep desire to open up in God”: he was completely
centred in God, and for this reason he was able to go everywhere in
Europe, in a spirit of obedience and often on foot, to enter into
dialogue with everyone, with gentleness, and to proclaim the Gospel.
I think of the temptation that perhaps we experience, to which many
people succumb, to link the proclamation of the Gospel with
inquisitionary bludgeoning and condemnation. No, the Gospel must be
proclaimed with gentleness, in a fraternal spirit, with love. His
familiarity with God led him to understand that inner experience and
apostolic life always go together. He writes in his Memorial that the
first movement of the heart must be that of desiring that which is
essential and originary, or rather that priority must be reserved for
seeking God, our Lord. Favre experienced the desire to let the centre
of his heart be occupied by Christ. Only when centred in God is it
possible to go out towards the peripheries of the world! And Favre
journeyed without respite even to geographical frontiers; indeed, it
was said of him that he appeared to have been born never to stay
still in any one place. Favre was consumed by the intense desire to
communicate the Lord. If we do not have the same desire, then we need
to pause a while in prayer and, with silent fervour, ask the Lord,
through the intercession of our brother Pierre, that we might again
experience the fascination of the Lord who led Pierre in his
'apostolic follies'”, concluded Pope Francis.
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