Vatican City, 21 September 2014 (VIS) –
Following the interreligious meeting at the Catholic University, Pope
Francis transferred to the Cathedral of St. Paul in the centre of
Tirana to celebrate vespers with priests, religious, seminarians and
lay movements. The church, consecrated in 2002, is able to hold up to
700 persons and a large stained glass window depicting the encounter
between St. John Paul II and Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
The Holy Father had prepared a
discourse to deliver there, but after hearing the testimony of an 83
year-old priest and an 85 year-old nun who had both survived
persecution under the communist regime, he was moved to tears,
embraced them, and setting aside the official text which he handed to
the Archbishop of Tirana, Rrok Mirdita, he addressed those present
with some off-the-cuff comments, published in full below:
“I had prepared a few words to say to
you, and I will give them to the Archbishop, who will make them
available for you later. The translation is already done. He will see
that you get them.
But right now I would like to tell you
something else. In the reading we heard these words: 'Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and
the God of all consolation, who consoles us in all our affliction, so
that we may be able to console those who are in any affliction with
the consolation with which we ourselves are consoled by God'. This is
the text which the Church invites us to reflect upon at this
evening’s Vespers. Over the past two months I have been preparing
for this Visit by reading the history of the persecution in Albania.
For me it was surprising: I did not know that your people had
suffered so greatly! Then today, on the road from the airport to the
square, there were all those pictures of the martyrs. It is clear
that this people today continues to remember their martyrs, those who
suffered so dearly! A people of martyrs. And today at the beginning
of the celebration, I touched two of them.
“What I can say to you is what they
themselves have said, by their lives, by their plain words. They told
their stories simply, yet they spoke of so much pain. We can ask
them: 'How did you manage to survive such trials?'. And they will
tell us what we heard in this passage from the Second Letter to the
Corinthians: 'God is the Father of mercies and the God of all
consolation. He is the one who consoled us'. They have told us so,
and in a straightforward way. They suffered greatly. They suffered
physically, mentally, with the anguish of uncertainty: they did not
know whether they would be shot or not, and so they lived with this
anguish. And the Lord consoled them.
“I think of Peter, imprisoned and in
chains, while the whole Church prayed for him. And the Lord consoled
Peter. And the martyrs, including those whom we heard today: the Lord
consoled them because there were people in the Church, the People of
God – devout and good old women, so many cloistered nuns – who
were praying for them.
“This is the mystery of the Church:
when the Church asks the Lord to console his people, the Lord
consoles them, quietly, even secretly. He consoles them in the depths
of the heart and he comforts them with strength. I am certain that
they [the martyrs] do not boast of what they have experienced,
because they know that it was the Lord who sustained them.
“But they have something to tell us!
They tell us that we, who have been called by the Lord to follow him
closely, must find our consolation in him alone. Woe to us if we seek
consolation elsewhere! Woe to priests and religious, sisters and
novices, consecrated men and women, when they seek consolation far
from the Lord! Today I don’t want to be harsh and severe with you,
but I want you to realise very clearly that if you look for
consolation anywhere else, you will not be happy! Even more, you will
be unable to comfort others, for your own heart is closed to the
Lord’s consolation. You will end up, as the great Elijah said to
the people of Israel, 'limping with both legs'.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all
consolation, who consoles us in all our affliction, so that we may be
able to console those who are in any affliction with the consolation
with which we ourselves are consoled by God.
“That is what these two [the martyrs]
have done, today. Humbly, without pretence or boasting, they have
done a service for us: they have consoled us. They also tell us this:
'We are sinners, but the Lord was with us. This is the path. Do not
be discouraged!' Excuse me, if I use you as an example, but all of
us have to be examples for one another. Let us go home reflecting on
this: today we have touched martyrs”.
The following is the full text of the
discourse prepared for the Albanian clergy:
“Since the moment your country freed
itself from dictatorship, the ecclesial communities in Albania have
begun again to journey onward and to reorganise pastoral ministry,
looking to the future with hope. I am particularly grateful to those
pastors who paid a great price for their fidelity to Christ and for
their decision to remain united to the Successor of Peter. They were
courageous in the face of difficulty and trial. There are still
priests and religious among us who have experienced prison and
persecution, like the sister and brother who have told us their
story. I embrace you warmly, and I praise God for your faithful
witness that inspires the whole Church to continue to proclaim the
Gospel with joy.
“Treasuring this experience, the
Church in Albania can grow in its missionary and apostolic zeal. I
know and appreciate the effort you make to oppose those new forms of
'dictatorship' that threaten to enslave individuals and communities.
If the atheist regime sought to suffocate the faith, these new forms
of dictatorship, in a more insidious way, are able to suffocate
charity. I am referring to individualism, rivalry and heated
conflicts: these are worldly mentalities that can contaminate even
the Christian community. We need not be discouraged by these
difficulties; do not be afraid to continue along the path of the
Lord. He is always at your side, he gives you his grace and he helps
you to sustain one another; to accept one another as you are, with
understanding and mercy; he helps you to deepen fraternal communion.
“Evangelisation is more effective
when it is carried out with oneness of spirit and with sincere
teamwork among the various ecclesial communities as well as among
missionaries and local clergy: this requires courage to seek out ways
of working together and offering mutual help in the areas of
catechesis and catholic education, as well as full human development
and charity. In these settings, the contribution of the ecclesial
movements that know how to work in communion with pastors is highly
valuable. That is precisely what I see before me: bishops, priests,
religious and laity: a Church that desires to walk in fraternity and
unity. When love for Christ is placed above all else, even above our
legitimate particular needs, then we are able to move outside of
ourselves, of our personal or communal pettiness, and move towards
Jesus who, in our brothers and sisters, comes to us. His wounds are
still visible today on the bodies of so many men and women who are
hungry and thirsty; who are humiliated; who are in hospital or
prison. By touching and caring for these wounds with tenderness, it
is possible to fully live the Gospel and to adore God who lives in
our midst.
“When love for Christ is placed above
all else, even above our legitimate particular needs, then we are
able to move outside of ourselves, of our personal or communal
pettiness, and move towards Jesus who, in our brothers and sisters,
comes to us. His wounds are still visible today on the bodies of so
many men and women who are hungry and thirsty; who are humiliated;
who are in hospital or prison. By touching and caring for these
wounds with tenderness, it is possible to fully live the Gospel and
to adore God who lives in our midst.
“There are many problems that you
encounter every day. These problems compel you to immerse yourselves
with fervour and generosity in apostolic work. And yet, we know that
by ourselves we can do nothing: 'Unless the Lord builds the house,
those who build it labour in vain'. This awareness calls us to give
due space for the Lord every day, to dedicate our time to him, open
our hearts to him, so that he may work in our lives and in our
mission. That which the Lord promises for the prayer made with trust
and perseverance goes beyond what we can imagine: beyond that which
we ask for, God sends us also the Holy Spirit. The contemplative
dimension of our lives becomes indispensable even in the midst of the
most urgent and difficult tasks we encounter. The more our mission
calls us to go out into the peripheries of life, the more our hearts
feel the intimate need to be united to the heart of Christ, which is
full of mercy and love.
“Considering the fact that the number
of priests and religious is not yet sufficient, the Lord Jesus
repeats to you today 'The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are
few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers
into his harvest'. We must not forget that this prayer begins with a
gaze: the gaze of Jesus, who sees the great harvest. Do we also have
this gaze? Do we know how to recognise the abundant fruits that the
grace of God has caused to grow and the work that there is to be done
in the field of the Lord? It is by gazing with faith on the field of
God that prayer springs forth, namely, the daily and pressing
invocation to the Lord for priestly and religious vocations. Dear
seminarians, postulants and novices, you are the fruit of this prayer
of the people of God, which always precedes and accompanies your
personal response. The Church in Albania needs your enthusiasm and
your generosity. The time that you dedicate today to a solid
spiritual, theological, communitarian and pastoral formation, is
directed to serving adequately the people of God tomorrow. The
people, rather than seeking experts, are looking for witnesses:
humble witnesses of the mercy and tenderness of God; priests and
religious conformed to Jesus, the Good Shepherd, who are capable of
communicating the love of Christ to all people.
“Together with you and the entire
Albanian people, I want to give thanks to God for the many
missionaries whose activity was decisive for the renewal of the
Church in Albania and which continues to be of great importance to
this day. These missionaries have offered a significant contribution
to the consolidation of the spiritual patrimony that the Albanian
bishops, priests, consecrated religious and lay persons have
preserved in the midst of difficult trials and tribulations. Let us
acknowledge the great work done by the religious institutes for the
revival of Catholic education: these efforts are worth recognising
and sustaining.
“Dear brothers and sisters, do not be
discouraged in the face of difficulties. Following the footsteps of
your fathers, be tenacious in giving testimony to Christ, walking
'together with God, toward the hope that never disappoints'. In your
journey, rest assured that you are accompanied and supported by the
love of the whole Church. I thank you from the heart for this
meeting, and I entrust each one of you and your communities – your
plans and your hopes – to the holy Mother of God. I bless you from
my heart and I ask you, please, to pray for me”.
No comments:
Post a Comment