Vatican City, 12 July 2015 (VIS) –
The Pope's first visit in Paraguay after his meeting with the
president, Horacio Manuel Cartes Jara, was to the patients of the
Ninos de Acosta Nu paediatric hospital.
The Pope arrived at 8.30 a.m. (local
time) and spent around an hour with the inpatients, including those
who were in the emergency room and the oncology ward. Instead of
pronouncing the discourse he had prepared, the full text of which is
reproduced below, he handed out a copy “as read” and spoke
informally to the patients.
“Dear children, I want to ask you a
question; maybe you can help me. They tell me that you are all very
intelligent, and so I want to ask you: Did Jesus ever get annoyed? …
Do you remember when?
If this seems like a difficult
question, let me help you. It was when they wouldn’t let the
children come to Him. That is the only time in the entire Gospel of
Mark when we hear that He was 'annoyed'. We would say that He was
really 'ticked off'.
Do you get annoyed every now and then?
Jesus felt that way when they wouldn’t let the children come to
Him. He was really mad. He loved children. Not that He didn’t like
adults, but He was really happy to be with children. He enjoyed their
company, He enjoyed being friends with them. But not only. He didn’t
just want to have them around, he wanted something else: he wanted
them to be an example. He told his disciples that 'unless you become
like children, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven'.
The children kept coming to Jesus, and
the adults kept trying to keep them away, but Jesus called them,
embraced them and brought them forward, so that people us could learn
to be like them. Today, he wants to tell us the same thing. He looks
at us and he says: 'Learn from the children'.
We need to learn from you. We need to
learn from your trust, your joy, and your tenderness. We need to
learn from your ability to fight, from your strength, from your
remarkable endurance. Some of you are fighters. And when we look at
young 'warriors' like you, we feel very proud. Isn’t that right,
moms? Isn’t that right, dads and grandparents? Looking at you gives
us strength, it gives us the courage to trust, to keep moving
forward.
Dear mothers, fathers, grandparents: I
know that it is not easy to be here. There are moments of great
suffering and uncertainty. There are times of heart-rending anguish
but also moments of immense happiness. These two feelings often
collide deep within us. However, there is no better relief than your
tender compassion, your closeness to one another. It makes me happy
to know that as families you help, encourage and support each other,
so that you can keep going in these difficult moments.
You count on the support of the
doctors, nurses and the entire staff of this home. I thank them for
their vocation of service, for helping not only to care for, but also
to be there, for these young brothers and sisters of ours who suffer.
Let us never forget that Jesus is close
to his children. He is very near, in our hearts. Never hesitate to
pray to Him, to talk to Him, to share with him your questions and
your pain. He is always with us, He is ever near and he will not let
us fall.
There is another thing we can be sure
of, and I would say it once again. Wherever there is a son or
daughter, there is always a mother. Wherever Jesus is, there is Mary,
the Virgin of Caacupe. Let us ask her to wrap us in her mantle, to
protect and intercede for you and for your families.
And also, please don’t forget to pray
for me. I am certain that your prayers are heard in heaven”.
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