Vatican City, 27 November 2015 (VIS) –
In the sports field of the St. Mary School, belonging to the
archdiocese of Nairobi and founded in 1939 by the Felician Sisters,
the Holy Father met with clergy, men and women religious, and
seminarians of Kenya, to whom he addressed an extemporaneous
discourse in his native Spanish, including many expressions and
idioms typical of his homeland Argentina. An interpreter translated
into English, one of Kenya's official languages.
Francis said that he was struck by the
passage in St. Paul's letter in which he says, “And I am sure of
this, that He Who began a good work in you will bring it to
completion at the day of Jesus Christ”, and added, “All of you
were chosen by the Lord; He chose each one of us. He began His work
on the day He looked at us in Baptism, and then later when He looked
at us and said: 'If you wish, come with me'. So we lined up and began
our journey. But it was He Who began the journey, not us. In the
Gospel we read about one of the people Jesus healed, who then wanted
to follow Him. But Jesus told him, 'No'. If we want to follow Jesus
Christ – in the priesthood and or consecrated life – we have to
enter by the door! And the door is Christ! He is the one Who calls,
Who begins, Who does the work. Some people want to enter by the
window. It doesn't work that way. So please, if any of you has
friends who came in by the window, embrace them and tell them it
would be better to leave and go serve God in another way, because a
work which Jesus Himself did not begin, by the door, will never be
brought to completion”.
“There are people who do not know why
God calls them, but they know that He has. Go ahead in peace, God
will let you know why He has called you. Others want to follow the
Lord for some benefit. We remember the mother of James and John, who
said, 'Lord, I beg you, when you cut the cake, give the biggest slice
to my sons. … Let one of them sit at your right and the other at
your left'. We can be tempted to follow Jesus for ambition: ambition
for money or power. All of us can say, 'When I first followed Jesus,
I was not like that'. But it has happened to other people, and little
by little it was sowed in our heart like weeds. In our life as
disciples of Jesus there must be no room for personal ambition, for
money, for worldly importance. We will follow Jesus to the very last
final step of His earthly life, the Cross. He will make sure you rise
again, but you have to keep following Him to the end. And I tell you
this in all seriousness, because the Church is not a business or an a
NGO. The Church is a mystery: the mystery of Jesus Who looks at each
of us and says 'Follow me'”.
“So let this be clear: Jesus is the
one Who calls. … He does not 'canonise' us. We continue to be the
same old sinners. … We are all sinners; starting with me. But
Jesus' tenderness and love keep us going. May He who began a good
work in you bring it to completion. … Do you remember any time in
the Gospel, when the Apostle James wept? Or when one of the other
Apostles wept? Only one wept, the Gospel tells us; he who knew he was
a sinner, so great a sinner that he betrayed his Lord. And when he
realised this, he wept. Then Jesus made him Pope. Who can understand
Jesus? It is a mystery! So never stop weeping. When priests and
religious no longer weep, something is wrong. We need to weep for our
infidelity, for all the pain in our world, for all those people who
are cast aside, the elderly who are abandoned, for children who are
killed, for the things we do not understand. We need to weep when
people ask us, 'Why?'. None of us has all the answers to those
questions. … There are situations in life for which we can only
weep, and look to Jesus on the cross. This is the only answer we have
for certain injustices, certain kinds of pain, certain situations in
life. … Whenever a consecrated man or woman or a priest forgets
Christ crucified, he or she falls into an ugly sin, a sin which
disgusts God; it is the sin of being tepid, lukewarm. ... What else
can I say to you? Never stray from Jesus. In other words, never stop
praying. 'But Father, sometimes it is so tiresome to pray, it wearies
us. It makes us fall asleep...'. So sleep before the Lord: that is
also a way of praying. But stay there, before Him and pray! Do not
stop praying”.
The Holy Father reiterated that “when
we let ourselves be chosen by Jesus, it is to serve: to serve the
People of God, to serve the poorest, the outcast, living on the
fringes of society, to serve children and the elderly. But also to
serve people who are unaware of their own pride and sin; to serve
Jesus in them. Letting ourselves be chosen by Jesus means letting
ourselves be chosen to serve, and not to be served”.
“This is what I wanted to say to you,
what I felt when I heard those words of St. Paul, who trusted that
the One Who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at
the day of Jesus Christ'. A cardinal said to me … that when he goes
to the cemetery and sees the graves of dedicated missionaries, men
and women religious who gave their lives, he wonders, 'Why don't we
canonise this or that one tomorrow?', because they spent their lives
serving others. … Thank you for your courage in following Jesus,
thank you for all the times you realise that you yourselves are
sinners, and thank you for all the tender caresses you give to those
who need them. Thank you for all those times when you helped so many
people die in peace. Thank you for 'burning' your lives in hope.
Thank you for letting yourselves be helped, corrected and forgiven
every day. And as I thank you, I also ask you not to forget to pray
for me, as I need your prayers. Many thanks”.
“I must leave now, as there are
children suffering from cancer whom I wish to greet and comfort. I
thank you, seminarians, whom I have not named but are included in all
that I have said. And if any of you do not have the courage to take
this path, seek another job, consider marrying and having a family.
Thank you”.
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