Vatican City, 20 February 2016 (VIS) –
This morning fifty thousand people attended the Holy Father's Jubilee
audience in St. Peter's Square, following his return on Thursday from
his apostolic trip in Mexico. The Pope's catechesis was on the theme
of the commitment Christians are called to make to offer a concrete
sign of God's closeness to the people they encounter.
"The Jubilee of Mercy is an
opportunity to enter in depth into the mystery of God's goodness and
love", he said. "In this Lenten time, the Church invites us
to get to know better the Lord Jesus, and to live faith in a way
coherent with a lifestyle that expresses the Father's mercy. My life,
my attitude, my way of going about the world must be a concrete sign
of the fact that God is close to us. Little gestures of love, of
tenderness, of attention, that let us think that the Lord is with us,
close to us. In this way we open the door of mercy".
For this, it is necessary to be
committed, and this means assuming a responsibility, a task in
relation to someone, and fulfilling it with fidelity, dedication and
care. "Every day we are asked to commit ourselves to the things
we do: in prayer, in work, in study, even in sport. … In short,
committing oneself means acting with good will and effort to improve
life", explained the Pope.
"God too has committed Himself to
us", he continued. "His first commitment was that of
creating the world, and despite our attempts to spoil it, He is
committed to keeping it alive. But His greatest commitment was that
of giving Jesus to us. … St. Paul recalls this when he writes that
God 'did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all'.And, by
virtue of this, together with Jesus the Father will give us
everything we need".
In the Gospel it is very easy to see
how God's commitment to us is made manifest. "In Jesus, God
commits Himself fully in order to restore hope to the poor, to those
who are deprived of their dignity, to outsiders, the sick, the
imprisoned, and to sinners who welcome Him with good will. In all of
this, Jesus was the living expression of the Father's mercy".
Francis highlighted the fact that Jesus' welcome to sinners: "if
we think of it in a human way, the sinner would be an enemy of Jesus,
an enemy of God, but He drew close to them with goodness, He loved
them and He changed their heart. We are all sinners, all of us. We
all have some blame before God. But we must not be distrustful: He
draws close to us to offer us consolation, mercy and forgiveness.
This is God's commitment, and this is why He sent Jesus to us, to be
close to us, to all of us, and to open the door of His love, His
heart and His mercy".
Taking as a starting point the merciful
love with which Jesus expressed God's commitment, we too can and must
match His love with our effort, especially in the situations of
greatest need, when there is the greatest thirst for hope. I think of
our efforts with abandoned people, with those who have very serious
disabilities, with the gravely ill, with the dying, and with those
who are no longer able to express their gratitude. … We bring God's
mercy to all these situations through commitment in life, which bears
witness to our faith in Jesus. We must always bring with us this
caress from God – because God has caressed us with His mercy – to
those who are in need of it, to those who have suffering in their
heart or who are sad. We must approach them with that caress from
God, which is the same one God gave to us".
Francis concluded his catechesis by
expressing his hope that the Jubilee may contribute to helping our
mind and our heart to be profoundly aware of God's commitment to each
one of us, and in this way, transform our life in a commitment to
mercy for all.
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