Vatican City, 17 February 2016 (VIS) -
"In this Year of Mercy, with you here, I beg for God’s mercy;
with you I wish to plead for the gift of tears, the gift of
conversion", exclaimed the Pope yesterday during the Mass
celebrated in the fair ground of Ciudad Juarez, on the frontier
between Mexico and the United States. The Holy Father toured the area
several times in the popemobile to greet the faithful gathered on
both sides of the border.
Awareness of violence, injustice and
oppression, the need for conversion and mercy, the "human
tragedy" of forced migration to which this metropolis bears
witness, the scars of the illegal drugs trade and human trafficking,
and at the same time the possibility of changing this situation, were
the main points of the Holy Father's homily. He began with St.
Irenaeus' celebrated assertion that "the glory of God is the
life of man", an expression that continues to echo in the heart
of the Church.
"The glory of the Father is the
life of his sons and daughters. There is no greater glory for a
father than to see his children blossom, no greater satisfaction than
to see his children grow up, developing and flourishing. The first
reading that we have just heard points to this. The great city of
Nineveh, was self-destructing as a result of oppression and
dishonour, violence and injustice. The grand capital’s days were
numbered because the violence within it could not continue. Then the
Lord appeared and stirred Jonah’s heart: the Father called and sent
forth His messenger. Jonah was summoned to receive a mission. 'Go',
he is told, because in 'forty days Nineveh shall be overthrown'. Go
and help them to understand that by the way they treat each other,
ordering and organising themselves, they are only creating death and
destruction, suffering and oppression. Make them see this is no way
to live, neither for the king nor his subjects, nor for farm fields
nor for the cattle. Go and tell them that they have become used to
this degrading way of life and have lost their sensitivity to pain.
Go and tell them that injustice has infected their way of seeing the
world. 'Therefore, go Jonah!'. God sent him to testify to what was
happening, He sent him to wake up a people intoxicated with
themselves".
"In this text we find ourselves
before the mystery of divine mercy. Mercy, which always rejects
wickedness, takes the human person in great earnest. Mercy always
appeals to the goodness of each person, even though it may be dormant
and numbed. Far from bringing destruction, as we so often desire or
want to bring about ourselves, mercy seeks to transform each
situation from within. Herein lies the mystery of divine mercy. It
seeks and invites us to conversion, it invites us to repentance; it
invites us to see the damage being done at every level. Mercy always
pierces evil in order to transform it. It is the mystery of God our
Father: He sends his Son who pierced into what was evil, He made
himself sin in order to transform evil. This is his mercy".
"The king listened to Jonah, the
inhabitants of the city responded and penance was decreed. God’s
mercy has entered the heart, revealing and showing wherein our
certainty and hope lie: there is always the possibility of change, we
still have time to transform what is destroying us as a people, what
is demeaning our humanity. Mercy encourages us to look to the
present, and to trust what is healthy and good beating in every
heart. God’s mercy is our shield and our strength".
Jonah helped them to see and to become
aware. "Following this, his call found men and women capable of
repenting, and capable of weeping. To weep over injustice, to cry
over corruption, to cry over oppression. These are tears that lead to
transformation, that soften the heart; they are the tears that purify
our gaze and enable us to see the cycle of sin into which very often
we have sunk. They are tears that can sensitise our gaze and our
attitude, which are hardened and dormant in the face of another’s
suffering. They are the tears that can break us, capable of opening
us to conversion. This is what happened to Peter after having denied
Jesus; he cried and those tears opened his heart".
"This word echoes forcefully today
among us; this word is the voice crying out in the wilderness,
inviting us to conversion. In this Year of Mercy, with you here, I
beg for God’s mercy; with you I wish to plead for the gift of
tears, the gift of conversion. Here in Ciudad Juárez, as in other
border areas, there are thousands of immigrants from Central America
and other countries, not forgetting the many Mexicans who also seek
to pass over 'to the other side'. Each step, a journey laden with
grave injustices: the enslaved, the imprisoned and extorted; so many
of these brothers and sisters of ours are the consequence of a trade
in human trafficking, the trafficking of persons".
"We cannot deny the humanitarian
crisis which in recent years has meant migration for thousands of
people, whether by train or highway or on foot, crossing hundreds of
kilometres through mountains, deserts and inhospitable zones. The
human tragedy that is forced migration is a global phenomenon today.
This crisis which can be measured in numbers and statistics, we want
instead to measure with names, stories, families. They are the
brothers and sisters of those expelled by poverty and violence, by
drug trafficking and criminal organizations. Being faced with so many
legal vacuums, they get caught up in a web that ensnares and always
destroys the poorest. Not only do they suffer poverty but they must
also endure all these forms of violence. Injustice is radicalised in
the young; they are “cannon fodder”, persecuted and threatened
when they try to flee the spiral of violence and the hell of drugs.
And what can we say about the many women whose lives have been
unjustly robbed?"
"Let us together ask our God for
the gift of conversion, the gift of tears, let us ask him to give us
open hearts like the Ninevites, open to His call heard in the
suffering faces of countless men and women. No more death! No more
exploitation! There is always time to change, always a way out and
always an opportunity, there is always the time to implore the mercy
of God. Just as in Jonas’ time, so too today may we commit
ourselves to conversion; may we be signs lighting the way and
announcing salvation. I know of the work of countless civil
organisations working to support the rights of migrants. I know too
of the committed work of so many men and women religious, priests and
lay people in accompanying migrants and in defending life. They are
on the front lines, often risking their own lives. By their very
lives they are prophets of mercy; they are the beating heart and the
accompanying feet of the Church that opens her arms and sustains".
"This time for conversion, this
time for salvation, is the time for mercy. And so, let us say
together in response to the suffering on so many faces: in your
compassion and mercy, Lord, have pity on us … cleanse us from our
sins and create in us a pure heart, a new spirit".
"And now I also want to greet from
here all our beloved brothers and sisters who are joining us
simultaneously from the other side of the frontier, especially those
who are gathered in the Stadium of the University of El Paso, known
as The Sun Bowl. … Thanks to technology, we can pray, sing and
celebrate together that merciful love which God gives us, and which
no frontier can prevent us from sharing. Thank you, brothers and
sisters of El Paso, for making us feel one single family and one same
Christian community".
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