At noon today, the Holy Father, Pope Francis appeared at the window of the study in the Vatican Apostolic Palace to recite the Angelus with the faithful and with pilgrims who had come to Saint Peter's Square.
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
The Gospel of the day presents the episode of the man born blind, to whom Jesus gives the gift of sight. This lengthy story begins with a blind man who is granted the gift of sight and closes - and this is curious - with others present who are able to see but who are blind in their souls. The miracle is narrated by John in just two verses, because the evangelist wants to attract our attention not to the miracle itself, but to that which happens afterward, to the discussions that take place, and to the gossip; so many times, good works, works of charity end in gossip and discussion, because there are always some who don't want to see the truth. The evangelist John wants to draw our attention to this fact which happens still today when something good is accomplished. The man who was blind is first questioned by the disbelieving crowd - who had seen the miracle take place and who question him about it - then by doctors of the law: and these also question his parents. In the end, the man who had been healed is drawn to the faith, and this is the greatest grace given by Jesus, not only the ability to see, but to know Him, to see Him as the light of the world (Jn 9:5).
While the blind man comes gradually closer to the light, the doctors of the law on the contrary sink ever further into their interior blindness. Shut up in their presumptions, they think they have the light; because of this they do not open their hearts to Jesus’ truth. They do everything they can to deny the evidence. They question the reliability of the man who is healed; then they deny the action of God in the healing, saying that God does not heal on the Sabbath; then, finally, they doubt that the man was even born blind. Their closed nature toward the light becomes aggressive and leads to the expulsion of the man who is healed from the Temple.
The path of the blind man instead is a gradual process that begins with knowing Jesus’ name. He does not know anything else about him. In fact, he says: The man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes (9:11). In response to the pressing questions of the doctors of the law he first says that Jesus is a prophet (9:17) and then a man close to God (9:31). After he is thrown out of the Temple, excluded from society, Jesus finds him again and opens his eyes a second time, revealing to him his true identity: I am the Messiah, he tells him. At this point, the man who was blind exclaims: I believe, Lord! (9:38), and prostrates himself before Jesus. This is a passage of the Gospel that gives us a glimpse at the drama of the interior blindness of many people. And we glimpse our own interior blindness too because we sometimes have moments of such blindness.
Our life is sometimes similar to that of the blind man who is open to the light, who is open to God, who is open to his grace. Sometimes, unfortunately, our life is a little like that of the doctors of the law: from the height of our pride we judge others, and, in the end, we judge the Lord too! Today we are invited to open ourselves up to the light of Christ to bear fruit in our life, to eliminate non-Christian ways of acting; we are all Christians, but all of us, all of us, at times act in ways that are not Christian, we act in ways that are sinful. We must repent, we must stop acting in these ways so we can set out decisively on the road of sanctity. This road has its beginning in Baptism. We too are enlightened by Christ in Baptism, so that, as Saint Paul notes, we can walk as children of light (Ephesians 5:8), with humility, patience and mercy. These doctors of the law did not have humility, patience or mercy!
I would like to suggest to you today, when you return home, to open the Gospel of John and read this passage in chapter 9. It will do you well, because in this way you will see this road from blindness to light and the other wicked road toward deeper blindness. Let us ask ourselves about the state of our heart. Do I have an open heart or a closed one? Open or closed to God? Open or closed to my neighbour? We always have some closure in us born of sin, of mistakes, of errors. We must not be afraid! Let us open ourselves up to the Lord. He awaits us always and wants to help us see better, to give us light, to forgive us. Let us not forget this! To the Virgin Mary we entrust the Lenten journey, so that we too, like the blind man who was healed, can with the grace of Christ come to the light, make progress toward the light and be reborn to a new life.
Following the recitation of the Angelus, the Holy Father again addressed those gathered in Saint Peter’s Square:
I cordially greet the families, parish groups, associations and individual faithful from Italy and from many other countries, in particular those from Ponferrada and Valladolid; the students and professors from the Murcia, Castelfranco de Cordoba and Langanés; the students of the colleges of Paris and the Portuguese émigrés of London.
I greet the Lasallian Youth Movement, the Youth, art and faith of Saint Paola Frassinetti group and the university group from Venice.
I offer a special greeting to the members of the Italian military who have made a pilgrimage on foot from Loreto to Rome, praying for the peaceful and just resolution of conflicts. This is very beautiful: in the Beatitudes Jesus says blessed are they who work for peace.
A thought goes out to the faithful from Potenza, Atella, Sulmona, Lomagna, Conegliano, Locara, Naples, Afragola, Ercolano and Torre del Greco; to the young confirmandi from Gardone Valtrompia, Ostia, Reggio Emilia, Fane, Serramazzoni and Parma; and to the students from Massa Carrara and Genova-Pegli.
Finally, I greet the choir from Brembo, the Polisportiva Laurentino of Rome, the motorcyclists from Terni-Narni; the representatives of the World Wildlife Fund of Italy, encouraging them in their efforts on behalf of the environment.
Don’t forget today – when you get home, open the Gospel of John, chapter 9, and read this story of the blind man who was given sight and of the people who were thought to have sight who sank deeper into their blindness.
I wish everyone a good Sunday and a good lunch. Goodbye!
Address of His Holiness, Pope Francis
prior to the recitation of the Angelus
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
The Gospel of the day presents the episode of the man born blind, to whom Jesus gives the gift of sight. This lengthy story begins with a blind man who is granted the gift of sight and closes - and this is curious - with others present who are able to see but who are blind in their souls. The miracle is narrated by John in just two verses, because the evangelist wants to attract our attention not to the miracle itself, but to that which happens afterward, to the discussions that take place, and to the gossip; so many times, good works, works of charity end in gossip and discussion, because there are always some who don't want to see the truth. The evangelist John wants to draw our attention to this fact which happens still today when something good is accomplished. The man who was blind is first questioned by the disbelieving crowd - who had seen the miracle take place and who question him about it - then by doctors of the law: and these also question his parents. In the end, the man who had been healed is drawn to the faith, and this is the greatest grace given by Jesus, not only the ability to see, but to know Him, to see Him as the light of the world (Jn 9:5).
While the blind man comes gradually closer to the light, the doctors of the law on the contrary sink ever further into their interior blindness. Shut up in their presumptions, they think they have the light; because of this they do not open their hearts to Jesus’ truth. They do everything they can to deny the evidence. They question the reliability of the man who is healed; then they deny the action of God in the healing, saying that God does not heal on the Sabbath; then, finally, they doubt that the man was even born blind. Their closed nature toward the light becomes aggressive and leads to the expulsion of the man who is healed from the Temple.
The path of the blind man instead is a gradual process that begins with knowing Jesus’ name. He does not know anything else about him. In fact, he says: The man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes (9:11). In response to the pressing questions of the doctors of the law he first says that Jesus is a prophet (9:17) and then a man close to God (9:31). After he is thrown out of the Temple, excluded from society, Jesus finds him again and opens his eyes a second time, revealing to him his true identity: I am the Messiah, he tells him. At this point, the man who was blind exclaims: I believe, Lord! (9:38), and prostrates himself before Jesus. This is a passage of the Gospel that gives us a glimpse at the drama of the interior blindness of many people. And we glimpse our own interior blindness too because we sometimes have moments of such blindness.
Our life is sometimes similar to that of the blind man who is open to the light, who is open to God, who is open to his grace. Sometimes, unfortunately, our life is a little like that of the doctors of the law: from the height of our pride we judge others, and, in the end, we judge the Lord too! Today we are invited to open ourselves up to the light of Christ to bear fruit in our life, to eliminate non-Christian ways of acting; we are all Christians, but all of us, all of us, at times act in ways that are not Christian, we act in ways that are sinful. We must repent, we must stop acting in these ways so we can set out decisively on the road of sanctity. This road has its beginning in Baptism. We too are enlightened by Christ in Baptism, so that, as Saint Paul notes, we can walk as children of light (Ephesians 5:8), with humility, patience and mercy. These doctors of the law did not have humility, patience or mercy!
I would like to suggest to you today, when you return home, to open the Gospel of John and read this passage in chapter 9. It will do you well, because in this way you will see this road from blindness to light and the other wicked road toward deeper blindness. Let us ask ourselves about the state of our heart. Do I have an open heart or a closed one? Open or closed to God? Open or closed to my neighbour? We always have some closure in us born of sin, of mistakes, of errors. We must not be afraid! Let us open ourselves up to the Lord. He awaits us always and wants to help us see better, to give us light, to forgive us. Let us not forget this! To the Virgin Mary we entrust the Lenten journey, so that we too, like the blind man who was healed, can with the grace of Christ come to the light, make progress toward the light and be reborn to a new life.
Following the recitation of the Angelus, the Holy Father again addressed those gathered in Saint Peter’s Square:
I cordially greet the families, parish groups, associations and individual faithful from Italy and from many other countries, in particular those from Ponferrada and Valladolid; the students and professors from the Murcia, Castelfranco de Cordoba and Langanés; the students of the colleges of Paris and the Portuguese émigrés of London.
I greet the Lasallian Youth Movement, the Youth, art and faith of Saint Paola Frassinetti group and the university group from Venice.
I offer a special greeting to the members of the Italian military who have made a pilgrimage on foot from Loreto to Rome, praying for the peaceful and just resolution of conflicts. This is very beautiful: in the Beatitudes Jesus says blessed are they who work for peace.
A thought goes out to the faithful from Potenza, Atella, Sulmona, Lomagna, Conegliano, Locara, Naples, Afragola, Ercolano and Torre del Greco; to the young confirmandi from Gardone Valtrompia, Ostia, Reggio Emilia, Fane, Serramazzoni and Parma; and to the students from Massa Carrara and Genova-Pegli.
Finally, I greet the choir from Brembo, the Polisportiva Laurentino of Rome, the motorcyclists from Terni-Narni; the representatives of the World Wildlife Fund of Italy, encouraging them in their efforts on behalf of the environment.
Don’t forget today – when you get home, open the Gospel of John, chapter 9, and read this story of the blind man who was given sight and of the people who were thought to have sight who sank deeper into their blindness.
I wish everyone a good Sunday and a good lunch. Goodbye!
No comments:
Post a Comment