At 9:00am today, in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, the Holy Father, Pope Francis received in audience a a large group of French pilgrims, including very poor and homeless people supported by the Sappel community. The group of 200 pilgrims from the Lyon region of France is marking the upcoming one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Fr Joseph Wresinski who founded the ATD Fourth World international movement working for the eradication of chronic poverty across the globe.
Dear friends,
I am very happy to welcome you. Whatever your condition may be, your history, the weight that you are carrying, it is Jesus who gathers us around himself. If there is anything that Jesus possesses, it is this capacity to welcome us. He welcomes every one of us just as we are. In him, we are all brothers, and I want you to truly know how much you are welcome here; your presence is important for me, and it is important that you feel at home here.
Along with those who are accompanying you, you give a beautiful witness of evangelical fraternity in this common undertaking of pilgrimage, for you have come, bringing each other with you. Every one among you is generous in helping others, in offering your own personal resources and your time in order to bring others here, and you, in giving of yourselves, in offering yourselves to us, give me the gift of Jesus himself.
Jesus wanted to share in our condition, and he did so in love, as do you: despised by men, forgotten, thought of as worthless. Whenever you have such sentiments, do not forget that Jesus endured such feelings too. This is the test that you are precious in his eyes, and that he is close to you. You are at the heart of the Church, as Father Joseph Wresinski used to say, since Jesus, in his lifetime, always give priority to people who were like you, who lived in similar situations. The Church, who loves and prefers what Jesus loved and preferred, cannot rest until she is able to reach out to everyone who has experienced rejection, exclusion, or been thought of as worthless. At the heart of the Church, you make it possible for us to meet Jesus, because you speak to us about him, not always in words, but by the entirety of your lives ... and you bear witness to the importance of little gestures, to the way people are seen, especially those who contribute to and build up peace, recalling the fact that we are all brothers, and that God is the Father of us all.
I want to try to imagine what people thought when they saw Mary, Joseph and Jesus as they made their way, fleeing to Egypt. They were poor, they were victims of persecution: but God was with them.
Dear companions, I want to thank you for all that you are doing, faithful to the intuition of Father Joseph Wresinski who always wanted to begin with the shared life, and not with abstract theories. Abstract theories lead us to ideologies, and ideologies lead us to denying the fact that God took on human flesh, became one of us! It is by living life, shared with the poor, that allows us to be transformed and converted. Think about it! Not only do you go out to meet them - even those who are ashamed and who hide - not only do you walk with them, continually seeking to understand their suffering, to enter into their interior disposition; but yet you continue to watch over them in community, in this manner striving to afford them an existence, an identity, some dignity. And the Year of Mercy is the perfect occasion to re-discover and to live this dimension of solidarity, of fraternity, of mutual help and support.
Beloved brothers, I ask you above all to be courageous, and even despite your worries, to remain joyful and filled with hope. May this flame that is alight within you never be extinguished, for we believe in a God who overcomes every injustice, who consoles every suffering and who is able to repay all those who remain confident in him. While we await the day of peace and light, your contribution is essential for the Church and for the world: you are witnesses of Christ, you are intercessors for us to God who hears all of us, but especially your prayers.
You ask me to remind the Church in France that Jesus is suffering at the door of your Churches, if the poor are not present there. The Church's treasures are the poor, said the Roman Saint Lawrence. Finally, I want to ask you a favour, more than one favour, I want to give you a mission: a mission that you alone, in your poverty, will be able to accomplish. I shall explain: At times, Jesus was very severe and strongly reprimanded people who did not welcome the Father's message. Therefore, even as he said that beautiful word: blessed - referring to the poor, to those who were hungry, to those who were crying, to those who were hated and persecuted, he said something else which, coming from him, was scary! He said: cursed! He said this about the rich, about the wise, about those who were laughing, to those who ... were hypocrites. I give you the mission of praying for them, that the Lord may change their hearts. I ask you also to pray for those who are responsible for your poverty, that they may be converted! Pray for all the rich who dress well in purple and who celebrate with grand banquets, without realizing that at their doors, there are many Lazaruses, seeking to eat from the scraps that fall from their tables. Pray also for priests, for the Levites who, seeing that man who had been beaten and left for dead, passed by, looking the other way, because they did not have any compassion. To all these people, and also, certainly, toward many others who are tied in a negative way to your poverty and suffering, smile with all your heart, wish everything good for them and ask Jesus to help them be converted of heart. I assure you that, if you do this, there will be great joy in the Church, in your hearts and also surely in your beloved France.
All together now, being looked upon by our Father in heaven, I entrust you to the protection of the Mother of Jesus and of Saint Joseph, and I willingly impart to all of you my Apostolic Blessing. Let us all pray together the Our Father.
Our Father ... (in French) ... then the Holy Father gave his blessing in French.
Greetings of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
for the meeting with pilgrims from the
French region of Lyon
Dear friends,
I am very happy to welcome you. Whatever your condition may be, your history, the weight that you are carrying, it is Jesus who gathers us around himself. If there is anything that Jesus possesses, it is this capacity to welcome us. He welcomes every one of us just as we are. In him, we are all brothers, and I want you to truly know how much you are welcome here; your presence is important for me, and it is important that you feel at home here.
Along with those who are accompanying you, you give a beautiful witness of evangelical fraternity in this common undertaking of pilgrimage, for you have come, bringing each other with you. Every one among you is generous in helping others, in offering your own personal resources and your time in order to bring others here, and you, in giving of yourselves, in offering yourselves to us, give me the gift of Jesus himself.
Jesus wanted to share in our condition, and he did so in love, as do you: despised by men, forgotten, thought of as worthless. Whenever you have such sentiments, do not forget that Jesus endured such feelings too. This is the test that you are precious in his eyes, and that he is close to you. You are at the heart of the Church, as Father Joseph Wresinski used to say, since Jesus, in his lifetime, always give priority to people who were like you, who lived in similar situations. The Church, who loves and prefers what Jesus loved and preferred, cannot rest until she is able to reach out to everyone who has experienced rejection, exclusion, or been thought of as worthless. At the heart of the Church, you make it possible for us to meet Jesus, because you speak to us about him, not always in words, but by the entirety of your lives ... and you bear witness to the importance of little gestures, to the way people are seen, especially those who contribute to and build up peace, recalling the fact that we are all brothers, and that God is the Father of us all.
I want to try to imagine what people thought when they saw Mary, Joseph and Jesus as they made their way, fleeing to Egypt. They were poor, they were victims of persecution: but God was with them.
Dear companions, I want to thank you for all that you are doing, faithful to the intuition of Father Joseph Wresinski who always wanted to begin with the shared life, and not with abstract theories. Abstract theories lead us to ideologies, and ideologies lead us to denying the fact that God took on human flesh, became one of us! It is by living life, shared with the poor, that allows us to be transformed and converted. Think about it! Not only do you go out to meet them - even those who are ashamed and who hide - not only do you walk with them, continually seeking to understand their suffering, to enter into their interior disposition; but yet you continue to watch over them in community, in this manner striving to afford them an existence, an identity, some dignity. And the Year of Mercy is the perfect occasion to re-discover and to live this dimension of solidarity, of fraternity, of mutual help and support.
Beloved brothers, I ask you above all to be courageous, and even despite your worries, to remain joyful and filled with hope. May this flame that is alight within you never be extinguished, for we believe in a God who overcomes every injustice, who consoles every suffering and who is able to repay all those who remain confident in him. While we await the day of peace and light, your contribution is essential for the Church and for the world: you are witnesses of Christ, you are intercessors for us to God who hears all of us, but especially your prayers.
You ask me to remind the Church in France that Jesus is suffering at the door of your Churches, if the poor are not present there. The Church's treasures are the poor, said the Roman Saint Lawrence. Finally, I want to ask you a favour, more than one favour, I want to give you a mission: a mission that you alone, in your poverty, will be able to accomplish. I shall explain: At times, Jesus was very severe and strongly reprimanded people who did not welcome the Father's message. Therefore, even as he said that beautiful word: blessed - referring to the poor, to those who were hungry, to those who were crying, to those who were hated and persecuted, he said something else which, coming from him, was scary! He said: cursed! He said this about the rich, about the wise, about those who were laughing, to those who ... were hypocrites. I give you the mission of praying for them, that the Lord may change their hearts. I ask you also to pray for those who are responsible for your poverty, that they may be converted! Pray for all the rich who dress well in purple and who celebrate with grand banquets, without realizing that at their doors, there are many Lazaruses, seeking to eat from the scraps that fall from their tables. Pray also for priests, for the Levites who, seeing that man who had been beaten and left for dead, passed by, looking the other way, because they did not have any compassion. To all these people, and also, certainly, toward many others who are tied in a negative way to your poverty and suffering, smile with all your heart, wish everything good for them and ask Jesus to help them be converted of heart. I assure you that, if you do this, there will be great joy in the Church, in your hearts and also surely in your beloved France.
All together now, being looked upon by our Father in heaven, I entrust you to the protection of the Mother of Jesus and of Saint Joseph, and I willingly impart to all of you my Apostolic Blessing. Let us all pray together the Our Father.
Our Father ... (in French) ... then the Holy Father gave his blessing in French.
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