Following the completion of his meeting with priests, religious men and women, consecrated persons, seminarians and their families in Medellín yesterday afternoon, the Holy Father returned to Bogotá. As he did on previous nights, upon arriving at the Apostolic Nunciature, he encountered a group of people who were waiting for him there. This time, the group included consecrated persons and newlyweds as well as couples who were celebrating their 25th and 50th wedding anniversaries.
As he did on previous evenings, the Holy Father greeted them and shared some unscripted words with them before retiring for the evening.
Everyone who has come has heard Jesus say something to him. What Jesus was saying was your name and that he wanted you to be here. And when, at the beginning of this gathering, the priests sang the words that Jesus said to Peter, I said to myself: how pleased Peter was when he was told these words; and I think that all of us are pleased when Jesus tells us: I want you to be here, to do this, to do that, to walk this way, to be a nun, to marry and form a family and care for it ... and so on.
I'm thinking that when Peter heard what Jesus said to him: Behold, you are the rock, he gave him that name (Peter), he may have thought: he told me this when he knew me, he told me that I was Peter, and maybe he began to realize that this same name had several melodies, different music. How many different melodies are there in the song that you are singing? So it was that Peter was able to go on, content and even bold, but fifteen minutes later, Jesus told him the opposite; he told him: get behind me, you are Satan for me. Peter had made a wrong move.
And I am thinking about the times when Jesus remembered what Jesus had said to him on that night, that Holy Thursday evening when, so sure of himself, he said: I do not know him. How did he feel when he remembered what he had said to Jesus? What was he feeling inside when he remembered those words, when he saw Jesus come out of the prison cell? He looked at him and started to cry.
What Jesus says to us, we live in the course of our lives. The same word, the same vocation, in various ways. Life brings us joy and pain, there are moments of sin and great grace ... What did Peter do on that Thursday night while he was crying, did he hide because of his shame, or did he go in search of the mother of Jesus, to ask for her advice? We don't know.
And then, he was left closed in upon himself and afraid, until Jesus asked him three times if he loved him, and he remembered and said: I do not understand anything, this is another melody by the same name. I want each of us to remember our first call, when Jesus spoke our names, the first vocation, the first love, and the ways this call has been conjugated into different melodies throughout life. In experiences that bring us life, beautiful moments, full moments, moments of error, moments of sin, obscure moments, moments of wanting to give up and start something else ... But don't lose the name. Jesus gave a name to each one of us and placed us on the road, a road of consecration: in the life of a family and in a consecrated family. A path of self-giving to Him and to our brothers and sisters in His name. So, we have to conjugate our names - again and again - in the various situations that we encounter. When Jesus calls us and gives us a name, he does not give us assurance for life, this is something that we must defend with humility, prayer and begging for this grace from the Lord. Give us strength Lord, so that each and every one of us can continue on the path to which you have called us. But none of us possesses the security of perseverance in that name, we need to ask for this gift. And He gives it, because he loves us very much, and he wants us to remain, but he needs to send us out. Don't forget this. If we want to triumph in life as Jesus would have it, we must beg for life, because the hero of the story is the beggar, the hero of the story of salvation is the beggar, the beggar that each one of us is carrying within us. Thank you for this! And may this witness that I have given help you to bear much fruit. Thank you!
As he did on previous evenings, the Holy Father greeted them and shared some unscripted words with them before retiring for the evening.
Unscripted remarks by His Holiness, Pope Francis
offered outside the Apostolic Nunciature in Bogotá
Everyone who has come has heard Jesus say something to him. What Jesus was saying was your name and that he wanted you to be here. And when, at the beginning of this gathering, the priests sang the words that Jesus said to Peter, I said to myself: how pleased Peter was when he was told these words; and I think that all of us are pleased when Jesus tells us: I want you to be here, to do this, to do that, to walk this way, to be a nun, to marry and form a family and care for it ... and so on.
I'm thinking that when Peter heard what Jesus said to him: Behold, you are the rock, he gave him that name (Peter), he may have thought: he told me this when he knew me, he told me that I was Peter, and maybe he began to realize that this same name had several melodies, different music. How many different melodies are there in the song that you are singing? So it was that Peter was able to go on, content and even bold, but fifteen minutes later, Jesus told him the opposite; he told him: get behind me, you are Satan for me. Peter had made a wrong move.
And I am thinking about the times when Jesus remembered what Jesus had said to him on that night, that Holy Thursday evening when, so sure of himself, he said: I do not know him. How did he feel when he remembered what he had said to Jesus? What was he feeling inside when he remembered those words, when he saw Jesus come out of the prison cell? He looked at him and started to cry.
What Jesus says to us, we live in the course of our lives. The same word, the same vocation, in various ways. Life brings us joy and pain, there are moments of sin and great grace ... What did Peter do on that Thursday night while he was crying, did he hide because of his shame, or did he go in search of the mother of Jesus, to ask for her advice? We don't know.
And then, he was left closed in upon himself and afraid, until Jesus asked him three times if he loved him, and he remembered and said: I do not understand anything, this is another melody by the same name. I want each of us to remember our first call, when Jesus spoke our names, the first vocation, the first love, and the ways this call has been conjugated into different melodies throughout life. In experiences that bring us life, beautiful moments, full moments, moments of error, moments of sin, obscure moments, moments of wanting to give up and start something else ... But don't lose the name. Jesus gave a name to each one of us and placed us on the road, a road of consecration: in the life of a family and in a consecrated family. A path of self-giving to Him and to our brothers and sisters in His name. So, we have to conjugate our names - again and again - in the various situations that we encounter. When Jesus calls us and gives us a name, he does not give us assurance for life, this is something that we must defend with humility, prayer and begging for this grace from the Lord. Give us strength Lord, so that each and every one of us can continue on the path to which you have called us. But none of us possesses the security of perseverance in that name, we need to ask for this gift. And He gives it, because he loves us very much, and he wants us to remain, but he needs to send us out. Don't forget this. If we want to triumph in life as Jesus would have it, we must beg for life, because the hero of the story is the beggar, the hero of the story of salvation is the beggar, the beggar that each one of us is carrying within us. Thank you for this! And may this witness that I have given help you to bear much fruit. Thank you!
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