At 7:00am local time this morning (1:00am EST), the Holy Father, Pope Francis celebrated Mass inside the chapel at the Casa Santa Marta.
Let us continue to pray for the people who are sick during this pandemic. Today, I want to ask for a special prayer for all the families: families who, from one day to another, find themselves with their children at home, because the schools are closed for reasons of safety. We need to direct a difficult situation. We need to guide it well, with peace and also with joy. In a special way, I am thinking about the families of disabled persons, the welcome centres which are closed - because all centres are closed and disabled people have to be cared for by their families. Let us pray for families: that they will keep peace, especially at this time, and that we will be able to care for our families in comfort and in a spirit of joy
We have heard this gospel passage many times. This word, Jesus speaks in a special context: Tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near (Lk 15:1) to listen to him. The Pharisees and the scribes began to complain, saying: 'This man welcomes sinners and eats with them' and Jesus responded with these words.
What can we say? Innocently, the sinners were standing nearby, in silence; they did not know what to say, but their mere presence spoke volumes. They wanted to listen. What can we say about the doctors of the Law? They criticized. The gospel says that they murmured. They wanted to cancel the authority that Jesus had with people. 'Look at this man. He eats with sinners' He is impure.
This parable furnishes a bit of the explication of this drama, this problem. What were they feeling, these people. People are so much in need of salvation. People don't know how to distinguish well, intellectually to think: I need to find my Lord who can fill me up ... no ... people need a guide, a shepherd, and the people drew near to Jesus because in him, they recognized a shepherd. People need to be helped as they make their way through life. They feel this need. The others: the doctors feel that they have been filled up: We have gone to university. You too have done a Doctorate - they all had their Doctorates ... They were very, very, very well aware of the Law: what it meant. They knew every one of the explanations of the Law, all the cases, all the case laws. They felt as though that was enough. They despised Jesus' choice, they despised sinners.
With a parable like this one, what can we say? The son asked his father to give him his money and then he was leaving. The father gave him his money but said nothing ... because he is a father. Maybe he was thinking about the kind of child he himself was when he was young, but he didn't say anything. The father knew how to suffer in silence. The father looked at the weather. He let such difficult moments pass by. Many times, the attitude of a father leads him to say something about his children's shortcomings.
The other son rebuked his father. He was unjust toward him. He spoke rebukes to him. What do we hear? These are the words taken from the parable. The younger son wanted to go out, to eat up everything, to go out, to get out of the house. Maybe he had been living there and experiencing it like a prison. There, he also felt that he could say to his father, give me the share of the inheritance (Lk 15: 12). Perhaps he felt courageous.
What did the father feel about all this. The father felt sadness, tenderness and much love. Then, when the son speaks another word: I will get up and go to my father, find the father who respects me. I won't need to see him for too long. He is a Father who is waiting for his sons to take over.
And what did the elder son feel? The gospel says that he became angry (Lk 15:28). We can feel his disappointment. And he would often become angry ... many times. This is the only way for some people to feel that they are dignified. We see evidence of this in the things we say; we see these things in this passage of the gospel, things that they felt. What is the problem? The problem begins with the elder son, the problem that he was at home, but he had never realized what it meant to live at home. He did what he had to, he did his work but he never understood what it meant to have a relationship with his father. The elder son became angry and didn't want to enter because he felt that it was not his home. This is how he was thinking ... and so were the doctors of the Law. There was no sense of order. This sinner has arrived and they are throwing a party! And what about me?
The father speaks the key phrase: My son, you are with me always; everything I have is yours (Lk 15:31) and so the son didn't take his father to court. He had been living in that house as though it were a hotel, without ever feeling or knowing the paternity of his Father. Perhaps, we all have such a disposition. There are so many hotel guests living in our home. Living in the house as if it were a hotel, without feeling the presence of our father, his paternity. So many hotel guests in the house that is the Church, guests who are looking for the master.
It is interesting to note that the father doesn't say even one word to the son who comes back home, not one word about what he has done. He only embraces him and throws a party. This is what we must explain, so that it will enter into our hearts. The younger son's heart was hardened by his understanding of fatherhood, of violence, of his way of life. I remember once meeting a wise elderly priest, a great confessor. He had served as a missionary. He had called me to visit his home, and we were speaking about a younger priest, one who was very sure of himself, one who thought that he had value, that he had rights in the Church. The priest told me: I'm praying for that priest, that the Lord will place a banana peel in front of him and make him slip. That would be good for him. As they might say, it would do him good to sin, because then he would have to ask for forgiveness, and he would discover his father.
In many cases, this parable speaks to those who like to criticize because the other one went away and was a sinner ... but there are also many today who criticize even within the church, those who are close to them, or others who are in need, or people who are humble, or people who are working, even those who are working for us.
May the Lord grant us the grace to understand what is the problem. The problem is that we live in the house but we don't feel at home, because we don't have a paternal relationship with our Father, and a relationship of fraternity with one another. Instead, we merely have a sense that we are fellow workers.
Greetings of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
prior to the celebration of the Mass
Let us continue to pray for the people who are sick during this pandemic. Today, I want to ask for a special prayer for all the families: families who, from one day to another, find themselves with their children at home, because the schools are closed for reasons of safety. We need to direct a difficult situation. We need to guide it well, with peace and also with joy. In a special way, I am thinking about the families of disabled persons, the welcome centres which are closed - because all centres are closed and disabled people have to be cared for by their families. Let us pray for families: that they will keep peace, especially at this time, and that we will be able to care for our families in comfort and in a spirit of joy
Homily of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
during the Mass celebrated on 14 March 2020
We have heard this gospel passage many times. This word, Jesus speaks in a special context: Tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near (Lk 15:1) to listen to him. The Pharisees and the scribes began to complain, saying: 'This man welcomes sinners and eats with them' and Jesus responded with these words.
What can we say? Innocently, the sinners were standing nearby, in silence; they did not know what to say, but their mere presence spoke volumes. They wanted to listen. What can we say about the doctors of the Law? They criticized. The gospel says that they murmured. They wanted to cancel the authority that Jesus had with people. 'Look at this man. He eats with sinners' He is impure.
This parable furnishes a bit of the explication of this drama, this problem. What were they feeling, these people. People are so much in need of salvation. People don't know how to distinguish well, intellectually to think: I need to find my Lord who can fill me up ... no ... people need a guide, a shepherd, and the people drew near to Jesus because in him, they recognized a shepherd. People need to be helped as they make their way through life. They feel this need. The others: the doctors feel that they have been filled up: We have gone to university. You too have done a Doctorate - they all had their Doctorates ... They were very, very, very well aware of the Law: what it meant. They knew every one of the explanations of the Law, all the cases, all the case laws. They felt as though that was enough. They despised Jesus' choice, they despised sinners.
With a parable like this one, what can we say? The son asked his father to give him his money and then he was leaving. The father gave him his money but said nothing ... because he is a father. Maybe he was thinking about the kind of child he himself was when he was young, but he didn't say anything. The father knew how to suffer in silence. The father looked at the weather. He let such difficult moments pass by. Many times, the attitude of a father leads him to say something about his children's shortcomings.
The other son rebuked his father. He was unjust toward him. He spoke rebukes to him. What do we hear? These are the words taken from the parable. The younger son wanted to go out, to eat up everything, to go out, to get out of the house. Maybe he had been living there and experiencing it like a prison. There, he also felt that he could say to his father, give me the share of the inheritance (Lk 15: 12). Perhaps he felt courageous.
What did the father feel about all this. The father felt sadness, tenderness and much love. Then, when the son speaks another word: I will get up and go to my father, find the father who respects me. I won't need to see him for too long. He is a Father who is waiting for his sons to take over.
And what did the elder son feel? The gospel says that he became angry (Lk 15:28). We can feel his disappointment. And he would often become angry ... many times. This is the only way for some people to feel that they are dignified. We see evidence of this in the things we say; we see these things in this passage of the gospel, things that they felt. What is the problem? The problem begins with the elder son, the problem that he was at home, but he had never realized what it meant to live at home. He did what he had to, he did his work but he never understood what it meant to have a relationship with his father. The elder son became angry and didn't want to enter because he felt that it was not his home. This is how he was thinking ... and so were the doctors of the Law. There was no sense of order. This sinner has arrived and they are throwing a party! And what about me?
The father speaks the key phrase: My son, you are with me always; everything I have is yours (Lk 15:31) and so the son didn't take his father to court. He had been living in that house as though it were a hotel, without ever feeling or knowing the paternity of his Father. Perhaps, we all have such a disposition. There are so many hotel guests living in our home. Living in the house as if it were a hotel, without feeling the presence of our father, his paternity. So many hotel guests in the house that is the Church, guests who are looking for the master.
It is interesting to note that the father doesn't say even one word to the son who comes back home, not one word about what he has done. He only embraces him and throws a party. This is what we must explain, so that it will enter into our hearts. The younger son's heart was hardened by his understanding of fatherhood, of violence, of his way of life. I remember once meeting a wise elderly priest, a great confessor. He had served as a missionary. He had called me to visit his home, and we were speaking about a younger priest, one who was very sure of himself, one who thought that he had value, that he had rights in the Church. The priest told me: I'm praying for that priest, that the Lord will place a banana peel in front of him and make him slip. That would be good for him. As they might say, it would do him good to sin, because then he would have to ask for forgiveness, and he would discover his father.
In many cases, this parable speaks to those who like to criticize because the other one went away and was a sinner ... but there are also many today who criticize even within the church, those who are close to them, or others who are in need, or people who are humble, or people who are working, even those who are working for us.
May the Lord grant us the grace to understand what is the problem. The problem is that we live in the house but we don't feel at home, because we don't have a paternal relationship with our Father, and a relationship of fraternity with one another. Instead, we merely have a sense that we are fellow workers.
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