This morning's General Audience began at 10:00am in Saint Peter's Square where the Holy Father, Pope Francis met with groups of pilgrims and the faithful from Italy and from every corner of the world.
During his speech, the Pope continued his cycle of catecheses on mercy from the biblical perspective, adding a meditation on the theme: Mercy and correction (Is 1:16b-18b).
After having summarized his catechesis in various languages, Pope Francis addressed particular greetings to each group of the faithful in attendance.
The General Audience concluded with the chanting of the Pater Noster and the Apostolic Blessing.
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning.
Speaking about divine mercy, we have on many occasions evoked the figure of the father of a family, who loves his children, helps them, takes care of them, forgives them. And as a father, he teaches them and corrects them when they are wrong, for the sake of their own good and growth.
God is presented in this fashion in the first chapter of the book of the prophet Isaiah. There, the Lord, as an affectionate father, but one who is attentive and severe, speaks to Israel, accusing them of infidelity and corruption, in order to bring them back to the way of justice. Our text begins:
Hear, o heavens, listen, o earth,
thus says the Lord:
'I have nourished and raised children,
but they have rebelled against me.
The ox knows its owner
and the ass his master's manger,
but Israel dos not know,
my people do not understand (Is 1:2-3).
Through the prophet, God speaks to his people with the bitterness of a disillusioned father: he has raised his children, and now they have rebelled against him. Even animals are loyal to their master and recognize the hand that feeds them; but the people no longer recognize God: they refuse to understand. Even though he is wounded, he continues to speak about love and calls upon the conscience of these degenerate children in hopes that they will repent and allow themselves once again to be loved. This is what God does! He comes to meet us so that we can allow ourselves to be loved by him, by our God.
The father-son relationship, to which the prophets often refer in order to speak about the covenant relationship between God and his people, is un-natural. The educative mission of parents is meant to help children grow in freedom, to make them increasingly responsible, capable of undertaking good works for their own good and for the good of others. However, because of sin, freedom becomes a pretext for autonomy, for pride, and pride leads to opposition and the illusion of self-sufficiency.
Thus it is that God calls to his people: You have taken the wrong path. Affectionately and bitterly, he says my people. God never denies us; we are his people, even the most evil of men, the most evil of women, the most evil of all people are his children. And God never, never denies us! He simply says: Child of mine, come. This is the love of our Father; this is God's mercy. Having a Father like this gives us hope, gives us confidence. This sense of belonging should be seen in trust and confidence, with the knowledge that everything is a gift that comes from the Father's love. Instead, we see vanity, folly and idolatry.
So it is that the prophet speaks directly to this people with severe words in order to help them understand the gravity of their culpability:
Woe to the sinful nation ... children given to corruption!
They have forsaken the Lord,
they have spurned the Holy One of Israel,
and turned their backs on him (Is 1:4).
The consequence of this sin is a state of suffering, experienced by the whole land, devastated and rendered as a desert, to the point that Zion - that is to say Jerusalem - becomes uninhabitable. In places where God is rejected, where his fatherhood is spurned, there is no possibility of life, existence loses its roots, everything appears to be perverted and destroyed. However, even this painful moment exists in hope of salvation. The experience is given so that the people can know the bitterness of being abandoned by God, and therefore know the empty desolation of having chosen death. Suffering, the inevitable consequence of a self-destructive decision, should motivate the sinner to open his or her heart to conversion and to forgiveness.
This is the way of divine mercy: God does not treat us according to our guilt (cf Psalm 103:10). Punishment becomes the instrument for provocation and reflection. In this way, we understand that God forgives his people; he gives grace and does not destroy everything, but leaves the door to hope always open. Salvation involves a decision to listen and to allow ourselves to be converted, but it remains always a free gift. Therefore, the Lord, in his mercy, points out a path which is different from that of ritual sacrifices; it is rather a road of justice. Ritual is criticized not because it is useless in and of itself, but because instead of being an experience of conversion, it claims to replace it; and it therefore becomes a search for one's own righteousness, creating the misleading conviction that it is the sacrifices that save, not divine mercy that pardons us of our sins. In order to understand this well: when someone who is sick, he goes to the doctor; when someone feels that he has sinned, he goes to the Lord. But if instead of going to the doctor, he were to go to a sorcerer, he may not be healed. Many times we do not go to the Lord, but prefer to take the wrong path, seeking a justification or justice or peace of some sort otherwise. The prophet Isaiah says that God does not prefer the blood of bulls and lambs (Is 1:11), above all if such an offering is made with hands that are soiled with the blood of our brothers (Is 1:15). I think of some benefactors of the Church who come with their offerings - Take this offering for the Church - the fruit of the blood of many exploited people, maltreated and enslaved with poorly paid working conditions! I would say to such people: Please, take back your cheque and burn it. The people of God, that is to say the Church, does not need dirty money; she needs hearts that are open to God's mercy. We need to draw closer to God with purified hands, avoiding evil and practicing deeds of goodness and justice. How beautiful are the words which which the prophet concludes:
Stop doing evil,
learn to do good,
seek justice,
defend the oppressed,
render justice unto orphans,
defend the widow's cause (Is 1:16-17).
Consider the case of the many refugees who arrive in Europe and do not know where to go. The Lord says, your sins, even if they are scarlet, will become as white as snow, as white as wool, and the people will be able to feed on the goods of the earth and live in peace (Is 1:19).
This is the miracle of forgiveness that God ... the forgiveness that God our Father wants to give to his people. The mercy of God is offered to all people, and these words of the prophet are still relevant today for all of us, called to live as children of God.
The Holy Father's catechesis was then summarized and repeated in various languages while he himself offered words of greeting to each group of pilgrims in attendance. To English-speaking pilgrims, he said:
I greet the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors taking part in today’s Audience, including those from Ireland, Cameroon and the United States. With prayerful good wishes that the present Jubilee of Mercy will be for you and your families a moment of grace and spiritual renewal, I invoke upon all of you joy and peace in our Lord Jesus Christ. God bless you all!
During his speech, the Pope continued his cycle of catecheses on mercy from the biblical perspective, adding a meditation on the theme: Mercy and correction (Is 1:16b-18b).
After having summarized his catechesis in various languages, Pope Francis addressed particular greetings to each group of the faithful in attendance.
The General Audience concluded with the chanting of the Pater Noster and the Apostolic Blessing.
Catechesis of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
for the General Audience
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning.
Speaking about divine mercy, we have on many occasions evoked the figure of the father of a family, who loves his children, helps them, takes care of them, forgives them. And as a father, he teaches them and corrects them when they are wrong, for the sake of their own good and growth.
God is presented in this fashion in the first chapter of the book of the prophet Isaiah. There, the Lord, as an affectionate father, but one who is attentive and severe, speaks to Israel, accusing them of infidelity and corruption, in order to bring them back to the way of justice. Our text begins:
Hear, o heavens, listen, o earth,
thus says the Lord:
'I have nourished and raised children,
but they have rebelled against me.
The ox knows its owner
and the ass his master's manger,
but Israel dos not know,
my people do not understand (Is 1:2-3).
Through the prophet, God speaks to his people with the bitterness of a disillusioned father: he has raised his children, and now they have rebelled against him. Even animals are loyal to their master and recognize the hand that feeds them; but the people no longer recognize God: they refuse to understand. Even though he is wounded, he continues to speak about love and calls upon the conscience of these degenerate children in hopes that they will repent and allow themselves once again to be loved. This is what God does! He comes to meet us so that we can allow ourselves to be loved by him, by our God.
The father-son relationship, to which the prophets often refer in order to speak about the covenant relationship between God and his people, is un-natural. The educative mission of parents is meant to help children grow in freedom, to make them increasingly responsible, capable of undertaking good works for their own good and for the good of others. However, because of sin, freedom becomes a pretext for autonomy, for pride, and pride leads to opposition and the illusion of self-sufficiency.
Thus it is that God calls to his people: You have taken the wrong path. Affectionately and bitterly, he says my people. God never denies us; we are his people, even the most evil of men, the most evil of women, the most evil of all people are his children. And God never, never denies us! He simply says: Child of mine, come. This is the love of our Father; this is God's mercy. Having a Father like this gives us hope, gives us confidence. This sense of belonging should be seen in trust and confidence, with the knowledge that everything is a gift that comes from the Father's love. Instead, we see vanity, folly and idolatry.
So it is that the prophet speaks directly to this people with severe words in order to help them understand the gravity of their culpability:
Woe to the sinful nation ... children given to corruption!
They have forsaken the Lord,
they have spurned the Holy One of Israel,
and turned their backs on him (Is 1:4).
The consequence of this sin is a state of suffering, experienced by the whole land, devastated and rendered as a desert, to the point that Zion - that is to say Jerusalem - becomes uninhabitable. In places where God is rejected, where his fatherhood is spurned, there is no possibility of life, existence loses its roots, everything appears to be perverted and destroyed. However, even this painful moment exists in hope of salvation. The experience is given so that the people can know the bitterness of being abandoned by God, and therefore know the empty desolation of having chosen death. Suffering, the inevitable consequence of a self-destructive decision, should motivate the sinner to open his or her heart to conversion and to forgiveness.
This is the way of divine mercy: God does not treat us according to our guilt (cf Psalm 103:10). Punishment becomes the instrument for provocation and reflection. In this way, we understand that God forgives his people; he gives grace and does not destroy everything, but leaves the door to hope always open. Salvation involves a decision to listen and to allow ourselves to be converted, but it remains always a free gift. Therefore, the Lord, in his mercy, points out a path which is different from that of ritual sacrifices; it is rather a road of justice. Ritual is criticized not because it is useless in and of itself, but because instead of being an experience of conversion, it claims to replace it; and it therefore becomes a search for one's own righteousness, creating the misleading conviction that it is the sacrifices that save, not divine mercy that pardons us of our sins. In order to understand this well: when someone who is sick, he goes to the doctor; when someone feels that he has sinned, he goes to the Lord. But if instead of going to the doctor, he were to go to a sorcerer, he may not be healed. Many times we do not go to the Lord, but prefer to take the wrong path, seeking a justification or justice or peace of some sort otherwise. The prophet Isaiah says that God does not prefer the blood of bulls and lambs (Is 1:11), above all if such an offering is made with hands that are soiled with the blood of our brothers (Is 1:15). I think of some benefactors of the Church who come with their offerings - Take this offering for the Church - the fruit of the blood of many exploited people, maltreated and enslaved with poorly paid working conditions! I would say to such people: Please, take back your cheque and burn it. The people of God, that is to say the Church, does not need dirty money; she needs hearts that are open to God's mercy. We need to draw closer to God with purified hands, avoiding evil and practicing deeds of goodness and justice. How beautiful are the words which which the prophet concludes:
Stop doing evil,
learn to do good,
seek justice,
defend the oppressed,
render justice unto orphans,
defend the widow's cause (Is 1:16-17).
Consider the case of the many refugees who arrive in Europe and do not know where to go. The Lord says, your sins, even if they are scarlet, will become as white as snow, as white as wool, and the people will be able to feed on the goods of the earth and live in peace (Is 1:19).
This is the miracle of forgiveness that God ... the forgiveness that God our Father wants to give to his people. The mercy of God is offered to all people, and these words of the prophet are still relevant today for all of us, called to live as children of God.
The Holy Father's catechesis was then summarized and repeated in various languages while he himself offered words of greeting to each group of pilgrims in attendance. To English-speaking pilgrims, he said:
I greet the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors taking part in today’s Audience, including those from Ireland, Cameroon and the United States. With prayerful good wishes that the present Jubilee of Mercy will be for you and your families a moment of grace and spiritual renewal, I invoke upon all of you joy and peace in our Lord Jesus Christ. God bless you all!
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