At 12:15pm today, in the Paul VI Hall, the Holy Father, Pope Francis received in audience a group of pilgrims from the Dioceses of Ugento-Santa Maria di Leuca and Molfetta-Ruvo-Giovinazzo-Terlizzi.
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
I thank you for coming, so enthusiastic, so joyful. Thank you! I am grateful to His Excellency, Vito Angiuli and to His Excellency, Domenico Cornacchia for the words that they have offered in your name. And also, thank you for the bread: a beautiful loaf, to make a sandwich!
The memory of Don Tonino Bello has united our paths: my path toward you in April of this year and your path toward me in these days. I would like to welcome you with a few words that are full of affection, which Don Tonino pronounced at the end of the last Chrism Mass, just before experiencing his Passover: I would like to tell all of you, one by one, looking him in the eyes: I love you. And this is our way of life: we are brothers and sisters who, looking into each other's eyes, know how to say I love you.
On that occasion Don Tonino made a recommendation. He said: I beg you, tomorrow, do not be sorry for any bitterness in your home or for any other bitterness. Do not grieve about your life. Those who believe in Jesus can not be sad; The opposite of a Christian people is a sad people (The Gospel of Courage, 2012, 145). We make our own the recommendation not to ever be sorry: if we put it into practice we will bring the treasure of God's joy into the poverty of the man of today. In fact, those who remain alone remain, stripped of everything else, and they gossip here and there ... Those people have sad hearts. A chatty person has a sad heart! This is the root. Even here, when they talk, it's because that man, that woman, is sad. In fact, those are the ones who most often remain alone, who have no friends. Those who chatter and gossip only see problems; they see only the dark side of life. Maybe it's all beautiful, all white, all bright, but he or she sees the stain, sees the shadow, the negative. Sometimes, when I find people like that, they are always living sad lives and criticizing others, but then I think: What do you have in your veins? Blood or vinegar? Those who put the Lord before their problems find joy again. Then they stop crying and, instead of grumbling, they begin to do the opposite: to console others, to help them.
Dear brothers and sisters, tonight begins a time of consolation and hope, the time of Advent: a new liturgical year begins, which brings with it the novelty of our God, who is the God of all consolation (2 Cor 1:3). If we look inside, we see that all news, even the news of today's continuous revenue, is not enough to satisfy our expectations. We will always remain hungry, at this rate of novelty, news ... And it does not satisfy us. We tend toward new things because we are born for great things, wrote Don Tonino (There is no loyalty without risk, 2000, 34). And it is true: we are born to be with the Lord. When we let God in, the real news comes. He renews, displaces, always surprises: he is the God of surprises. To live Advent is to opt for the unpublished, for the new, to accept good news from God and from his prophets, such as Don Tonino. For him to welcome the Lord means to be available to change our plans (see There is no loyalty without risk, 2000, 102). I like to think of Saint Joseph. He, a good man, fell asleep and changed his plans. He fell asleep again, and they still changed his plans. He goes to Egypt, falls asleep again, and returns from Egypt ... May God change our plans and fill us with joy!
It is beautiful to await the novelty of God in life: not to live by expectations, which then perhaps do not come true, but continually exist on hold; the secret is to desire the Lord who always brings newness. Always! He never repeats himself. It is important to know how to wait. God does not wait with hands in his pockets, but He is always active in love. True sadness - recalled Don Tonino - is when you no longer expect anything from life (Cyrene of Joy, 2004, 97). This is bad! Being dead in life, some people do not expect anything from life. We Christians are called to preserve and spread the joy of waiting: we wait for God who loves us infinitely and at the same time we are awaited by Him. In this way, life becomes a great engagement. We are not left to ourselves, we are not alone. We are visited, already, now. Today you came to me, I was waiting for you and I thank you, but God will visit you where I can not come: in your homes, in your lives. God visits us and waits for the moment when he will stay with us forever. Today, tomorrow, the next day, always. Even if you throw all this away, the Lord remains at the door, waiting, waiting for you to let him enter again. We can never drive the Lord away from our lives! He is always waiting to be with us.
I invite you to experience Advent as a time of consoling news and joyous waiting. Here on earth is the man who awaits the return of the Lord. Up there in the sky is the Lord who awaits the return of mankind. This is nice! God also waits for us to go there. Here is the meaning of Advent. This is how Don Tonino spoke about it thirty years ago, commenting on the Gospel that we will hear this Sunday with words that seem to have been written today. He noted that life is full of fear: fear of one's neighbour, fear of one's neighbour ... Fear of the other ... Fear of violence ... Fear of not making it ... Fear of not being accepted ... Fear that it is useless to commit oneself ... Fear of so much, and fear that the world can not change ... Fear of not finding a job (Homily, November 27, 1988). To this gloomy scenario, he used to say that Advent responds with the Gospel of anti-Agora. Because while those who are afraid are on the ground, broken down, the Lord solves problems with his word. He does so through the two verbs of the antiaura, the two verbs typical of Advent: stand up and raise your head (cf Lk 21:28). If fear makes you lie on the ground, the Lord invites you to get up; if negativity pushes you to look down, Jesus invites you to turn your gaze to heaven, from where He will come. Because we are not children of fear, but children of God; because fear is defeated by winning with Jesus, winning the withdrawal from oneself. the confidence to go beyond our own withdrawal.
You know the beauty of the sea well - your sea is beautiful! I will tell you one thing: it is the bluest sea I have seen in my life. Beautiful! This sea embraces you in its grandeur. Looking at it, you can think of the meaning of life: embraced by God, infinite beauty, it can not remain anchored to safe harbours, but it is called to take off, always. The Lord calls each of us to go out into the open sea. We have no need of controllers of the pier or guardians of the lighthouse, but rather confident and courageous sailors, who follow the unprecedented routes indicated by the Lord, throwing the nets of their lives on his word. A private life, without risks and full of fear, which safeguards itself, is not a Christian life. It is a life without fruitfulness. We are not meant for peaceful dreams, but for daring dreams. Then we welcome the invitation of the Gospel, the invitation so often repeated by Don Tonino to stand up, to get up. From where? From the sofas of life: from the comfort that makes you lazy, from the mundanity that makes you sick inside, from the self-pity that darkens. To rise up means to abandon the floor of wickedness, of violence, of ambiguity, because sin ages the earth (Homily, November 27, 1988). Stand up, we look up to the sky. We must also warn of the need to open our hands to others. And the consolation that we will be able to give will heal our fears.
Before giving you my blessing, I would like to greet you with some words of hope: those of the last very short homily that Don Tonino spoke from his bed, while he was waiting for Jesus: My Lord and my God! I too want to see the Risen Lord and to be a source of hope and joy for all people. My Lord and my God! May it be so for us too. Thank you.
(Original text in Italian)
Greetings of His Holiness, Pope Francis
offered to pilgrims from the Dioceses of
Ugento-Santa Maria di Leuca and
Molfetta-Ruvo-Gioveinazzo-Terlizzi
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
I thank you for coming, so enthusiastic, so joyful. Thank you! I am grateful to His Excellency, Vito Angiuli and to His Excellency, Domenico Cornacchia for the words that they have offered in your name. And also, thank you for the bread: a beautiful loaf, to make a sandwich!
The memory of Don Tonino Bello has united our paths: my path toward you in April of this year and your path toward me in these days. I would like to welcome you with a few words that are full of affection, which Don Tonino pronounced at the end of the last Chrism Mass, just before experiencing his Passover: I would like to tell all of you, one by one, looking him in the eyes: I love you. And this is our way of life: we are brothers and sisters who, looking into each other's eyes, know how to say I love you.
On that occasion Don Tonino made a recommendation. He said: I beg you, tomorrow, do not be sorry for any bitterness in your home or for any other bitterness. Do not grieve about your life. Those who believe in Jesus can not be sad; The opposite of a Christian people is a sad people (The Gospel of Courage, 2012, 145). We make our own the recommendation not to ever be sorry: if we put it into practice we will bring the treasure of God's joy into the poverty of the man of today. In fact, those who remain alone remain, stripped of everything else, and they gossip here and there ... Those people have sad hearts. A chatty person has a sad heart! This is the root. Even here, when they talk, it's because that man, that woman, is sad. In fact, those are the ones who most often remain alone, who have no friends. Those who chatter and gossip only see problems; they see only the dark side of life. Maybe it's all beautiful, all white, all bright, but he or she sees the stain, sees the shadow, the negative. Sometimes, when I find people like that, they are always living sad lives and criticizing others, but then I think: What do you have in your veins? Blood or vinegar? Those who put the Lord before their problems find joy again. Then they stop crying and, instead of grumbling, they begin to do the opposite: to console others, to help them.
Dear brothers and sisters, tonight begins a time of consolation and hope, the time of Advent: a new liturgical year begins, which brings with it the novelty of our God, who is the God of all consolation (2 Cor 1:3). If we look inside, we see that all news, even the news of today's continuous revenue, is not enough to satisfy our expectations. We will always remain hungry, at this rate of novelty, news ... And it does not satisfy us. We tend toward new things because we are born for great things, wrote Don Tonino (There is no loyalty without risk, 2000, 34). And it is true: we are born to be with the Lord. When we let God in, the real news comes. He renews, displaces, always surprises: he is the God of surprises. To live Advent is to opt for the unpublished, for the new, to accept good news from God and from his prophets, such as Don Tonino. For him to welcome the Lord means to be available to change our plans (see There is no loyalty without risk, 2000, 102). I like to think of Saint Joseph. He, a good man, fell asleep and changed his plans. He fell asleep again, and they still changed his plans. He goes to Egypt, falls asleep again, and returns from Egypt ... May God change our plans and fill us with joy!
It is beautiful to await the novelty of God in life: not to live by expectations, which then perhaps do not come true, but continually exist on hold; the secret is to desire the Lord who always brings newness. Always! He never repeats himself. It is important to know how to wait. God does not wait with hands in his pockets, but He is always active in love. True sadness - recalled Don Tonino - is when you no longer expect anything from life (Cyrene of Joy, 2004, 97). This is bad! Being dead in life, some people do not expect anything from life. We Christians are called to preserve and spread the joy of waiting: we wait for God who loves us infinitely and at the same time we are awaited by Him. In this way, life becomes a great engagement. We are not left to ourselves, we are not alone. We are visited, already, now. Today you came to me, I was waiting for you and I thank you, but God will visit you where I can not come: in your homes, in your lives. God visits us and waits for the moment when he will stay with us forever. Today, tomorrow, the next day, always. Even if you throw all this away, the Lord remains at the door, waiting, waiting for you to let him enter again. We can never drive the Lord away from our lives! He is always waiting to be with us.
I invite you to experience Advent as a time of consoling news and joyous waiting. Here on earth is the man who awaits the return of the Lord. Up there in the sky is the Lord who awaits the return of mankind. This is nice! God also waits for us to go there. Here is the meaning of Advent. This is how Don Tonino spoke about it thirty years ago, commenting on the Gospel that we will hear this Sunday with words that seem to have been written today. He noted that life is full of fear: fear of one's neighbour, fear of one's neighbour ... Fear of the other ... Fear of violence ... Fear of not making it ... Fear of not being accepted ... Fear that it is useless to commit oneself ... Fear of so much, and fear that the world can not change ... Fear of not finding a job (Homily, November 27, 1988). To this gloomy scenario, he used to say that Advent responds with the Gospel of anti-Agora. Because while those who are afraid are on the ground, broken down, the Lord solves problems with his word. He does so through the two verbs of the antiaura, the two verbs typical of Advent: stand up and raise your head (cf Lk 21:28). If fear makes you lie on the ground, the Lord invites you to get up; if negativity pushes you to look down, Jesus invites you to turn your gaze to heaven, from where He will come. Because we are not children of fear, but children of God; because fear is defeated by winning with Jesus, winning the withdrawal from oneself. the confidence to go beyond our own withdrawal.
You know the beauty of the sea well - your sea is beautiful! I will tell you one thing: it is the bluest sea I have seen in my life. Beautiful! This sea embraces you in its grandeur. Looking at it, you can think of the meaning of life: embraced by God, infinite beauty, it can not remain anchored to safe harbours, but it is called to take off, always. The Lord calls each of us to go out into the open sea. We have no need of controllers of the pier or guardians of the lighthouse, but rather confident and courageous sailors, who follow the unprecedented routes indicated by the Lord, throwing the nets of their lives on his word. A private life, without risks and full of fear, which safeguards itself, is not a Christian life. It is a life without fruitfulness. We are not meant for peaceful dreams, but for daring dreams. Then we welcome the invitation of the Gospel, the invitation so often repeated by Don Tonino to stand up, to get up. From where? From the sofas of life: from the comfort that makes you lazy, from the mundanity that makes you sick inside, from the self-pity that darkens. To rise up means to abandon the floor of wickedness, of violence, of ambiguity, because sin ages the earth (Homily, November 27, 1988). Stand up, we look up to the sky. We must also warn of the need to open our hands to others. And the consolation that we will be able to give will heal our fears.
Before giving you my blessing, I would like to greet you with some words of hope: those of the last very short homily that Don Tonino spoke from his bed, while he was waiting for Jesus: My Lord and my God! I too want to see the Risen Lord and to be a source of hope and joy for all people. My Lord and my God! May it be so for us too. Thank you.
(Original text in Italian)
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