Pope in Assisi: forgiveness can truly renew Church and
world
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis
made a private pilgrimage on Thursday to the Italian town of Assisi and spoke
about the importance of forgiveness, saying only the path of forgiveness can
truly renew the Church and the world. He lamented that “too many people are
caught up in resentment and harbour hatred because they are incapable of
forgiving.” “These people,” he went on, “ruin their own lives and the lives of
those around them.”
The Pope’s words came during
an address delivered inside the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels in Assisi
after earlier going to pray in silence inside the small Porziuncola chapel
where the Italian saint founded the Franciscan order in the 13th century. The
purpose of Pope Francis’ pilgrimage there was to mark the 800th anniversary of
the “Pardon of Assisi” during this Jubilee Year of Mercy.
After addressing those inside
the basilica, the Pope spent about an hour hearing the confessions of 19 people
before greeting the friars and local religious authorities including an Imam
from Perugia. He then went to the nearby infirmary to visit a number of friars
who are ill before going outside where he briefly greeted pilgrims waiting
outside in the square and once again stressed the importance of forgiving others.
Please find below a
translation into English of Pope Francis’ prepared remarks inside Assisi's
Basilica of St Mary of the Angels:
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Today I would like, before all else, to recall the words that, according to an
ancient tradition, Saint Francis spoke in this very place, in the presence of
all the townsfolk and bishops: “I want to send you all to heaven!” What
finer thing could the Poor Man of Assisi ask for, if not the gift of salvation,
eternal life and unending joy, that Jesus won for us by his death and
resurrection?
Besides, what is heaven if not the mystery of love that eternally unites us to
God, to contemplate him forever? The Church has always professed this by
expressing her belief in the communion of saints. We are never alone in
living the faith; we do so in the company of all the saints and of our loved
ones who practised the faith with joyful simplicity and bore witness to it by
their lives. There is a bond, unseen but not for that reason any less
real, which makes us, by baptism, “one body” moved by “one Spirit” (cf. Eph
4:4). When Saint Francis asked Pope Honorius III to grant an indulgence
to all who visited the Porziuncula, he was perhaps thinking of Jesus’ words to
the disciples: “In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, would I
have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And when I go and
prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that
where I am you may be also” (Jn 14:2-3).
Forgiveness – pardon – is surely our direct route to that place in
heaven. Here at the Porziuncola everything speaks to us of pardon!
What a great gift the Lord has given us in teaching us to forgive and in this
way to touch the Father’s mercy! We have just heard the parable where
Jesus teaches us to forgive (cf. Mt 18:21-35). Why should we forgive
someone who has offended us? Because we were forgiven first, and of
infinitely more. The parable says exactly this: just as God has forgiven
us, so we too should forgive those who do us harm. So too does the prayer
that Jesus taught us, the Our Father, in which we say: “Forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors” (Mt 6:12). The debts are our sins
in the sight of God, and our debtors are those whom we, for our part, must
forgive.
Each of us might be that servant in the parable burdened with so great a debt
that he could never repay it. When we kneel before the priest in the
confessional, we do exactly what that servant did. We say, “Lord, have
patience with me”. We are well aware of our many faults and the fact that
we often fall back into the same sins. Yet God never tires of offering us
his forgiveness each time we ask for it. His is a pardon that is full and
complete, one that assures us that, even if we fall back into the same sins, he
is merciful and never ceases to love us. Like the master in the parable,
God feels compassion, a mixture of pity and love; that is how the Gospel
describes God’s mercy towards us. Our Father is moved to compassion
whenever we repent, and he sends us home with hearts calm and at peace.
He tells us that all is remitted and forgiven. God’s forgiveness knows no
limits; it is greater than anything we can imagine and it comes to all who know
in their hearts that they have done wrong and desire to return to
him. God looks at the heart that seeks forgiveness.
The problem, unfortunately, comes whenever we have to deal with a brother or
sister who has even slightly offended us. The reaction described in the
parable describes it perfectly: “He seized him by the throat and said, ‘Pay
what you owe!’” (Mt 18:28). Here we encounter all the drama of our human
relationships. When we are indebted to others, we expect mercy; but when
others are indebted to us, we demand justice! This is a reaction unworthy
of Christ’s disciples, nor is it the sign of a Christian style of life.
Jesus teaches us to forgive and to do so limitlessly: “I do not say to you
seven times, but seventy times seven” (v. 22). What he offers us is the
Father’s love, not our own claims to justice. To trust in the latter
alone would not be the sign that we are Christ’s disciples, who have obtained
mercy at the foot of the cross solely by virtue of the love of the Son of
God. Let us not forget, then, the harsh saying at the end of the
parable: “So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not
forgive your brother from your heart” (v. 35).
Dear brothers and sisters, the pardon of which Saint Francis made himself a
“channel” here at the Porziuncola continues to “bring forth heaven” even after
eight centuries. In this Holy Year of Mercy, it becomes ever clearer that
the path of forgiveness can truly renew the Church and the world. To
offer today’s world the witness of mercy is a task from which none of us can
feel exempted. The world needs forgiveness; too many people are caught up
in resentment and harbour hatred, because they are incapable of forgiving.
They ruin their own lives and the lives of those around them rather than
finding the joy of serenity and peace. Let us ask Saint Francis to
intercede for us, so that we may always be humble signs of forgiveness and
channels of mercy.
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