ADDRESS
OF HOLY FATHER FRANCIS
TO PARTICIPANTS IN THE PILGRIMAGE OF CATECHISTS
ON THE OCCASION OF THE YEAR OF FAITH AND
OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON CATECHESIS
TO PARTICIPANTS IN THE PILGRIMAGE OF CATECHISTS
ON THE OCCASION OF THE YEAR OF FAITH AND
OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON CATECHESIS
Paul
VI Audience Hall
Friday, 27 September 2013
Friday, 27 September 2013
Dear Catechists,
Good evening!
Good evening!
I am pleased that this
meeting was organized for the Year of Faith. Catechesis is a pillar of
faith education and we need good catechists! Thank you for your service
to the Church and in the Church. Even if at times it may be difficult and
require a great deal of work, and although the results are not always what we
hope for, teaching the faith is something beautiful! It is perhaps the
best legacy we can pass on: the faith! To educate in the faith, to make
it grow. To help children, young people and adults to know and love the
Lord more and more is one of the most exciting aspects of education. It
builds up the Church! To “be” catechists! Not to “work” as
catechists: this will not do. I work as a catechist because I like to
teach… But unless you “are” a catechist, it is no good! You will not be
successful … you will not bear fruit! Catechesis is a vocation:
“being a catechist”, this is the vocation, not working as a catechist. So
keep this in mind: I didn’t say to do the “work” of catechists, but to “be”
catechists, because this is something that embraces our whole life. It
means leading people to encounter Christ by our words and our lives, by giving
witness. Remember what Benedict XVI said: “The Church does not grow by
proselytizing; she grows by attracting others”. And what attracts is our
witness. Being a catechist means witnessing to the faith, being
consistent in our personal life. This is not easy! We help, we lead
others to Jesus with our words and our lives, with our witness. I like to
recall what Saint Francis of Assisi used to say to his friars: “Preach the
Gospel at all times; if necessary, use words”. Words come… but witness
comes first: people should see the Gospel, read the Gospel, in our lives.
To “be” a catechist requires love, an ever stronger love for Christ, a love for
his holy people. And this love can’t be bought in stores, even in
Rome. This love comes from Christ! It is Christ’s gift! And
if it comes from Christ, it also starts with Christ, and we too need to start
anew with Christ, from the love he gives us. What does thisstarting
anew from Christ mean for a catechist? For you, but also for me,
since I am a catechist too? What does it mean?
I am going to speak
about three things: one, two, three, the way the old-fashioned Jesuits did…
one, two, three!
1. First of all, to
start anew from Christ means being close to him, being close to
Jesus Jesus stresses the importance of this with the disciples at the
Last Supper, as he prepared to give us his own greatest gift of love, his
sacrifice on the Cross. Jesus uses the image of the vine and the branches
and says: Abide in my love, remain attached to me, as the branch is attached to
the vine. If we are joined to him, then we are able to bear fruit.
This is what it means to be close to Christ. Abide in Jesus! This
means remaining attached to him, in him, with him, talking to him. Abide
in Jesus!
The first thing for a
disciple is to be with the Master, to listen to him and to learn from him. This
is always true, and it is true at every moment of our lives. I remember,
in the diocese, the other diocese I had first, how I would often see catechists
finish their training courses and say: “I have the title of catechist!”
This means nothing, you have nothing, you took a little journey. What
good will it do you? But one thing is true. Being a catechist is
not a title, it is an attitude: abiding with him, and it lasts for a
lifetime! It means abiding in the Lord’s presence and letting ourselves
be led by him. I ask you: How do you abide in the presence of the
Lord? When you visit the Lord, when you look at the tabernacle, what do
you do? Without speaking… “But I speak, I talk, I think, I meditate, I
listen…” Very good! But do you let yourself be looked at by the
Lord? Letting ourselves be gazed upon by the Lord. He looks at us
and this is itself a way of praying. Do you yourselves be gazed upon by
the Lord? But how do you do this? You look at the tabernacle and
you let yourselves be looked at… it is simple! “It is a bit boring, I
fall asleep”. Fall asleep then, sleep! He is still looking at
you. But know for sure that he is looking at you! This is much more
important than having the title of catechist. It is part of “being” a
catechist. This warms the heart, igniting the fire of friendship with the
Lord, making you feel that he truly sees you, that he is close to you and loves
you. In one of my visits here in Rome, at a Mass, a fairly young man came
up to me and said: “Father, it is nice to meet you, but I don’t believe in
anything! I don’t have the gift of faith!” He understood that faith
is a gift. “I don’t have the gift of faith! What do you have to say
to me?” “Don’t be discouraged. God loves you. Let yourself be
gazed upon by him! Nothing else”. And this is the same thing I
would say to you: Let yourselves be gazed at by the Lord! I understand
that for you it is not so easy; especially for those who are married and have
children, it is difficult to find a long period of quiet time. Yet, thanks be
to God, it is not necessary for everyone to do this in the same way. In
the Church, there are a variety of vocations and a variety of
spiritualities. What is important is to find the way best suited for you
to be with the Lord, and this everyone can do; it is possible for every state
of life. Now each one of you could ask: how am I experiencing “being”
with Jesus? This is a question I leave you: “How do I experience this
remaining with Jesus, abiding in Jesus? Do I find time to remain in his
presence, in silence, to be looked upon by him? Do I let his fire warm my
heart? If the warmth of God, of his love, of his tenderness is not in our
own hearts, then how can we, who are poor sinners, warm the heart of
others? Think about it!
2. The second – two! –
element is this: starting anew with Christ means imitating
him by leaving ourselves behind and going out to encounter others.
This is a beautiful experience, and yet a paradox. Why? Because
when we put Christ at the centre of our life, we ourselves don’t become the
centre! The more that you unite yourself to Christ and he becomes the
centre of your life, the more he leads you out of yourself, leads you from
making yourself the centre and opens you to others. This is the true
dynamism of love, this is the movement of God himself! God is the centre,
but he is always self-gift, relationship, love that gives itself away . . . and
this is what we will become if we remain united to Christ. He will draw
us into this dynamism of love. Where there is true life in Christ, there
follows an openness to others, and so a going out from oneself to encounter
others in the name of Christ. And this is the job of the catechist:
constantly to go forth to others out of love, to bear witness to Jesus and to
talk about Jesus, to proclaim Jesus. This is important because the Lord
does it: it is the Lord himself who impels us to go forth.
The heart of a catechist
always beats with this systolic and diastolic movement: union with Christ –
encounter with others. Both of these: I am one with Jesus and I go forth
to encounter others. If one of these movements is missing, the heart no
longer beats, it can no longer live. The heart of the catechist receives
the gift of the kerygma, and in turn offers it to others as a gift. What
a little word: “gift”! The catechist is conscious of having received a
gift, the gift of faith, and he or she then gives that gift in turn to
others. This is something beautiful. We don’t keep a percentage for
ourselves! Whatever we receive, we give! This is not
commerce! It is not a business! It is pure gift: a gift received
and a gift given. And the catechist is right there, at the centre of this
exchange of gifts. That is the nature itself of the kerygma: it is a gift
that generates mission, that compels us to go beyond ourselves. Saint
Paul says that “the love of Christ compels us”, but this “compels us” can also
be translated as “possesses us”. And so it is: love attracts us and sends
us; it draws us in and gives us to others. This tension marks the beating
of the heart of the Christian, especially the heart of the catechist. Let
us all ask ourselves: Is this what causes my heart to beat as a catechist,
union with Christ and encounter with others? With this movement of
“systole and diastole”? Are we being fed by our relationship with the
Lord, so that we can bring him to others, and not to keep it for
ourselves? I’ll tell you, I don’t understand how a catechist can remain
stationary, without this movement. I don’t understand!
3. The third element –
three! – is along these lines: starting anew with Christ means not
being afraid to go with him to the outskirts. Here I think of the
story of Jonah, a really interesting figure, especially for these times of
great change and uncertainty. Jonah is a devout man, with a tranquil and
ordered life, which causes him to have a clear-cut way of seeing things and to
judge everything and everyone accordingly. He has it all figured out:
this is the truth! He is rigid! So, when the Lord called him and
told him to go and preach to Nineveh, the great pagan city, Jonah doesn’t like
it. “Go there? But I have the whole truth here!” He doesn’t
like it. Nineveh is outside his comfort zone; it is on the outskirts of
his world. So he escapes, he sets off for Spain; he runs away and boards
a ship that will take him there. Go and re-read the Book of Jonah!
It is short, but it is a very instructive parable, especially for those of us
in the Church.
What does all this teach
us? It teaches us not to be afraid to pass beyond our comfort zone and to
follow God, because God is always pushing, pressing forward. But do you
know something? God is not afraid! Do you realize this? He
isn’t afraid. He is always bigger than our little way of seeing
things! God is not afraid of the outskirts. If you go to the
outskirts, you will find him there. God is always faithful and
creative. But, really, is there such a thing as a catechist who is not
creative? Creativity is what sustains us as catechists. God is
creative, he is not closed, and so he is never inflexible. God is not
rigid! He welcomes us; he meets us; he understands us. To be
faithful, to be creative; we need to be able to change. To change!
And why must I change? So that I can adapt to the situations in which I
must proclaim the Gospel. To stay close to God, we need to know how to
set out, we must not be afraid to set out. If a catechist gives in to
fear, then he or she is a coward. If a catechist has an easy time of it,
he or she will end up being a statue in a museum. We have a lot of
these! Please, no more statues in the museum! If a catechist is
rigid, he or she will dry up and wither. I ask you: does any of you want
to be a coward, a statue in a museum, dried up and withered? Is that what
you want to be? [the catechists reply: No!] No? Are you
sure? Good! I am now going to say something I have already said
many times before, but it comes from the heart. Whenever we Christians are
enclosed in our groups, our movements, our parishes, in our little worlds, we
remain closed, and the same thing happens to us that happens to anything
closed: when a room is closed, it begins to get dank. If a person is
closed up in that room, he or she becomes ill! Whenever Christians are
enclosed in their groups, parishes, movements, they take ill. If a
Christian goes to the streets, or to the outskirts, he or she may risk the same
thing that can happen to anyone out there: an accident. How often have we
seen accidents on the road! But I am telling you: I would prefer a
thousand times over a bruised Church than an ill Church! A Church, a
catechist, with the courage to risk going out, and not a catechist who is
studious, knows everything, but is always closed: such a person is not well.
And sometimes he is not well in the head….
But careful! Jesus
does not say: Go off and do things on your own. No! That is not
what he is saying. Jesus says: Go, for I am with you! This is what
is so beautiful for us; it is what guides us. If we go out to bring his
Gospel with love, with a true apostolic spirit, with parrhesia, he
walks with us, he goes ahead of us, he gets there first. As we say in
Spanish, primerea. By now you know what I mean by this.
It is the same thing that the Bible tells us. In the Bible, the Lord
says: I am like the flower of the almond. Why? Because that is the
first flower to blossom in the spring. He is always the
first! This is fundamental for us: God is always ahead of us!
When we think about going far away, to an extreme outskirt, we may be a bit
afraid, but in fact God is already there. Jesus is waiting for us in the
hearts of our brothers and sisters, in their wounded bodies, in their
hardships, in their lack of faith. But can I tell you about one of the
“outskirts” which breaks my heart? I saw it in my first diocese. It
is children who don’t even know how to make the sign of the cross. In
Buenos Aires there are many children who can’t make the sign of the
cross. This is one of the “outskirts”! And Jesus is there, waiting
for you to help that child to make the sign of the cross. He’s always
there first.
Dear catechists, I have
made my three points. Always start anew from Christ! I thank you
for everything that you do, but above all, because you are part of the Church,
the pilgrim People of God, and you accompany God’s People on that
pilgrimage. Let us remain with Christ – abiding in Christ – and let us
always try to be one with him. Let us follow him, let us imitate him in
his movement of love, in his going forth to meet humanity. Let us go
forth and open doors. Let us have the audacity to mark out new paths for
proclaiming the Gospel.
May the Lord bless you
and the Blessed Mother be always at your side. Thank you!
Mary is our Mother,
Mary always leads us to Jesus!
Mary always leads us to Jesus!
Let us say a prayers for
one another to Our Lady.
[Hail Mary]
[Blessing]
Thank you very much!
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