Pope tells indigenous Mexicans the world needs their
culture and values
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis
on Monday celebrated Mass for the largely indigenous population of the state of
Chiapas in southern Mexico, saying today’s world needs their ancient values and
traditions.
The outdoor Mass, celebrated
at a sports stadium in the town of San Cristobal de Las Casas, included prayers
and readings in several of the local languages. Despite being rich in natural
resources, the southern region remains significantly less developed than the
rest of the country, with high levels of poverty and illiteracy.
In his homily, the Pope noted
that “in a systematic and organized way” the indigenous cultures have been
misunderstood and excluded from society. “Some have considered your
values, culture and traditions to be inferior”, Pope Francis said, while
others, “intoxicated by power, money and market trends, have stolen your lands
or contaminated them”. He stressed that it would be worthwhile for each
person “to examine our conscience and learn to say, “Forgive me!”
In particular Pope Francis said
indigenous peoples have much to teach the rest of the world about “how to
interact harmoniously with nature, which they respect as a “source of food, a
common home and an altar of human sharing”.
Please find below the full
text of the Pope’s homily during Mass at the Municipal Sport Centre in San
Cristóbal de las Casas
‘Li smantal Kajvaltike toj lek’ – The law of the Lord is perfect; it revives
the soul. Thus begins the psalm we have just heard. The law of the
Lord is perfect and the psalmist diligently lists everything that the law
offers to those who hear and follow it: it revives the soul, it gives wisdom to
the simple, it gladdens the heart, and it gives light to the eyes.
This is the law which the people of Israel received from the hand of Moses, a
law that would help the People of God to live in the freedom to which they were
called. A law intended to be a light for the journey and to accompany the
pilgrimage of his people. A people who experienced slavery and the
Pharaoh’s tyranny, who endured suffering and oppression to the point where God
said, “Enough! No more! I have seen their affliction, I have heard their
cry, I know their sufferings” (cf. Ex 3:9). And here the true face of God
is seen, the face of the Father who suffers as he sees the pain, mistreatment,
and lack of justice for his children. His word, his law, thus becomes a symbol
of freedom, a symbol of happiness, wisdom and light. It is an experience,
a reality which is conveyed by a phrase prayed in ‘Popol Vuh’ and born of the
wisdom accumulated in these lands since time immemorial: “The dawn rises on all
of the tribes together. The face of the earth was immediately healed by
the sun” (33). The sun rose for the people who at various times have walked
in the midst of history’s darkest moments.
In this expression, one hears the yearning to live in freedom, there is a
longing which contemplates a promised land where oppression, mistreatment and
humiliation are not the currency of the day. In the heart of man and in
the memory of many of our peoples is imprinted this yearning for a land, for a
time when human corruption will be overcome by fraternity, when injustice will
be conquered by solidarity and when violence will be silenced by peace.
Our Father not only shares this longing, but has himself inspired it and
continues to do so in giving us his son Jesus Christ. In him we discover
the solidarity of the Father who walks by our side. In him, we see how
the perfect law takes flesh, takes a human face, shares our history so as to
walk with and sustain his people. He becomes the Way, he becomes the
Truth, he becomes the Life, so that darkness may not have the last word and the
dawn may not cease to rise on the lives of his sons and daughters.
In many ways there have been attempts to silence and dull this yearning, and in
many ways there have been efforts to anaesthetize our soul, and in many ways
there have been endeavours to subdue and lull our children and young people
into a kind of lassitude by suggesting that nothing can change, that their
dreams can never come true. Faced with these attempts, creation itself
also raises an objection: “This sister now cries out to us because of the harm
we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with
which God has endowed her. We have come to see ourselves as her lords and
masters, entitled to plunder her at will. The violence present in our
hearts, wounded by sin, is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness evident
in the soil, in the water, in the air and in all forms of life. This is
why the earth herself, burdened and laid waste, is among the most abandoned and
maltreated of our poor; she ‘groans in travail’ (Rom 8:22)” (Laudato Si’,
2). The environmental challenge that we are experiencing and its human
causes, affects us all (cf. Laudato Si’, 14) and demands our response. We
can no longer remain silent before one of the greatest environmental crises in
world history.
In this regard, you have much to teach us. Your peoples, as the bishops
of Latin America have recognized, know how to interact harmoniously with
nature, which they respect as a “source of food, a common home and an altar of
human sharing” (Aparecida, 472).
And yet, on many occasions, in a systematic and organized way, your people have
been misunderstood and excluded from society. Some have considered your
values, culture and traditions to be inferior. Others, intoxicated by
power, money and market trends, have stolen your lands or contaminated
them. How sad this is! How worthwhile it would be for each of us to
examine our conscience and learn to say, “Forgive me!” Today’s world,
ravaged as it is by a throwaway culture, needs you!
Exposed to a culture that seeks to suppress all cultural heritage and features
in pursuit of a homogenized world, the youth of today need to cling to the
wisdom of their elders!
Today’s world, overcome by convenience, needs to learn anew the value of
gratitude!
We rejoice in the certainty that “The Creator does not abandon us; he never
forsakes his loving plan or repents of having created us” (Laudato Si’,
13). We rejoice that Jesus continues to die and rise again in each
gesture that we offer to the least of our brothers and sisters. Let us be
resolved to be witnesses to his Passion and his Resurrection, by giving flesh
to these words: Li smantal Kajvaltike toj lek – the law of the Lord is perfect
and comforts the soul.
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét