Pope Francis homily for Jubilee of the Sick and
Disabled
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis
has decried the pursuit for perfect bodies, saying it leads to society hiding
away the disabled to avoid offending the sensibilities of what he described as
``the privileged few.''
Celebrating Holy Mass on
Sunday in St. Peter's Square for the Jubilee of the Sick and Disabled,
the Pope called for solidarity and mutual acceptance in a world in which a
perfect appearance has become an obsession as wells as “big business”.
Please find below the full
text of Pope Francis’ Homily:
“I have been
crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives
in me” (Gal 2:19). In these words, the Apostle Paul powerfully expresses
the mystery of the Christian life, which can be summed up in the paschal
dynamic of death and resurrection received at baptism. Indeed, through
immersion in water, each of us, as it were, dies and is buried with Christ (cf.
Rom 6:3-4), and remerging, shows forth new life in the Holy Spirit. This
rebirth embraces every aspect of our lives: even sickness, suffering and death
are taken up in Christ and in him find their ultimate meaning. Today, on
the Jubilee day devoted to the sick and bearers of disabilities, this word of
life has a special resonance for our assembly.
Each of
us, sooner or later, is called to face – at times painfully – frailty and
illness, both our own and those of others. How many different faces do
these common yet dramatically human experiences take! Yet all of them directly
raise the pressing question of the meaning of life. Our hearts may
quietly yield to cynicism, as if the only solution were simply to put up with
these experiences, trusting only in our own strength. Or we may put
complete trust in science, thinking that surely somewhere in the world there is
a medicine capable of curing the illness. Sadly, however, this is not
always the case, and, even if the medicine did exist, it would be accessible to
very few people.
Human
nature, wounded by sin, is marked by limitations. We are familiar with
the objections raised, especially nowadays, to a life characterized by serious
physical limitations. It is thought that sick or disabled persons cannot
be happy, since they cannot live the lifestyle held up by the culture of
pleasure and entertainment. In an age when care for one’s body has become
an obsession and a big business, anything imperfect has to be hidden away,
since it threatens the happiness and serenity of the privileged few and
endangers the dominant model. Such persons should best be kept apart, in
some “enclosure” – even a gilded one – or in “islands” of pietism or social
welfare, so that they do not hold back the pace of a false well-being. In
some cases, we are even told that it is better to eliminate them as soon as
possible, because they become an unacceptable economic burden in time of
crisis. Yet what an illusion it is when people today shut their eyes in
the face of sickness and disability! They fail to understand the real
meaning of life, which also has to do with accepting suffering and limitations.
The world does not become better because only apparently “perfect” people
live there – I say “perfect” rather than “false” – but when human solidarity,
mutual acceptance and respect increase. How true are the words of the
Apostle: “God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong” (1 Cor
1:27)!
This
Sunday’s Gospel (Lk 7:36-8:3) presents us with a specific situation of
weakness. The woman caught in sin is judged and rejected, yet Jesus
accepts and defends her: “She has shown great love” (7:47). This is the
conclusion of Jesus, who is attentive to her suffering and her plea. This
tenderness is a sign of the love that God shows to those who suffer and are
cast aside. Suffering need not only be physical; one of today’s most
frequent pathologies is also spiritual. It is a suffering of the heart;
it causes sadness for lack of love. It is the pathology of sadness. When
we experience disappointment or betrayal in important relationships, we come to
realize how vulnerable and defenceless we are. The temptation to become
self-absorbed grows stronger, and we risk losing life’s greatest opportunity:
to love in spite of everything!
The
happiness that everyone desires, for that matter, can be expressed in any number
of ways and attained only if we are capable of loving. This is the way.
It is always a matter of love; there is no other path. The true
challenge is that of who loves the most. How many disabled and suffering
persons open their hearts to life again as soon as they realize they are loved!
How much love can well up in a heart simply with a smile! The
therapy of smiling. Then our frailness itself can become a source of
consolation and support in our solitude. Jesus, in his passion, loved us
to the end (cf. Jn 13:1); on the cross he revealed the love that bestows
itself without limits. Can we reproach God for our infirmities and
sufferings when we realize how much suffering shows on the face of his
crucified Son? His physical pain was accompanied by mockery,
condescension and scorn, yet he responds with a mercy that accepts and forgives
everything: “by his wounds we are healed” (Is 53:5; 1 Pet 2:24). Jesus is
the physician who heals with the medicine of love, for he takes upon himself
our suffering and redeems it. We know that God can understand our
infirmities, because he himself has personally experienced them (cf. Heb 4:15).
The way we
experience illness and disability is an index of the love we are ready to
offer. The way we face suffering and limitation is the measure of our
freedom to give meaning to life’s experiences, even when they strike us as
meaningless and unmerited. Let us not be disturbed, then, by these
tribulations (cf. 1 Th 3:3). We know that in weakness we can become strong
(cf. 2 Cor 12:10) and receive the grace to fill up what is lacking in the
sufferings of Christ for his body, the Church (cf. Col 1:24). For that
body, in the image of the risen Lord’s own, keeps its wounds, the mark of a
hard struggle, but they are wounds transfigured for ever by love.
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét