Pope Francis at Mass: Overcome indifference, build a
culture of encounter
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis
says "an encounter with Jesus overcomes our indifference" and warned
against bad habits that, even within a family, prevent us from truly listening
to others and empathising with them. The Pope’s comments came during his homily
at Tuesday’s Mass celebrated at the Santa Marta residence.
Taking his inspiration from
the gospel reading where Jesus brought back from the dead the only son of a
widow, Pope Francis lamented that often when people meet each other, “each of
them is thinking of themselves, they can see the other person but are not looking
at him or her, they can hear that person but are not listening to him or
her.”
“An encounter is something
different. It is what today’s Gospel proclaims to us: an encounter; an
encounter between a man and a woman, between an only living son and an only son
who had died; among a joyful crowd because they had encountered Jesus and were
following him and a group of people, weeping, accompanying that woman, who had
come out from the gate of the city; an encounter between the exit gate and the
entry gate. The sheep fold. An encounter that makes us reflect on our way of
interacting with each other.”
In the Gospel, the Pope
continued, we read that Jesus “was moved with pity.” He pointed out that the
pity felt by Christ is not the same as we have when going out in the streets,
we see something sad (and say) ‘what a shame!’ Jesus doesn’t pass by, he is
moved with pity. He goes up to the woman for a real encounter and then performs
the miracle.
An encounter with Jesus
overcomes indifference and restores dignity
In this gospel encounter,
explained the Pope, we not only see his tenderness but also the fruitfulness of
that encounter that restores people and things to their proper place.
“We are accustomed to a
culture of indifference and we must strive and ask for the grace to create a
culture of encounter, of a fruitful encounter, of an encounter that restores to
each person his or her own dignity as a child of God, the dignity of a living
person. We are accustomed to this indifference, when we see the disasters of
this world or small things: ‘What a shame, poor people, look how they are
suffering,’ and then we carry on. An encounter. And if I don’t look, it’s
not enough to see, no, (we must) look – if I don’t stop, if I don’t look, if I
don’t touch, if I don’t speak, I cannot have an encounter and I cannot help to
build a culture of encounter.”
Within the family we must
live a true encounter and at the table we must listen to each other
The message from today’s
reading, said Pope Francis, stems from that encounter between Jesus and his
people and we all are in need of his Word and need that encounter with Him.
“In our families, at the
dinner table, how many times while eating, do people watch the TV or write
messages on their cell phones. Each one is indifferent to that encounter. Even
within the heart of society, which is the family, there is no encounter. May
this help us to strive for this culture of encounter, just as simply as Jesus
did so. Not just see but look. Not just hear but listen. Not just meet and pass
by but stop. And don’t just say ‘what a shame, poor people,’ but allow
ourselves to be moved by pity. And then draw near, touch and say in the
language that comes to each one of us in that moment, the language of the
heart: ‘Do not weep,’ and donate at the very least a drop of life.”
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét