Pope Francis: God's love is faithful beyond reason
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis celebrated Mass in the chapel
of the Santa Marta residence on Thursday morning – the liturgical memory of St.
Elisabeth of Hungary, the devout queen who was a 3rd Order
Franciscan renowned for her solicitude to the needy.
In remarks following the Readings of the Day, Pope Francis
addressed words to the gathered faithful that focused on the episode proclaimed
from the Gospel according to St. Mark, in which Our Lord wept for the sins of
Jerusalem. The Holy Father spoke especially of the stark contrast of God’s
steadfast and faithful love for His people, and His people’s faithlessness –
which is our faithlessness:
“That is what pains the heart of Jesus Christ, this story of
infidelity, this story of not recognizing the caresses of God, the love of God,
a God in love with you who is looking for you, and desirous of seeing you
happy. Jesus saw in that moment [when, shortly before His passion, He wept over
Jerusalem’s sinfulness] what awaited him as the Son – and He wept ... ‘because
they did not recognize the time of their visitation.’. This drama has not only
happened in history and ended with Jesus. It is the drama of every day. It is
even my drama. Can any of us really say, ‘I know how to recognize the hour in
which I have been visited? does God visit me?’”
The Pope went on to highlight the way that the Liturgy of
two days ago – Tuesday – offered occasions to reflect on three moments of God’s
visitation: correction, entering into dialogue with us, and “inviting himself
into our home.” Pope Francis then asked the faithful to make an examination of
conscience, to ask whether each one of us listens to the words of Jesus when He
knocks on our door and says, “Amend your life!” Everyone in fact runs a risk:
“Each of us can fall into the same sin of the people of
Israel, the same sin of Jerusalem, not recognizing the time in which we have
been visited – and every day the Lord visits us, every day He is knocking at
our door – but we must learn to recognize this, that we not end up in that so
painful a situation: ‘The more I loved them, as I called them, the more they
fled from me’. ‘But I am sure of things. I go to Mass, I'm sure ...’. Do
you make a daily examination of conscience on this? Did the Lord visit me
today? Have I heard some call, some inspiration to follow Him more closely, to
do a work of charity, to pray a little more? I do not know, so many things to
which the Lord invites us every day to meet with us.”
It is central therefore to recognize when we are “visited”
by Jesus, and to open ourselves to His love:
“Jesus wept not only for Jerusalem, but for all of us. He
gives His life, that we might recognize his visitation. St. Augustine said a
word, a very strong sentence: ‘I am afraid of God, of Jesus, when He passes!’
But why are you afraid? ‘I’m afraid I will not recognize it!’ If you’re not
careful with your heart, you'll never know if Jesus is visiting you or not. May
the Lord give all of us the grace to recognize the times we have been visited,
we are visited and shall be visited, so that we open the door to Jesus and so
ensure that our heart is more enlarged by love, and that we might therefore
serve the Lord Jesus in love.”
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