Pope Mass in Lima: Jesus walks
in our cities rekindling hope
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| Pope celebrates Mass at Las Palmas airbase Lima.- AFP |
In the final Mass of his Apostolic Journey to Latin America,
Pope Francis underlined how Jesus continues to walk in our cities and streets,
“in order to rekindle the flame of hope and the aspiration that breakdown can
be overcome by fraternity, injustice defeated by solidarity, violence silenced
by the weapons of peace.”
The Pope during his homily at Las Palmas Airbase in Lima
drew inspiration from the readings of the day in which the Lord speaks to Jonah
saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message
that I tell you” and in which Jesus sets out towards Galilee to preach the Good
News.
Suffering and indifference
The Holy Father noted how at times our cities, “with their
daily situations of pain and injustice, can leave us tempted to flee, to hide,
to run away.” There are those said Pope Francis, “who are found along our
roadsides, living on the fringes of our cities, and lacking the conditions
needed for a dignified existence. It is painful to realize that among
these “urban remnants” all too often we see the faces of children and
adolescents.”
Sowing the seeds of hope
Recalling Sunday’s Gospel reading, the Pope described how
after the arrest of John, Jesus set out to Galilee to proclaim the Gospel of
God. Unlike Jonah, he said, “Jesus reacted to the distressing and unjust
news of John’s arrest by entering the city; he entered Galilee and from its
small towns he began to sow the seeds of a great hope.”
Jesus, commented the Holy Father, “invited his disciples to
experience in the present a taste of eternity: the love of God and
neighbour. Jesus walks through the city with his disciples
and begins to see, to hear, to notice those who have given up in the face of
indifference, laid low by the grave sin of corruption. He begins to bring
to light many situations that had killed the hope of his people and to awaken a
new hope.”
Walk with Jesus in your city
The Pope stressed how “Jesus continues to walk and to awaken
hope, a hope that frees us from empty associations and impersonal
analyses. The kingdom of heaven is among you, he tells us. It is
there wherever we strive to show a little tenderness and compassion...."
God, concluded Pope Francis will never tire of setting out to meet his
children. Today the Lord calls each of you to walk with him in the city,
in your city. "
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