Pope: Jesus' liberating action
for a suffering humanity
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| Pope Francis addresses the crowds in St. Peter's Square during Sunday Angelus.- AFP |
Pope Francis on Sunday reflected on the Gospel reading of
the day and invited the Church to continue to go forth into the world bringing
Jesus's salvific message to a suffering humanity.
By Linda Bordoni
Pope Francis on Sunday reflected on how the
miracles performed by Jesus awaken the faith and urged his followers to put
themselves at the service of the Lord and of others.
The Pope’s reflections came during his catechesis during
the Sunday Angelus as he addressed those present in St.
Peter’s Square.
Miracles intend to arouse faith
Francis took his cue from the Gospel reading of the day
which describes a Sabbath in the life of Jesus when he lived in Capernaum. He
said that through healing the sick, the Lord invited those present to
respond. By his healing actions he wanted to arouse faith, and he explained
that the healing of the body aims at healing the heart.
The Pope said that miracles contain an exhortation for every
believer in the sense that “once one is freed from the grips of evil and has
regained his or her strength following the intervention of Jesus” one is
invited to put him or herself at the Lord’s service.
He also pointed out that in the reading the people of the
town crowded in front of the house where Jesus lived, bringing to Him the sick.
Jesus's liberating and renewing action is for a suffering
humanity
“The crowd, marked by physical suffering and spiritual
misery, constitutes, so to speak, ‘the vital environment’ in which Jesus'
mission is accomplished, a mission made of words and gestures that heal and
console” he said.
It is the image, the Pope continued, of a humanity that is
scarred by suffering, labor and problems, and it is to this poor humanity that
Jesus’s powerful, liberating and renewing action is directed.
Francis also commented on how Jesus finds a secluded place
in which to pray, thus subtracting his person and his mission from “a
triumphalist vision that misinterprets the meaning of miracles and their
charismatic power”.
Miracles, he said, are always “signs” that require the
response of faith; they are signs that are accompanied by words that enlighten
us and together “arouse faith and lead to conversion thanks to the divine power
of the grace of Christ”.
Church must continue to 'go forth'
The Pope concluded noting that today's passage also tells us
that that Jesus' proclamation of the Kingdom of God is to be found best
outside, in the streets, and he invited the Church to continue to go forth
bringing its mission and its salvific message into the world – always - he
stressed: in movement, never still!
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