Pope to Caritas: The Gospel is
our programme of life
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| Pope Francis offers the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass for the opening of the General Assembly of Caritas Internationalis (Vatican Media) |
Humility, communion, and renunciation are three
"essential elements" for the Church to go forward, Pope Francis says
in his homily during Mass with representatives of Caritas Internationalis.
In his homily during Mass for the Opening of the XXI General
Assembly of Caritas Internationalis, Pope Francis reflected on the
“first great meeting in the history of the Church”, described in the day’s
reading from the Acts of the Apostles. He warned against the temptation of a “cult
of efficiency”, of wanting the Church to have everything in order. “The
Lord does not work that way,” but instead sends the Holy Spirit. The Gospel, he
insisted “is our program of life. It teaches us that questions should not be
confronted with a ready-made recipe, and that the faith is not a road map, but
a ‘Way’ to travel together… with a spirit of trust.”
Three essential elements
Pope Francis described “three essential elements for the
Church ‘on its way’: the humility of listening, the charism
of togetherness, the courage of renunciation.”
He began with the “courage renunciation,” letting go of our
own “human convictions and traditions” in order to find the best way of
proclaiming the Gospel. He emphasized the importance of reforming ourselves,
first of all – and not a cosmetic reform, but a “conversion of the heart which
happens through renunciation.”
We can do this, he said, beginning with the “humility of
listening”, allowing the voices of all, and especially the least among us, to
be heard. The Pope said that in order to really hear others, we must be
disinterested in ourselves, willing to listen to and accept other people’s
ideas. Further, we must also “listen to life,” that is, look at reality as it
is, rather than focusing solely on ideas.
“From the humility of listening to the courage of
renunciation, it all passes through the charism of togetherness,”
Pope Francis said. At the meeting in Jerusalem, the Church was gathered around
St Peter, through charity “which does not create uniformity, but communion.”
Although there were strong personalities present, each with their own ideas,
they worked together on account of “the strength of loving each other in the
Lord.”
"Remain in my love"
Finally, Pope Francis turned to the Gospel, where Jesus
calls on His disciples to “Remain in my love.” We do this, the Pope said,
especially by remaining close to Jesus, present in the Holy Eucharist in the
tabernacle; and in the “many living tabernacles who are the poor.” Jesus, he
said, asks us “to remain in Him, not in our own ideas.”
“Let us ask the Lord that He might free us from the cult of
efficiency, from worldliness, from the subtle temptation of worshipping
ourselves and our own prowess, of obsessive organisation,” Pope Francis said in
conclusion. “Let us ask the grace of welcoming the way indicated by the Word of
God: humility, communion, renunciation.”
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