“In many people, doubts may emerge that God, although he is the Father, he may also be a master. In such a situation, it may not seem best to entrust ourselves fully to him because he might ask something too challenging or even put us to the test. This however is a big deception. It is the ancient deception of the enemy of God and man, who hides reality and disguises good as evil.”

Vatican City (AsiaNews) – Pope Francis thanked the Don Guanella Servants of Charity for their work in favour of the poor, the disabled and the sick. He expressed his gratitude during a private audience with representatives of the Don Guanella family who are celebrating their patron.

In today's world, the pontiff noted, "the greatest famine is that of charity: we need, most of all, people with eyes renewed by love and a gaze that inspires hope, a gaze that can see those who are near, especially if they are poor, because, as don Luigi Guanella put it, “'misery cannot wait”.

For the pope, what encapsulates don Luigi’s views to uphold the faith, hope and charity of the Guanelli Family are the verbs to “trust, look and make haste".

The first verb is to trust.  For the pope, "trust" is "the certainty that God is a provident and merciful Father." As such, “God cannot but love us. He cannot stay away from his children. If we are distant from Him, he waits for us. When we get closer, he embraces us. If we fall, he helps us up. If we repent, he forgives us. He always wants to meet us. Saint Luigi believed in the Father’s concrete and provident love so much that he often had the courage of going beyond the limits of human prudence in order to put the Gospel into practice. Providence for him was not a ‘poem’ but a reality. God takes care for us and wants us to trust Him."

“I think,” Francis added, our “heavenly Father is greatly displeased when he sees that His children do not fully trust Him. Perhaps they believe in a distant God, rather than in a merciful Father. In many people, doubts may emerge that God, although he is the Father, he may also be a master. In such a situation, it may not seem best to entrust ourselves fully to him because he might ask something too challenging or even put us to the test. This however is a big deception. It is the ancient deception of the enemy of God and man, who hides reality and disguises good as evil. It is the first temptation: to distance oneself from God, intimidated by the suspicion that His fatherhood is not truly provident and good. In reality, God is all but love, pure and provident love. He loves us more than we love ourselves, and knows what is truly good for us. He therefore hopes that during our life we may become what we are at the moment of our Baptism: beloved children, able to vanquish fear and not give in to complaints because the Father takes care of us”.

The second verb is to look. “Father the Creator also spawns creativity in those who live like His children. Then they learn to look at the world through new eyes, made more luminous by love and hope. They are eyes that enable us to look inside ourselves with truth, and see far in charity. By looking this way, others do not appear as obstacles to overcome but as brothers and sisters to be welcomed. This way we can see, as Don Guanella said, that loving one’s neighbour is the comfort of life'.

“There is never any lack of problems in the world, and our time unfortunately knows new forms of poverty and many injustices. But the greatest famine of all is that of charity; we need, most of all, people with eyes renewed by love and a gaze that inspires hope, because ‘hope will lead ways and words to comfort the weak,’ your founder also used to say.”

“At times, our spiritual point of view is short-sighted because we are not able to see beyond our own ego. At other times, we are long-sighted: we like to help those who are far away but are not able to reach down to those who live next to us. Sometimes, we would rather close our eyes because we are tired and overcome by pessimism. Don Guanella, who suggested we look at Jesus starting from His heart, urged us to have the same gaze as the Lord, a gaze that inspires hope and joy, one that can also have a 'profound feeling of compassion' towards those who suffer.”

“Finally,” the third verb is “to make haste: ‘The poor are the Father’s favoured sons’, Saint Luigi used to say. He liked to repeat that 'those who give to the poor lend to God'. Just as the Father is delicate and concrete with regard to his smallest and weakest children, so we too cannot expect our brothers and sisters in difficulty to wait for, again in the words of Don Guanella, 'misery cannot wait’. We cannot stop as long as there are poor people to tend to'. The Virgin made haste to reach her cousin Elizabeth (cf. Lk 1:39). We too can heed the Spirit’s call to reach out right away to those who need our care and affection, because, as Saint Luigi taught, 'a Christian heart that believes and feels cannot pass by the indigence of the poor without helping'."

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