Pope urges movement towards Christian unity 60 years after the meeting between Paul VI and Athenagoras
At the Angelus of the Epiphany, citing the historic meeting of 1964 that tore “down a wall of incommunicability that had kept Catholics and Orthodox apart for centuries”, Pope Francis urged the faithful to “learn from the embrace” of pope and patriarch. He renewed his appeal for peace in the Middle East and the world, lamenting “So many victims of war” and “so much destruction”. On Missionary Childhood Day, the pontiff thanked “missionary children and young people throughout the world” for supporting “the proclamation of the Gospel”.
Vatican City (AsiaNews) – Today, Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord, Pope Francis spoke from the Apostolic Palace to a crowd of some 6,000 people gathered for the Angelus after presiding over Holy Mass at 10 am in St Peter's Basilica.
In his address, the pontiff praised the meeting between Saint Paul VI and the Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras, which took place in Jerusalem on 5 January 1964, for “breaking down a wall of incommunicability that had kept Catholics and Orthodox apart”. Hence, “Let us learn from the embrace of those two great men of the Church on the path to Christian unity, praying together, walking together, working together.”
Francis also referred to Missionary Childhood Day, which is celebrated today. “I greet missionary children and young people throughout the world. I thank them for their commitment in prayer and in concrete support of the proclamation of the Gospel,” the Holy Father said.
After mentioning the meeting 60 years ago, the pope issued yet another appeal for peace. “[T]hinking of that historic gesture of fraternity in Jerusalem, let us pray for peace, for peace in the Middle East, in Palestine, in Israel, in Ukraine, all over the world,” noted Francis, adding that the absence of peace has caused “So many victims of war, so many deaths, so much destruction”.
The pope also expressed his closeness to the Iranian people, “in particular the relatives of the many victims of the terrorist attack that occurred in Kerman, the many who were injured and all those who were affected by this great suffering.”
On Thursday, the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for an attack near the tomb of General Qasem Soleimani that killed 84 people.
Earlier, in his homily, the pontiff focused on three traits associated with the Magi, who, in today's Gospel passage (Mt 2:1-12), set out in search of the “Child who has been born King of the Jews” to meet him and “pay him homage” (Mt 3).
This is the “image of the world’s peoples journeying in search of God,” he said: "foreigners", those “from afar ", and " all those who were lost”, characterised by three aspects: “their eyes raised to the heavens, yet their feet [. . .] journeying on the earth, and their hearts [. . .] bowed in adoration.”
Speaking of the first, the pope said that the Magi “are filled with longing for the infinite, and so they gaze at the stars of the evening sky.” For this reason, they are not “self-absorbed, confined by earthly horizons,” but “lift their heads high and await the light that can illumine the meaning of their lives”, seeing the star that “fascinates them and makes them set out on a journey”.
For Francis, this is the essence of existence, which is extinguished if, instead of seeking “life and love”, we live “in the narrow confines of earthly things, if we waste away, heads bowed, hostages of our failures and our regrets; if we thirst for wealth and worldly comforts”.
We need to look upwards, into the journey of life, faith and in the Church. In the latter, “instead of splitting into groups based on our own ideas, we are called to put God back at the centre”; in short, “We need to let go of ecclesiastical ideologies so that we can discover” the Church’s “ecclesial vocation”.
With respect to the second aspect that characterises the Magi, who “had feet journeying on the earth,” Francis said: “Lifting their eyes on high, they are directed to lower them to this world. Seeking God, they are directed to find him in man, in a little Child lying in a manger. For that is where the God who is infinitely great has revealed himself: in the little, the infinitely little.”
Feet on the road, everyone is called to enlighten with faith the “dark shadows that envelop so many situations in our societies.”
in so doing, “We find the God who comes down to visit us, not by basking in some elegant religious theory, but by setting out on a journey,” the pontiff explained. We meet him in "everyday life", above all in " touching the flesh of our brothers and sisters”, especially the most fragile, the most disadvantaged and poorest.
“Contemplating God is beautiful, but it is only fruitful if we take a risk, the risk of the service of bringing God to others.”
Quoting Benedict XVI from his address on the day of the Epiphany in 2008, Francis noted that, “we need people who nourish great hope and thus have great courage: the courage of the Magi, who [. . .] were able to kneel before a Child”.
The last trait of the Magi the pontiff mentioned is having “hearts bowed in adoration”. The wise men “observe the star in the heavens, but they do not take refuge in otherworldly devotion; they set out, but they do not wander about, like tourists without a destination.”
Instead, they travelled to Bethlehem, where, standing before the Child, “they knelt down and paid him homage " (Mt 2:11), offering him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
That child is the “King who came to serve us, a God who became man," added Francis, who urged the faithful to worship him today, he “who comes in littleness, who dwells in our homes, who dies for love.”
Speaking about adoration, Francis lamented that it is something that has been lost. Responding to the invitation of those who "came from the East" (Mt 2), he said, “let us raise our eyes to the heavens, let us set out to seek the Lord, let us bow our hearts in adoration. Looking to the heavens, setting out on a journey and adoring.”
Finally, Francis urged the faithful to find the courage to seek God, to persevere on the paths of the world “with the fatigue of a real journey, and the courage to adore, the courage to gaze upon the Lord who enlightens every man and woman.”
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06/01/2017 15:19
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