Pope: the mission and mercy are the foundation of the faith, and every Christian is a Christopher
Francis opens the jubilee general audiences with a reflection on the "wonderful circularity" between mission and mercy. The actual sign that we met Jesus "is the joy we feel in communicating it to others”. For the pontiff, “this this is not proselytising. It is giving a gift. I give you what gives me joy.” The pope ends calling on the crowd to pray for Ms Elvira, who worked at Casa Santa Marta, and was called by the Lord.
Vatican City (AsiaNews) – In his first, special monthly Jubilee general audience during this Year of Mercy, Pope Francis on Saturday spoke about the “wonderful circularity between mercy and mission”, noting that “The Church lives an authentic life when she professes and proclaims mercy . . . and when she brings people close to the sources of . . . mercy”.
After a long tour among the crowd in the square, the Gospel is announced about the first encounter between Christ and Peter, led by his brother to meet the Messiah. The pope began his meditation noting how "we enter, day after day, into the heart of the Holy Year of Mercy live Holy. Through his grace, the Lord guides our steps as we pass through the Holy Door and meets us to remain always with us, despite our failings and contradictions. Let us never grow weary of feeling the need for His forgiveness, because when we are weak his closeness can make us strong and can enable us to live our faith with greater joy."
“As Christians we have the responsibility to be missionaries of the Gospel. When we hear good news, or when we undergo a beautiful experience, it is natural to feel the need to share it with others. We feel we cannot hold inside the joy that was given to us;” instead, “we want to spread it. "
“Such joy,” the pope explained, “encourages us to communicate it. The same should happen when we meet the Lord: the joy of this encounter, of His mercy . . . of communicating God's mercy. In fact, the actual sign that we really met Jesus is the joy we feel in communicating it to others." Speaking without his written text, the pontiff noted that “this is not proselytising. It is giving a gift. I give you what gives me joy.”
Encountering Jesus, Francis said, "is like meeting one’s love. This love transforms us and makes us able to pass onto others the strength that it gives us. At some level, we can say that from the day of our baptism onward, each one of us is given another name in addition to the one our mother and our father gave us. That name is 'Christopher', which means ‘Christ-bearer’. [It is] the name of our attitude, the attitude of the one who bears Christ’s joy and Christ's mercy. Every Christian is a Christopher, i.e. a Christ-bearer."
“The mercy that we receive from the Father,” he said in concluding, "is not given to us as a [form of] private consolation”. Instead, “it makes of us tools so that others can receive the same gift. There is a wonderful circularity between mercy and mission. Living in mercy makes us missionaries of mercy, and being missionaries allows us to grow more and more in God’ mercy. Therefore, let us take seriously our being Christian, and let us strive to live as believers, because only this way can the Gospel touch people’s hearts and open it to welcome the grace of love."
“Some of you,” Francis said before the greetings in Italian, "have wondered how the pope’s home is? Where does the pope live? The pope lives in the back, here, at Casa Santa Marta. It is a big house, home to about forty priests and some bishops, who work with me in the Curia. It also hosts some guests – cardinals, bishops, lay people – who come to Rome for meetings in the dicasteries and such things . . .”
“A group of men and women do the house work: cleaning, cooking, setting the dinner table. These men and women are part of our family; they form a family. They are not distant employees, no [they are not]. We want them as our family.
“Let me tell you that today the pope is a bit sad because yesterday a woman who helped us a lot for many years passed away. Her husband too works with us. After a long illness, the Lord called her to him. Her name is Elvira. Please, today do two works of mercy: pray for the dead and console those who mourn them. Please, say a Hail Mary for Elvira’s eternal peace and that the Lord may console her husband and children."
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