The real power of the Pope is to serve the most vulnerable
Explosions of popular joy alternating with silences of intense prayer. Francis has spoken out this morning in St. Peter’s Square for the inaugural mass, which officially began his pontificate. Before receiving from the hands of Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran and Angelo Sodano respectively the pallium and the ring of the fisherman, the Pope chose the coat of arms and the motto of his pontificate.
“Miserable atque eligendo” is the cliche insert in his papal coat of arms. The Pope at one point he did stop the jeep to go down into the crowd and kiss a paraplegic. More than 130 delegations from around the world are: 31 heads of state, six reigning monarchs, hereditary 3 Principles, 11 heads of government. Thirty-three delegations from churches and Christian denominations, including the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I. Also present were the delegation Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, sick, Jain. 180 concelebrants. The Pope fell in procession with the Patriarchs of the Eastern Churches at the Tomb of St. Peter.
Then Francis Comment starting from the Gospel passage where it says that “Joseph did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary as his wife.” “In these words – he says – is already contained the mission that God entrusts to Joseph, to be custos, keeper.
Custodian of whom? Mary and Jesus, but it is an enclosure which is then extended to the Church, as pointed out by the Blessed John Paul II: St. Joseph took loving care of Mary and gladly dedicated himself to the education of Jesus Christ, so and protects his Mystical Body, the Church, of which the Blessed Virgin is the exemplar and model.The Pope asks, “How Joseph exercises this case? With discretion, with humility, in silence, but with a constant and total fidelity, even when it includes. His marriage to Mary until the episode of Jesus in the Temple of Jerusalem, served with care and all the love in every moment.
And next to Mary, his betrothed in moments of joy and in those difficult times in life, the journey to Bethlehem for the census and hours of anxious and joyful birth, the dramatic moment of the flight into Egypt and the desperate search for his son at the Temple, and then in everyday home of Nazareth, in the laboratory where he taught the craft to Jesus.
Then he adds: “As Joseph lives his vocation as a guardian of Mary, Jesus, the Church? Constant attention to God, open to its signs, available on his project, not so much to their, and it is what God asks David, as we heard in the First Reading: God does not want a house built by man, but want the faithfulness to his word, his plan, and it is God who builds the house, but of living stones marked by his Spirit.
Joseph is “keeper”, because God knows how to listen, is guided by his will, and for this reason it is even more sensitive to the people entrusted to him, knows how to read a realistic events, is attentive to his surroundings, and knows how to make the wisest decisions. In him, dear friends, let’s see how you respond to God’s call, with willingness, readiness, but we also see what is the center of the Christian vocation: Christ! Us keep Christ in our lives, to keep the others, protect creation. “
The vocation of the guard, though – he continued – not only about us Christians, has a dimension that precedes and is merely human concerns everyone. And ‘how to cherish the whole of creation, the beauty of creation, as we are told in the Book of Genesis and showed us how St. Francis of Assisi is to have respect for every creature of God and for the environment in which we live.
How to cherish the people, the taking care of everyone, each person with love, especially children, the elderly, those who are most vulnerable and who are often on the outskirts of our hearts. E ‘to take care of each other in the family: the spouses hold each other, then as parents take care of children, and in time even the children become caretakers of their parents.
Living with sincerity and friendships that are a mutual custodirsi in confidence, respect, and in doing good. After all, everything is entrusted to the care of man, and it is a responsibility that affects us all. Be stewards of God’s gifts.
Then notes that “when man fails in this responsibility to guard, when we do not take care of creation and of the brothers, then find space destruction and heart dries up. In every period of history, unfortunately, there are “Herod” who plot and deadly, destroy and disfigure the face of man and woman. “
So, an invitation: “I would ask, please, to all those who occupy positions of responsibility in the economic, political or social, to all men and women of good will, we are” keepers “of creation, of God’s plan inscribed in the nature, the guardians of the other, the environment, do not let the signs of destruction and death accompany the journey of our world!
But in order to “keep” we must also take care of ourselves! Remember that the hatred, envy, pride, dirty life! Does it mean to keep watch over our feelings, our heart, because it is from there that good and evil intentions emerge: those who build and those who destroy! We should not be afraid of goodness, indeed even of tenderness.
Then add an additional note: “caring, the guard asks goodness, asks to be lived with tenderness.In the Gospels, St. Joseph looks like a strong man, brave, worker, but in his soul emerges a great tenderness, which is the virtue of the weak, on the contrary, denotes strength of mind and ability to focus, compassion, of genuine openness to others, ability to love. We should not be afraid of goodness, tenderness.
Today, together with the feast of St. Joseph – notes – we celebrate the beginning of the ministry of the new Bishop of Rome, Successor of Peter, which also leads to a power. Certainly, Jesus Christ gave power to Peter, but what power is? The threefold question of Jesus to Peter about love, following the triple invitation: feed my lambs, feed my sheep.
Let us never forget that the real power is in service and that even the Pope to exercise the power to enter more and more into that service which culminates light on the Cross; must look to the humble, practical, full of faith, of St. Joseph and as he opened his arms to keep all the People of God and accept with love and tenderness all humanity, especially the poorest, the weakest, the youngest, who Matthew describes the final judgment on charity: the hungry, thirst, who is a stranger, naked, sick, in prison.
Only he who is able to protect with love.He continues: “In the second reading, Saint Paul speaks of Abraham, who” believed, hoping against all hope. “Balance in hope against hope! Even today, in front of many stretches of gray skies, we need to see the light of hope and give ourselves hope.
Guarding the creation, every man and woman, with a look of tenderness and love, is to open the horizon of hope, is to open a ray of light in the midst of many clouds, is bring the warmth of hope! And for the believer, for us Christians, like Abraham, like St. Joseph, the hope that we bear is the horizon of God that has been opened in Christ, is founded on the rock that is God.
So Pope Francis concludes: Guarding Jesus with Mary, guard the whole of creation, keep everyone, especially the poorest, keep ourselves here is a service that the Bishop of Rome is called to do, but we are all called to to shine the star of hope: We guard with love what God has given us! I ask for the intercession of the Virgin Mary, Saint Joseph, Saints Peter and Paul, of St. Francis, that the Holy Spirit be with my ministry, and to you I say: pray for me! Amen.
During the prayer of the faithful, we prayed for God to care for Papa Francesco exercise of the Petrine ministry, for the rulers because God enlighten their minds and guide them to build the civilization of love for the poor and suffering because God by his providence give them refreshment, consolation and hope even through love of the brethren, said Vatican Radio.
At the time of communion 500 priests have distributed the consecrated hosts to the faithful. The delegations of the Christian Churches and other religions will be received tomorrow in the Clementine Hall. It ‘historic square in the presence of the Ecumenical Patriarch of the Orthodox Church, Bartholomew I.
This is the first time since 1024, the year in which the Orthodox Church broke away from the Catholic Church, that the establishment of a Pope attends the Ecumenical Patriarch, who has an office in Istanbul (formerly Constantinople) and is considered a “primus among equals “among the 14 Eastern patriarchs and reference point for the communion of the Orthodox Church.
Bartholomew I drew the importance of bringing the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church to work for a future re-unification of all the churches that are a half billion believers in the world. “I want to continue our journey towards reconciliation and the consolidation of the dialogue for the unity of our sister churches” in a message to the new Pontiff.
