At today’s General Audience in St. Peter’s Square, the Pope said he will be going "along with my brothers the Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew and the Archbishop of Athens and All Greece Ieronymos”, “to express sympathy and solidarity with refugees and the citizens of Lesbos and all the Greek people who are so generous in their welcome”. In his catechesis he recalled: “There is no saint without a past and no sinner without a future”.
This Saturday, Pope Francis is going to the island of Lesbos to express “sympathy and solidarity” with migrants and those who have been welcoming them. Francis said this in an “appeal” he sent out at the end of the General Audience in St. Peter’s Square. In the catechesis he reminded faithful: “There is no saint without a past and no sinner without a future; it is the sick who need a doctor, not those who are healthy.
Addressing a crowd of 22,000 people, the Pope continued his catecheses on mercy and picking up on one of the topics covered in his recently published Apostolic Exhortation “Amoris Laetitia” he reflected on the passage of the Gospel that recounts the call of Matthew the publican, who collected taxes for the Roman Empire and was therefore considered a public sinner. "By calling Matthew, Jesus shows sinners that does not look at their past, their social condition or external conventions, but rather he opens a new future for them. I once heard a nice saying: 'There is no saint without a past and no sinner without a future'. This is what Jesus does (faithful applauded as the Pope said this, Ed.)”. People are simply asked to respond to the invitation with a humble and sincere heart. The Church “is not a perfect community, but disciples on a journey, who follow the Lord because they know that they are sinners and in need of his forgiveness. The Christian life then,” he added, “is a school of humility that opens us to grace". “This behaviour is incomprehensible to those who, with presumption, believe themselves better than others: "Arrogance and pride will not allow them recognize they are in need of salvation, in fact, they are unable to see the merciful face of God and to act with mercy. They have a wall. Arrogance and pride are a wall that prevents their relationship with God.”
The Pharisees criticise Jesus because he invites publicans, sinners and prostitutes to the table and yet “Jesus’ mission is this: It is not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick. Jesus presents himself as a good doctor, he proclaims the Kingdom of God and the signs of his coming are clear to see: he heals people of illnesses and frees them from fears and from the devil”. The Eucharist, in particular, is not just a prize for the saints but medicine for the vulnerable. In fact, the Pope goes on to look at Jesus’ invitation to share both the word of God and the table of the Eucharist.
“No sinner must be excluded, no sinner must be excluded,” the Pope repeated, “because the healing power of God knows no infirmity that cannot be healed and this should give us hope: by calling sinners to his table, he heals them, calling them again to fulfil that vocation which they thought they had lost and which the Pharisees had forgotten about, God’s table”.
“Without a repentant heart, every religious action is useless, Jesus,” he highlighted, “applies this prophetic phrase to human relations: the Pharisees are very religious in form but were not willing to share the table with publicans and sinners. They did not recognize the possibility of a reformation and thus a healing. They do not put mercy in first place while being faithful custodians of the law, they show the di not know the heart of God! It is as if,” Francis said, “your parents gave you a package containing a gift and you, instead of going to look for the gift, just look at the paper in which it is wrapped: only appearances, form, and not the fact of the grace, the gift that is given”.
“If the Pharisees,” he explained, “see only the invited sinners and refuse to sit with them "Jesus, by contrast reminds them that they too are God’s guests. In this way, sitting at the table with Jesus means to be transformed by Him and saved. In the Christian community Jesus’ table is twofold: there is the table of the Word and there is the table of the Eucharist. These are the medicine with which the Divine Physician heals us and feeds us. With the first - the Word - he reveals himself and invites us to a dialogue between friends. Jesus,” Francis stressed, “was not afraid to talk to sinners, publicans, prostitutes ... No, he was not afraid; he loved them all! His Word penetrates us, and like a scalpel, operates deep to free us from the evil that lurks in our lives. Sometimes this Word is painful because it intrudes on hypocrisies, unmasks false excuses, exposes the hidden truth; but at the same time illuminates and purifies, it gives strength and hope, it is a precious tonic on our journey of faith. The Eucharist, in turn, feeds us the very life of Jesus and, as a powerful remedy, in a mysterious way continually renews the grace of our baptism. Approaching the Eucharist we are nourished by the Body and Blood of Jesus, and yet, coming to us, it is Jesus who unites us with his Body".
After the catechesis, the Pope pronounced the following words: “On Saturday I am going to Lesbos, where numerous refugees have passed through over the months. I am going along with my brothers the Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew and the Archbishop of Athens and All Greece Ieronymos”, “to express sympathy and solidarity with refugees and the citizens of Lesbos and all the Greek people who are so generous in their welcome. Accompany me with your prayer please, invoking the light and strength of the Holy Spirit and the maternal intercession of the Virgin Mary.”
The strong wind during today’s General Audience kept on whipping up the Pope’s cape. When he stood up to greet bishops and guests, his skullcap flew off. A bishop tried to get it back. Meanwhile, capes flapped about in the wind. In the end, a capless Pope carried on greeting the guests who had been given the chance to kiss his hand, including some prelates dressed in purple tunics, the colour worn by Anglican clergy.
