The Word Among Us Press - The Infinite Tenderness of God: Meditations on the Gospels: Pope Francis

THE INFINITE TENDERNESS OF GOD

MEDITATIONS ON THE GOSPELS

POPE FRANCIS

THE INFINITE TENDERNESS OF GOD

MEDITATIONS ON THE GOSPELS

POPE FRANCIS

Compiled by Jeanne Kun

Copyright 2016 Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Compilation Copyright 2016 The Word Among Us Press

All rights reserved

Published by The Word Among Us Press

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ISBN: 978-1-59325-287-8

eISBN: 978-1-59325-479-7

Pope Francis homilies and addresses taken from the Vatican translation and can be found on the Vatican website, www.vatican.va. Used with permission of Libreria Editrice Vaticana.

Scripture texts used in this work are taken from the Catholic Edition of Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1965, 1966 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used with permission. All rights reserved.

Cover design by Andrea Alvarez

Cover photo: Getty Images

Inside text photo: Thinkstock

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the author and publisher.

Made and printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015957292

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

Who is Jesus for you? Are you with Jesus? Do you try to comprehend him in his word? Do you read the Gospel, each day a passage from the Gospel, to learn to know Jesus? Do you carry a small Gospel in your pocket, handbag, to read it, in whatever place? Because the more we are with him, the more the desire to be with him grows.

POPE FRANCIS, ANGELUS ADDRESS, AUGUST 23, 2015

P ope Francis is convinced that if we really want to become a friend of Jesus, then we need to read the Gospels. Thats why he encourages us to carry the Gospels with usso that we can read a passage anytime or anywhere. And what better way to explore the Gospels than to explore them with the Holy Father!

As you might expect, these meditations are filled with Pope Francis characteristic warmth, wisdom, and wit. His pastoral advice is based on his keen understanding of our human condition. The reflections reveal his own profound love for Jesus as well as his burning desire that all men and women would come to a deep encounter with Jesus.

The Word Among Us Press is delighted to bring you these reflections, which are taken from homilies, addresses, and speeches given by the Holy Father since the beginning of his pontificate. Many of these texts were delivered at St. Peters Square, but others were proclaimed during the popes extensive travels throughout the world.

We pray that as you meditate on the Gospels with Pope Francis, you will discover who Jesus is for you and grow both in your love for him and your desire to be with him.

Jeanne Kun

1. MARY, MOTHER OF YES

LUKE 1:26-38

I n the Gospel, we have just heard the greeting of the angel to Mary: Rejoice, full of grace. The Lord is with you [cf. Luke 1:28]. Rejoice, Mary, rejoice. Upon hearing this greeting, Mary was confused and asked herself what it could mean. She did not fully understand what was happening. But she knew that the angel came from God, and so she said yes. Mary is the Mother of Yes. Yes to Gods dream, yes to Gods care, yes to Gods will.

It was a yes that, as we know, was not easy to live. A yes that bestowed no privileges or distinctions. Simeon told her in his prophecy, A sword will pierce your heart (cf. Luke 2:35), and indeed it did. That is why we love her so much. We find in her a true mother, one who helps us to keep faith and hope alive in the midst of complicated situations. Pondering Simeons prophecy, we would do well to reflect briefly on three difficult moments in Marys life.

1. The first moment: the birth of Jesus. There was no room for them. They had no house, no dwelling to receive her son. There was no place where she could give birth. They had no family close by; they were alone. The only place available was a stall of animals. Surely she remembered the words of the angel: Rejoice, Mary, the Lord is with you. She might well have asked herself, Where is he now?

2. The second moment: the flight to Egypt. They had to leave, to go into exile. Not only was there no room for them, no family nearby, but their lives were also in danger. They had to depart to a foreign land. They were persecuted migrants on account of the envy and greed of the king. There, too, she might well have asked, What happened to all those things promised by the angel?

3. The third moment: Jesus death on the cross. There can be no more difficult experience for a mother than to witness the death of her child. It is heartrending. We see Mary there, at the foot of the cross, like every mother, strong, faithful, staying with her child even to his death, death on the cross. There, too, she might well have asked, What happened to all those things promised to me by the angel? Then we see her encouraging and supporting the disciples.

We contemplate her life, and we feel understood, we feel heard. We can sit down to pray with her and use a common language in the face of the countless situations we encounter each day. We can identify with many situations in her life. We can tell her what is happening in our lives because she understands.

Mary is the woman of faith; she is the Mother of the Church; she believed. Her life testifies that God does not deceive us, that God does not abandon his people, even in moments or situations when it might seem that he is not there. Mary was the first of her sons disciples, and in moments of difficulty she kept alive the hope of the apostles. With probably more than one key, they were locked in the upper room, due to fear. A woman attentive to the needs of others, she could saywhen it seemed like the feast and joy were at an endSee, they have no wine (cf. John 2:3). She was the woman who went to stay with her cousin about three months (Luke 1:56), so that Elizabeth would not be alone as she prepared to give birth. That is our Mother, so good and so kind, she who accompanies us in our lives.

HOMILY, MARIAN SHRINE OF CAACUP, PARAGUAY, JULY 11, 2015

2. AN ENCOUNTER BRIDGING GENERATIONS

LUKE 1:39-45

T oday we accept the Gospel we have just heard as a Gospel of encounter: the encounter between young and old, an encounter full of joy, full of faith, and full of hope.

Mary is young, very young. Elizabeth is elderly, yet Gods mercy was manifested in her, and for six months now, with her husband Zechariah, she has been expecting a child.

Here too, Mary shows us the way: she set out to visit her elderly kinswoman, to stay with her, to help her, of course, but also and above all to learn from heran elderly persona wisdom of life.

Todays first reading echoes in various ways the fourth commandment: Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you (cf. Exodus 20:12). A people has no future without such an encounter between generations, without children being able to accept with gratitude the witness of life from the hands of their parents. And part of this gratitude for those who gave you life is also gratitude for our heavenly Father.

There are times when generations of young people, for complex historical and cultural reasons, feel a deeper need to be independent from their parents, breaking free, as it were, from the legacy of the older generation. It is a kind of adolescent rebellion. But unless the encounter, the meeting of generations, is reestablished, unless a new and fruitful intergenerational equilibrium is restored, what results is a serious impoverishment for everyone, and the freedom which prevails in society is actually a false freedom, which almost always becomes a form of authoritarianism.