Pope Francis on Thursday (24th September) made history by becoming the first Pope ever to address a joint session of the United States Congress. In his wide-ranging address that was frequently interrupted by applause, the Pope touched on many themes including the need for politics to serve the common good, the importance of cooperation and solidarity, the dangers of fundamentalism, the refugee crisis, abolition of the death penalty, the need for courageous acts to avert environmental deterioration, the evils of the arms trade and threats to the family from within and without. During his speech he also mentioned four great Americans from the past, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton, saying that each of them helped build a better future for the people of the U.S.
The full text of Pope Francis’ address to the Joint Session of the United States Congress:
Mr. Vice-President,
Mr. Speaker,
Honorable Members of Congress,
Dear Friends,
I am most grateful for your invitation to address this Joint Session of Congress in “the land of the free and the home of the brave”. I would like to think that the reason for this is that I too am a son of this great continent, from which we have all received so much and toward which we share a common responsibility.
Each son or daughter of a given country has a mission, a personal and social responsibility. Your own responsibility as members of Congress is to enable this country, by your legislative activity, to grow as a nation. You are the face of its people, their representatives. You are called to defend and preserve the dignity of your fellow citizens in the tireless and demanding pursuit of the common good, for this is the chief aim of all politics. A political society endures when it seeks, as a vocation, to satisfy common needs by stimulating the growth of all its members, especially those in situations of greater vulnerability or risk. Legislative activity is always based on care for the people. To this you have been invited, called and convened by those who elected you.
Yours is a work which makes me reflect in two ways on the figure of Moses. On the one hand, the patriarch and lawgiver of the people of Israel symbolizes the need of peoples to keep alive their sense of unity by means of just legislation. On the other, the figure of Moses leads us directly to God and thus to the transcendent dignity of the human being. Moses provides us with a good synthesis of your work: you are asked to protect, by means of the law, the image and likeness fashioned by God on every human face.
Today I would like not only to address you, but through you the entire people of the United States. Here, together with their representatives, I would like to take this opportunity to dialogue with the many thousands of men and women who strive each day to do an honest day’s work, to bring home their daily bread, to save money and –one step at a time – to build a better life for their families. These are men and women who are not concerned simply with paying their taxes, but in their own quiet way sustain the life of society. They generate solidarity by their actions, and they create organizations which offer a helping hand to those most in need.
I would also like to enter into dialogue with the many elderly persons who are a storehouse of wisdom forged by experience, and who seek in many ways, especially through volunteer work, to share their stories and their insights. I know that many of them are retired, but still active; they keep working to build up this land. I also want to dialogue with all those young people who are working to realize their great and noble aspirations, who are not led astray by facile proposals, and who face difficult situations, often as a result of immaturity on the part of many adults. I wish to dialogue with all of you, and I would like to do so through the historical memory of your people.
My visit takes place at a time when men and women of good will are marking the anniversaries of several great Americans. The complexities of history and the reality of human weakness notwithstanding, these men and women, for all their many differences and limitations, were able by hard work and self-sacrifice – some at the cost of their lives – to build a better future. They shaped fundamental values which will endure forever in the spirit of the American people. A people with this spirit can live through many crises, tensions and conflicts, while always finding the resources to move forward, and to do so with dignity. These men and women offer us a way of seeing and interpreting reality. In honoring their memory, we are inspired, even amid conflicts, and in the here and now of each day, to draw upon our deepest cultural reserves.
I would like to mention four of these Americans: Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton.
This year marks the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, the guardian of liberty, who labored tirelessly that “this nation, under God, [might] have a new birth of freedom”. Building a future of freedom requires love of the common good and cooperation in a spirit of subsidiarity and solidarity.
All of us are quite aware of, and deeply worried by, the disturbing social and political situation of the world today. Our world is increasingly a place of violent conflict, hatred and brutal atrocities, committed even in the name of God and of religion. We know that no religion is immune from forms of individual delusion or ideological extremism. This means that we must be especially attentive to every type of fundamentalism, whether religious or of any other kind. A delicate balance is required to combat violence perpetrated in the name of a religion, an ideology or an economic system, while also safeguarding religious freedom, intellectual freedom and individual freedoms. But there is another temptation which we must especially guard against: the simplistic reductionism which sees only good or evil; or, if you will, the righteous and sinners. The contemporary world, with its open wounds which affect so many of our brothers and sisters, demands that we confront every form of polarization which would divide it into these two camps. We know that in the attempt to be freed of the enemy without, we can be tempted to feed the enemy within. To imitate the hatred and violence of tyrants and murderers is the best way to take their place. That is something which you, as a people, reject.
Our response must instead be one of hope and healing, of peace and justice. We are asked to summon the courage and the intelligence to resolve today’s many geopolitical and economic crises. Even in the developed world, the effects of unjust structures and actions are all too apparent. Our efforts must aim at restoring hope, righting wrongs, maintaining commitments, and thus promoting the well-being of individuals and of peoples. We must move forward together, as one, in a renewed spirit of fraternity and solidarity, cooperating generously for the common good.
The challenges facing us today call for a renewal of that spirit of cooperation, which has accomplished so much good throughout the history of the United States. The complexity, the gravity and the urgency of these challenges demand that we pool our resources and talents, and resolve to support one another, with respect for our differences and our convictions of conscience.
In this land, the various religious denominations have greatly contributed to building and strengthening society. It is important that today, as in the past, the voice of faith continue to be heard, for it is a voice of fraternity and love, which tries to bring out the best in each person and in each society. Such cooperation is a powerful resource in the battle to eliminate new global forms of slavery, born of grave injustices which can be overcome only through new policies and new forms of social consensus.
Here I think of the political history of the United States, where democracy is deeply rooted in the mind of the American people. All political activity must serve and promote the good of the human person and be based on respect for his or her dignity. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” (Declaration of Independence, 4 July 1776). If politics must truly be at the service of the human person, it follows that it cannot be a slave to the economy and finance. Politics is, instead, an expression of our compelling need to live as one, in order to build as one the greatest common good: that of a community which sacrifices particular interests in order to share, in justice and peace, its goods, its interests, its social life. I do not underestimate the difficulty that this involves, but I encourage you in this effort.
Here too I think of the march which Martin Luther King led from Selma to Montgomery fifty years ago as part of the campaign to fulfill his “dream” of full civil and political rights for African Americans. That dream continues to inspire us all. I am happy that America continues to be, for many, a land of “dreams”. Dreams which lead to action, to participation, to commitment. Dreams which awaken what is deepest and truest in the life of a people.
In recent centuries, millions of people came to this land to pursue their dream of building a future in freedom. We, the people of this continent, are not fearful of foreigners, because most of us were once foreigners. I say this to you as the son of immigrants, knowing that so many of you are also descended from immigrants. Tragically, the rights of those who were here long before us were not always respected. For those peoples and their nations, from the heart of American democracy, I wish to reaffirm my highest esteem and appreciation. Those first contacts were often turbulent and violent, but it is difficult to judge the past by the criteria of the present. Nonetheless, when the stranger in our midst appeals to us, we must not repeat the sins and the errors of the past. We must resolve now to live as nobly and as justly as possible, as we educate new generations not to turn their back on our “neighbors” and everything around us. Building a nation calls us to recognize that we must constantly relate to others, rejecting a mindset of hostility in order to adopt one of reciprocal subsidiarity, in a constant effort to do our best. I am confident that we can do this.
Our world is facing a refugee crisis of a magnitude not seen since the Second World War. This presents us with great challenges and many hard decisions. On this continent, too, thousands of persons are led to travel north in search of a better life for themselves and for their loved ones, in search of greater opportunities. Is this not what we want for our own children? We must not be taken aback by their numbers, but rather view them as persons, seeing their faces and listening to their stories, trying to respond as best we can to their situation. To respond in a way which is always humane, just and fraternal. We need to avoid a common temptation nowadays: to discard whatever proves troublesome. Let us remember the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” (Mt 7:12).
This Rule points us in a clear direction. Let us treat others with the same passion and compassion with which we want to be treated. Let us seek for others the same possibilities which we seek for ourselves. Let us help others to grow, as we would like to be helped ourselves. In a word, if we want security, let us give security; if we want life, let us give life; if we want opportunities, let us provide opportunities. The yardstick we use for others will be the yardstick which time will use for us. The Golden Rule also reminds us of our responsibility to protect and defend human life at every stage of its development.
This conviction has led me, from the beginning of my ministry, to advocate at different levels for the global abolition of the death penalty. I am convinced that this way is the best, since every life is sacred, every human person is endowed with an inalienable dignity, and society can only benefit from the rehabilitation of those convicted of crimes. Recently my brother bishops here in the United States renewed their call for the abolition of the death penalty. Not only do I support them, but I also offer encouragement to all those who are convinced that a just and necessary punishment must never exclude the dimension of hope and the goal of rehabilitation.
In these times when social concerns are so important, I cannot fail to mention the Servant of God Dorothy Day, who founded the Catholic Worker Movement. Her social activism, her passion for justice and for the cause of the oppressed, were inspired by the Gospel, her faith, and the example of the saints.
How much progress has been made in this area in so many parts of the world! How much has been done in these first years of the third millennium to raise people out of extreme poverty! I know that you share my conviction that much more still needs to be done, and that in times of crisis and economic hardship a spirit of global solidarity must not be lost. At the same time I would encourage you to keep in mind all those people around us who are trapped in a cycle of poverty. They too need to be given hope. The fight against poverty and hunger must be fought constantly and on many fronts, especially in its causes. I know that many Americans today, as in the past, are working to deal with this problem.
It goes without saying that part of this great effort is the creation and distribution of wealth. The right use of natural resources, the proper application of technology and the harnessing of the spirit of enterprise are essential elements of an economy which seeks to be modern, inclusive and sustainable. “Business is a noble vocation, directed to producing wealth and improving the world. It can be a fruitful source of prosperity for the area in which it operates, especially if it sees the creation of jobs as an essential part of its service to the common good” (Laudato Si’, 129). This common good also includes the earth, a central theme of the encyclical which I recently wrote in order to “enter into dialogue with all people about our common home” (ibid., 3). “We need a conversation which includes everyone, since the environmental challenge we are undergoing, and its human roots, concern and affect us all” (ibid., 14).
In Laudato Si’, I call for a courageous and responsible effort to “redirect our steps” (ibid., 61), and to avert the most serious effects of the environmental deterioration caused by human activity. I am convinced that we can make a difference, I’m sure and I have no doubt that the United States – and this Congress – have an important role to play. Now is the time for courageous actions and strategies, aimed at implementing a “culture of care” (ibid., 231) and “an integrated approach to combating poverty, restoring dignity to the excluded, and at the same time protecting nature” (ibid., 139). “We have the freedom needed to limit and direct technology” (ibid., 112); “to devise intelligent ways of… developing and limiting our power” (ibid., 78); and to put technology “at the service of another type of progress, one which is healthier, more human, more social, more integral” (ibid., 112). In this regard, I am confident that America’s outstanding academic and research institutions can make a vital contribution in the years ahead.
A century ago, at the beginning of the Great War, which Pope Benedict XV termed a “pointless slaughter”, another notable American was born: the Cistercian monk Thomas Merton. He remains a source of spiritual inspiration and a guide for many people. In his autobiography he wrote: “I came into the world. Free by nature, in the image of God, I was nevertheless the prisoner of my own violence and my own selfishness, in the image of the world into which I was born. That world was the picture of Hell, full of men like myself, loving God, and yet hating him; born to love him, living instead in fear of hopeless self-contradictory hungers”. Merton was above all a man of prayer, a thinker who challenged the certitudes of his time and opened new horizons for souls and for the Church. He was also a man of dialogue, a promoter of peace between peoples and religions.
From this perspective of dialogue, I would like to recognize the efforts made in recent months to help overcome historic differences linked to painful episodes of the past. It is my duty to build bridges and to help all men and women, in any way possible, to do the same. When countries which have been at odds resume the path of dialogue – a dialogue which may have been interrupted for the most legitimate of reasons – new opportunities open up for all. This has required, and requires, courage and daring, which is not the same as irresponsibility. A good political leader is one who, with the interests of all in mind, seizes the moment in a spirit of openness and pragmatism. A good political leader always opts to initiate processes rather than possessing spaces (cf. Evangelii Gaudium, 222-223).
Being at the service of dialogue and peace also means being truly determined to minimize and, in the long term, to end the many armed conflicts throughout our world. Here we have to ask ourselves: Why are deadly weapons being sold to those who plan to inflict untold suffering on individuals and society? Sadly, the answer, as we all know, is simply for money: money that is drenched in blood, often innocent blood. In the face of this shameful and culpable silence, it is our duty to confront the problem and to stop the arms trade.
Three sons and a daughter of this land, four individuals and four dreams: Lincoln, liberty; Martin Luther King, liberty in plurality and non-exclusion; Dorothy Day, social justice and the rights of persons; and Thomas Merton, the capacity for dialogue and openness to God.
Four representatives of the American people.
I will end my visit to your country in Philadelphia, where I will take part in the World Meeting of Families. It is my wish that throughout my visit the family should be a recurrent theme. How essential the family has been to the building of this country! And how worthy it remains of our support and encouragement! Yet I cannot hide my concern for the family, which is threatened, perhaps as never before, from within and without. Fundamental relationships are being called into question, as is the very basis of marriage and the family. I can only reiterate the importance and, above all, the richness and the beauty of family life.
In particular, I would like to call attention to those family members who are the most vulnerable, the young. For many of them, a future filled with countless possibilities beckons, yet so many others seem disoriented and aimless, trapped in a hopeless maze of violence, abuse and despair. Their problems are our problems. We cannot avoid them. We need to face them together, to talk about them and to seek effective solutions rather than getting bogged down in discussions. At the risk of oversimplifying, we might say that we live in a culture which pressures young people not to start a family, because they lack possibilities for the future. Yet this same culture presents others with so many options that they too are dissuaded from starting a family.
A nation can be considered great when it defends liberty as Lincoln did, when it fosters a culture which enables people to “dream” of full rights for all their brothers and sisters, as Martin Luther King sought to do; when it strives for justice and the cause of the oppressed, as Dorothy Day did by her tireless work, the fruit of a faith which becomes dialogue and sows peace in the contemplative style of Thomas Merton.
In these remarks I have sought to present some of the richness of your cultural heritage, of the spirit of the American people. It is my desire that this spirit continue to develop and grow, so that as many young people as possible can inherit and dwell in a land which has inspired so many people to dream.
God bless America!…
A White House welcome by President Barack
Obama, a meeting with bishops in the Cathedral of Washington, DC, the canonization of missionary Junípero Serra in the National
Shrine of the Immaculate Conception: and so began the highly anticipated visit
to the United States of Pope Francis, whom Obama had already greeted when his
flight had arrived from Cuba. In the “days of encounter and dialogue” during
which the Pontiff — introducing himself as the son of immigrants and therefore
as a brother in a country that owes much to immigration — looks forward to
listening to and sharing the hopes and dreams of the people of the United
States. In
building a society that rejects “every form of discrimination” — Bergoglio
began, standing in front of the White House — us Catholics, “precisely as good
citizens”, must preserve respect for religious liberty, which is one of their
society’s most precious treasures. He then once again expressed his concern
over climate change, an inescapable issue of social justice, and then, with
regard to international relations, he favourably touched upon the recent steps
toward reconciliation, justice and liberty, toward reestablishing interrupted
relationships and opening new doors to dialogue. In
the cathedral, began his speech to the Bishops with an unexpected greeting to
the Jewish community, whose High Holidays had just begun. The discourse was a
long, and at times moving, meditation on Christian life: “To testify to the
immensity of God’s love is the heart of the mission entrusted to the Successor
of Peter”, who accompanies and supports each one of his brother bishops,
placing his hand on theirs, “a hand wrinkled with age, but by God’s grace still
able to support and encourage”. The Pope spoke to them as “the Bishop of Rome,
called by God in old age, and from a land which is also American, to watch over
the unity of the universal Church”. He
spoke not as a “stranger” in America, but as “a brother among brothers”. Even
faced with many challenges and often fierce opposition, “we are promoters of
the culture of encounter”, Francis said. “Dialogue is our method, not as a
shrewd strategy but out of fidelity to the One who never wearies of visiting
the marketplace” of mankind. And in a world that is torn and broken, the
episcopal mission — “which we carry out in communion, collegially”, the Pontiff
emphasized — “is first and foremost to solidify unity”, so as to “offer to the
United States of America the humble yet powerful leaven of communion”. In
perfect continuity with the lengthy discourse to the U.S. Bishops, the Pontiff
thereafter, in the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, proclaimed
Junípero Serra a saint. The Spanish Franciscan, a great missionary of
18th-century America, was presented by Bergoglio as a witness to the joy of the
Gospel, the authentic embodiment of a Church that goes forth in order to share
“the reconciling tenderness of God”. Indeed, Pope Francis said, only in mission
is it possible to live out the words of St Paul, who tells us to rejoice in the
Lord always. Only thus can one experience a fulfilling, meaningful and joyful
life. G.M.V….
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Wednesday made an unscheduled visit to the convent of the Little Sisters of the Poor, which is near the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, where he celebrated the Mass of Canonization of St. Junipero Serra.
The religious order operates several nursing homes and care facilities in the United States.
The congregation is involved in a lawsuit with the Obama Administration over the country’s new health care law. The government is trying to force the religious community to comply with a contraception mandate in the law, which violates Catholic religious beliefs.
“This is a sign, obviously of support for them [in their court case]” said Father Federico Lombardi, SJ, the head of the Holy See Press Office.
“In this sense it is connected also to the words that the Pope has said in support of the Bishops of the United States in the speech to President Obama,” Father Lombardi continued.
“This was a little addition to the programme, but I think it has an important meaning in this moment,” he said.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has completed the first full day of his Apostolic visit to the United States, in the nation’s capital, Washington, DC. The schedule of the Holy Father’s public engagements for Wednesday included the official welcome ceremony on the south lawn of the White House, a meeting with the Catholic bishops of the United States in St. Matthew’s cathedral, and Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, on the campus of the Catholic University of America. Three different occasions, with three very different audiences, and three vastly different central points of focus: how did Pope Francis manage to tie them all together and stay “on message” while doing justice to the particular nature and peculiar scope of each? The short answer to that very complex and multifaceted question is that he remembered his training in Jesuit religious life and drew on the great Catholic tradition of communication, which speaks at once to those inside the Church (ad intra), and those outside the Church’s visible boundaries (ad extra). If, in his address to the bishops, he warned that, “Harsh and divisive language does not befit the tongue of a Pastor,” he also proved in his own body and with his own tongue – the body and the tongue of the universal Pastor of the Universal Church – and ‘harsh and divisive’ is not synonymous with, ‘frank and fearless’, especially when, at the White House, he reiterated his intention, “[T]o celebrate and support the institutions of marriage and the family at this, a critical moment in the history of our civilization,” and made his own, the US bishops’ clarion call to rally in defense of religious freedom. “[A]ll are called to be vigilant,” he said, “precisely as good citizens, to preserve and defend that freedom from everything that would threaten or compromise it,” for religious freedom, “remains one of America’s most precious possessions.” At the same time, “American Catholics are committed to building a society which is truly tolerant and inclusive, to safeguarding the rights of individuals and communities, and to rejecting every form of unjust discrimination,” and our legitimate concern in this regard cannot keep us from working concretely toward adequate and equitable solutions to real problems that press upon us with increasing urgency – problems like those created by years and decades of failure to care for the created order over which God has set us as stewards. We have said since before this visit began, that Pope Francis’ purpose in coming is to engage and encourage, to listen and to challenge – and yes – in both the etymological and the colloquial sense, to provoke everyone. What we saw on Wednesday in Washington, DC, was a Pastor at work – and the work he was about was the work of exploding the binary thought patterns that dominate our contemporary culture: he captures and commands our careful attention and at the same time he unleashes our pent-up moral imagination; this son of Ignatius shows us that, in order to seek God in all things, we must be prepared to let God reveal Himself to us. The example he held up for us and for the whole Church and all the world, was that of an 18th century Franciscan priest, who was both brilliant scholar and missionary adventurer: Junipero Serra, OFM, who founded the first nine of the great chain of 21 missions in California, from San Diego to San Francisco. “Father Serra had a motto which inspired his life and work,” recalled Pope Francis in his homily, “a saying by which helived his life: siempre adelante! Keep moving forward!” Pope Francis went on to say, “For [St. Junipero Serra], this was the way to continue experiencing the joy of the Gospel, to keep his heart from growing numb, from being anesthetized. He kept moving forward, because the Lord was waiting. He kept going, because his brothers and sisters were waiting. He kept going forward to the end of his life. Today, like him, may we be able to say: Forward! Let’s keep moving forward!” This forward progress is toward a definite goal, the achievement of which is assured to the Church, and it is a progress in continuity with the unbroken way that has been cut and forged by God’s holy ones throughout all time and into eternity. “We are indebted to a tradition,” said Pope Francis, “[to] a chain of witnesses who have made it possible for the good news of the Gospel to be, in every generation, both ‘good’ and ‘news’.” Pope Francis has been shaking things up, as they say: so much so, that a leading English-language journal recently wondered with cheeky frankness, “Is the Pope Catholic?” On Wednesday, in Washington, DC, the public thinking, advocacy and witness that Pope Francis conducted bore the mark of Catholicity in both its capital and lower-case acceptions. What to expect on Thursday, when the Holy Father will again make history when he addresses a joint meeting of the US Congress before going on to bless the St. Patrick’s parish soup kitchen and meet with the needy who find refuge and sustenance there? More of the same: yesterday, today, and ever. Do not expect it to get old. (from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Celebrating his first Mass in the United States on Wednesday, Pope Francis declared a new saint of the United States. Fr. Junipero Serra, a Spanish Franciscan priest known for starting nine missions in the 18th century in what is today the US state of California, was raised to the glory of the altars during a solemn open-air Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, in the US capital, Washington. Several cardinals and bishops, all in white vestments, joined him at the altar on a state erected specially for the canonization, while many more sat in front of the altar.
The Pope who is in the US, following his visit to Cuba Sept. 19-22, was accorded a state welcome Wednesday morning, at the Whitehouse in Washington by President Barack Obama, after which he met US bishops in St. Matthew’s Cathedral. The canonization rite at the start of the evening Mass included a biography of Fr. Serra and the chanting of the Litany of the Saints. Pope Francis then pronounced the formula of canonization, officially declaring Junipero Serra a saint.
In his homily, Pope Francis held up the figure of America’s new Saint, Junipero Serra, as a model of one who having experienced the joy of God’s merciful anointing, in turn went out to joyfully proclaim the Good News to all people, leaving behind the security and apathy of his comfort and home. Taking his cue from St. Paul who invited Philippians to “Rejoice in the Lord always,” Pope Francis, delivering the entire homily in Spanish, said the desire for a fulfilling, meaningful and joyful life is something all have in their hearts. He noted that the struggles of everyday life seems to stand in the way of this invitation to rejoice. Our daily routine, he said, can often lead us to a kind of glum apathy which gradually becomes a habit, making our hearts grow numb. But against this, Jesus offers us the answer. He says, “Go forth! Proclaim! The joy of the Gospel is something to be experienced, something to be known and lived only through giving it away, through giving ourselves away.” “For the source of our joy is “an endless desire to show mercy, the fruit of our own experience of the power of the Father’s infinite mercy,” the Pope stressed.
The Pope said that Jesus intended his Good News for all, embracing life as he saw it, in faces of pain, hunger, sickness and sin, in faces of wounds, of thirst, of weariness, doubt and pity. He said, Jesus embraced life as he found it, whether dirty, unkempt or broken, and urges us to go out to tell the good news fearlessly, without prejudice, without superiority, without condescension, to all those who have lost the joy of living. Go out to proclaim the merciful embrace of the Father…who wants to anoint them with the oil of hope, the oil od salvation.
The Pope explained that mission is never the fruit of a perfect planned program, but is always the fruit of a life which knows what it is to be found and healed, encountered and forgiven. Mission is born of a constant experience of God’s merciful anointing. In this regard, Pope Francis recalled the Aparecida Document of the Latin American Bishops, saying “life grows by being given away, and it weakens in isolation and comfort.” And one such person who witnessed to the joy of the Gospel in these lands, the Pope said, is Father Junípero Serra. He was the embodiment of “a Church which goes forth”, a Church which sets out to bring everywhere the reconciling tenderness of God. Junípero Serra left his native land and its way of life, and learned how to bring to birth and nurture God’s life in the faces of everyone he met. Junípero sought to defend the dignity of the native community, to protect it from those who had mistreated and abused it. The Pope said mistreatment and wrongs still trouble us today, especially because of the hurt which they cause in the lives of many people.
The Canonization Mass at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception was in Latin, Spanish and English, and one of the scripture readings was in a native American language. The prayer of the faithful was is Korean, Vietnamese, Tagalog of the Philippines, Igbo of Nigeria, Criollo and American sign language, symbolizing the rich multi-cultural character that the US is known for.
Below is the prepared text of Pope Francis’ homily at the Canonization Mass of St. Junipero Serra in Washington:
Rejoice in the Lord always! I say it again, rejoice! These are striking words, words which impact our lives. Paul tells us to rejoice; he practically orders us to rejoice. This command resonates with the desire we all have for a fulfilling life, a meaningful life, a joyful life. It is as if Paul could hear what each one of us is thinking in his or her heart and to voice what we are feeling, what we are experiencing. Something deep within us invites us to rejoice and tells us not to settle for placebos which simply keep us comfortable.
At the same time, though, we all know the struggles of everyday life. So much seems to stand in the way of this invitation to rejoice. Our daily routine can often lead us to a kind of glum apathy which gradually becomes a habit, with a fatal consequence: our hearts grow numb.
We don’t want apathy to guide our lives… or do we? We don’t want the force of habit to rule our life… or do we? So we ought to ask ourselves: What can we do to keep our heart from growing numb, becoming anesthetized? How do we make the joy of the Gospel increase and take deeper root in our lives?
Jesus gives the answer. He said to his disciples then and he says it to us now: Go forth! Proclaim! The joy of the Gospel is something to be experienced, something to be known and lived only through giving it away, through giving ourselves away.
The spirit of the world tells us to be like everyone else, to settle for what comes easy. Faced with this human way of thinking, “we must regain the conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for others and for the world” (Laudato Si’, 229). It is the responsibility to proclaim the message of Jesus. For the source of our joy is “an endless desire to show mercy, the fruit of our own experience of the power of the Father’s infinite mercy” (Evangelii Gaudium, 24). Go out to all, proclaim by anointing and anoint by proclaiming. This is what the Lord tells us today. He tells us:
A Christian finds joy in mission: Go out to people of every nation!
A Christian experiences joy in following a command: Go forth and proclaim the good news!
A Christian finds ever new joy in answering a call: Go forth and anoint!
Jesus sends his disciples out to all nations. To every people. We too were part of all those people of two thousand years ago. Jesus did not provide a short list of who is, or is not, worthy of receiving his message, his presence. Instead, he always embraced life as he saw it. In faces of pain, hunger, sickness and sin. In faces of wounds, of thirst, of weariness, doubt and pity. Far from expecting a pretty life, smartly-dressed and neatly groomed, he embraced life as he found it. It made no difference whether it was dirty, unkempt, broken. Jesus said: Go out and tell the good news to everyone. Go out and in my name embrace life as it is, and not as you think it should be. Go out to the highways and byways, go out to tell the good news fearlessly, without prejudice, without superiority, without condescension, to all those who have lost the joy of living. Go out to proclaim the merciful embrace of the Father. Go out to those who are burdened by pain and failure, who feel that their lives are empty, and proclaim the folly of a loving Father who wants to anoint them with the oil of hope, the oil of salvation. Go out to proclaim the good news that error, deceitful illusions and falsehoods do not have the last word in a person’s life. Go out with the ointment which soothes wounds and heals hearts.
Mission is never the fruit of a perfectly planned program or a well-organized manual. Mission is always the fruit of a life which knows what it is to be found and healed, encountered and forgiven. Mission is born of a constant experience of God’s merciful anointing.
The Church, the holy People of God, treads the dust-laden paths of history, so often traversed by conflict, injustice and violence, in order to encounter her children, our brothers and sisters. The holy and faithful People of God are not afraid of losing their way; they are afraid of becoming self-enclosed, frozen into élites, clinging to their own security. They know that self-enclosure, in all the many forms it takes, is the cause of so much apathy.
So let us go out, let us go forth to offer everyone the life of Jesus Christ (Evangelii Gaudium, 49). The People of God can embrace everyone because we are the disciples of the One who knelt before his own to wash their feet (ibid., 24).
The reason we are here today is that many other people wanted to respond to that call. They believed that “life grows by being given away, and it weakens in isolation and comfort” (Aparecida Document, 360). We are heirs to the bold missionary spirit of so many men and women who preferred not to be “shut up within structures which give us a false sense of security… within habits which make us feel safe, while at our door people are starving” (Evangelii Gaudium, 49). We are indebted to a tradition, a chain of witnesses who have made it possible for the good news of the Gospel to be, in every generation, both “good” and “news”.
Today we remember one of those witnesses who testified to the joy of the Gospel in these lands, Father Junípero Serra. He was the embodiment of “a Church which goes forth”, a Church which sets out to bring everywhere the reconciling tenderness of God. Junípero Serra left his native land and its way of life. He was excited about blazing trails, going forth to meet many people, learning and valuing their particular customs and ways of life. He learned how to bring to birth and nurture God’s life in the faces of everyone he met; he made them his brothers and sisters. Junípero sought to defend the dignity of the native community, to protect it from those who had mistreated and abused it. Mistreatment and wrongs which today still trouble us, especially because of the hurt which they cause in the lives of many people.
Father Serra had a motto which inspired his life and work, a saying he lived his life by: siempre adelante! Keep moving forward! For him, this was the way to continue experiencing the joy of the Gospel, to keep his heart from growing numb, from being anesthetized. He kept moving forward, because the Lord was waiting. He kept going, because his brothers and sisters were waiting. He kept going forward to the end of his life. Today, like him, may we be able to say: Forward! Let’s keep moving forward!
(from Vatican Radio)…