(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has met with several of the children who wrote him letters for his new book, “Dear Pope Francis,” which was presented to him during the meeting.
The young people were accompanied by the President of Caritas Internationalis, Manila Archbishop Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, and the editor-in-chief of the Jesuit magazine La Civiltà Cattolica, Fr. Antonio Spadaro, SJ, who helped Pope Francis with the book.
During the encounter – involving children from Italy, the Philippines, India, Kenya, Australia, Argentina, the United States, Canada, Singapore, Ireland, Belgium, and China – the Holy Father said the questions asked for the book were some of the “most difficult” he had ever been asked.
Pope Francis then proceeded to answer more questions the children had.
Listen to the report by Charles Collins :
He said his favourite thing about being Pope was “being around people,” adding he “learned something every time” he met someone new.
He told another child that when he was young he wanted to be a butcher, since when he went to the market with his mother, the butcher’s work was fascinating and “the way he cut the meat, that was art.”
One young person caused some indecision on the part of Pope Francis by asking who was his favourite saint: “I have several saints friends, but I do not know which I admire the most,” – the Holy Father said – “but I’m a friend of St. Theresa of the Child Jesus; I am a friend of St. Ignatius; I’m a friend of St. Francis…I would say these three, perhaps, are the ones I most keep in my heart.”
He said being Pope gives him a sense of “calm,” and said that it is “a grace from God,” adding that it “feels as I am coming to the end of my life with so much peace.”
The Holy Father said when he was elected, Cardinal Hummes told him to “not worry, it is the work of the Holy Spirit,” and told him to “not forget the poor.”
When asked about his love for Jesus, Pope Francis said “I do not know if I truly love Jesus. I try to love him, but I am sure that He loves me. I’m quite certain of this.”
Pope Francis said being Pope is “both easy and difficult, as is the life of any person,” explaining “it’s easy because you have a lot of people to help you…and there are difficult moments because there are difficulties in all the work there is.”
Pope Francis was also asked about his prayer life.
“I pray in the morning when I wake up: The prayer book all priest pray, called the breviary,” he said. “I pray the Mass, then I pray the Rosary…and then in the afternoon, I take time for Eucharistic Adoration.”
The Pope encouraged the children to always carry a rosary with them, and added he also carries a Via Crucis in his pocket, because it is a reminder that Jesus also suffered and this helps him to be “more good, and less bad.”
At the end of the encounter, Pope Francis addressed the issue of “Why do children suffer?” saying it is question which causes him great pain, and he admitted he did not know the answer to the question.
“The only thing that gives me light is looking at the cross, and seeing what Jesus suffered; it is the only answer I can find,” he said.
(from Vatican Radio)…
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Vatican City, 25 February 2016 (VIS) – “L’amore prima del mondo” (“Love before the world”) is the title of a book published by Rizzoli, in the form of 31 letters and drawings sent to the Holy Father by children from various Jesuit institutions from all five continents, asking for advice and explanations, and Francis’ replies. The title is drawn from the Pope’s answer to the question, “What did God do before the world was made?”. The eighty pages of the volume consist of a dialogue between Francis and the Jesuit Fr. Antonio Spadaro, director of La Civilta Cattolica, who took the children’s letters and drawings the Domus Sanctae Marthae last summer and to ask for a response. The Pope accepted the proposal and the resulting book has been released in Italian bookshops today. It will shortly be available in other languages. Francis answers questions on a wide variety of issues, such as how Jesus managed to walk on water: “God doesn’t sink”, and why He created us if He knew we were going to sin against Him: Because God created us like Him. Free. And being free includes the possibility of sinning. … Freedom can be frightening because it cannot be planned. But it is beautiful and it is the greatest gift”. In response to questions from the youngest children regarding the devil and guardian angels, the Pope recalls the importance of liturgy of prayer, or evokes the fantastic imagination of the young: “God defeated the devil on the cross. The devil is like the big scary dragons who are defeated and killed. They have a very long tail which, even if they are beaten and killed, continues to move”. There are also questions regarding war and atrocities; for instance, a child from Nigeria asks how these conflicts could be resolved. “It is necessary to encourage people of good will to speak against war. I cannot solve the conflicts in the world, but you and I can try to make this a better world. We need to convince everyone that the best way to win a war is not to enter into one. It is not easy, I know. But I try. You can try too”. A child from China wants to know why the Pope likes football. “I have never learned well the techniques of the game”, admits Francis. “I don’t have agile feet. But I like to see the team on the field because it is a game of solidarity”. In response to a boy from the United Kingdom asks, “What was your hardest choice in your mission for faith?”, the Holy Father replies, “There are many hard choices, but I have to say that the type of decision that is most difficult for me is to remove someone from a responsible job or a position of trust, or a path they are following, for reasons of unsuitability”….
Are we open to others and capable of mercy,
or do we live locked up within ourselves, slaves to our selfishness? On
Thursday morning, 25 February, the Gospel parable of the rich man and Lazarus
(Lk 16:19-31), presented in the day’s Liturgy, guided Pope Francis in a
reflection on the quality of Christian life. Referring also to the entrance
antiphon (taken from Psalm 139[138]:23-24), the Pontiff emphasized the
importance of asking the Lord for “the grace to know” whether we are “on the
path of lies or on the path of life”. Francis
explained that we are in the wake of the reflection that, in previous days,
spoke of “the religion of doing” and the “religion of talking”. He drew
inspiration from two Gospel characters, the rich man, described as a man who
was “clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day”.
The characterization might seem a bit contrived, but it means to show us a
person who “had it all, every opportunity”. Compared to him there is “a poor
man named Lazarus” at his gate, “full of sores, who desired to be fed with what
fell from the rich man’s table; moreover the dogs came and licked his sores”. The
Pope analyzed the description of the characters and pointed out that the rich
man, “who is seen in the final dialogue with Father Abraham”, was a “man of
faith”, who had “studied the law, knew the commandments” and who “surely went
every Sabbath to the Synagogue and once a year to Temple”. In short, he really
was “a man who had a certain religiosity”. At the same time the Gospel
narrative shows that he was also “a closed man, locked up inside his own little
world, the world of banquets, clothes, vanity, friends”. Closed within his
“bubble of vanity”, he “did not have the capacity to look beyond it” and did
not “realize what was happening outside of his closed world”. For example, “he
did not think about the needs of many people or of sick people’s need of
company”. Instead he thought only of himself, “of his wealth, of his good life:
he was given to the good life”. He was, said the Pontiff, concluding his
analysis, a “seemingly religious” man. He was, in fact, a perfect example “of
the religion of talking”. The rich man “did not know the peripheries, he was
completely locked up within himself”. Yet the periphery was “close to the door
of his house”, but “he did not know it”. This, Francis explained, “is the path
of lies”, from which, in the antiphon, we asked the Lord to free us. From
this description, the Pontiff expanded on the interior analysis of the rich
man, a person who “trusted only in himself, in his things”, and “did not trust
in God”. He was a long way from the “blessed man who trusts in the Lord”, who
is contrasted in the Responsorial Psalm, taken from Psalm 1. “What legacy”, the
Pope asked, “did this man leave?”. Surely, he said, again quoting the
Responsorial Psalm, he is not “like a tree planted by streams of water”, but
rather “like the chaff which the wind drives away” (Ps 1:3, 4). This
man had a family; he had brothers. The Gospel narrative recounts that he asked
Father to send someone to caution them: “Stop, this is not the path!”. But he
died, Francis explained, and “he did not leave a legacy, he did not leave life,
because he was only closed within himself”. The
Pontiff emphasized that the aridity of this life was accentuated by a
particular detail: in speaking about this man, the Gospel “does not say what
his name was; it only says that he was a rich man”. This detail is significant,
because “when your name is only an adjective, it is because you have lost:
you’ve lost substance, you’ve lost strength”. One might say: “this person is
rich, this one is powerful, this one can do anything, this one is a career
priest, a career bishop…”. It often happens, the Pope continued, that we
begin to “designate people with adjectives, not with names, because they do not
have substance”. This was the reality of the rich man in the day’s reading. At
this point Francis asked a question: “Didn’t God who is Father, have mercy on
this man? Didn’t he knock at his heart in order to move him?”. The answer:
“Yes, he was at the door, he was at the door, in the person of Lazarus”.
Lazarus: this man has a name. Lazarus, the Pope added, “with his needs and his
miseries, his disease, was actually the Lord who was knocking at the door, so
that this man would open his heart and mercy could enter”. Instead, the rich
man “didn’t see”, because “he was closed”, and “for him there was nothing
beyond the door”. The
Gospel passage, the Pontiff said, is helpful to all of us at the midpoint of
the Lenten journey, in order to raise a few questions: “Am I on the path of
life or on the path of lies? How many locks do I still have on my heart? Where
is my joy: in doing or talking?”. Moreover, is my joy “in going outside of
myself in order to meet others, in order to help”, or “is my joy in having
everything organized, locked up inside myself?”. As
we consider all of this, Pope Francis concluded, “let us ask the Lord” for the
grace “to always see the Lazarus who knocks at our heart” and for the grace to
“go outside of ourselves with generosity, with an attitude of mercy, so that
God’s mercy can enter our heart”….
(Vatican Radio) To truly live our faith, we must recognize the poor who are near to us. In them, Jesus Himself knocks at the door of our heart: that was Pope Francis’ message during the morning Mass at Casa Santa Marta on Thursday.
Christians in a bubble of vanity
In the Gospel of the day, Jesus tells the parable of the rich man “who dressed in purple garments and fine linen and dined sumptuously each day,” and who did not recognize that at his door there was a poor man named Lazarus, who was covered with sores. The Pope invited us to ask ourselves the question: “Am I a Christian in name only, on the path of lies; or am I a Christian on the path of life, that is, of works, of actions.” The rich man of the parable, he said, “knew the commandments, surely went every Saturday to the synagogue, and once a year to the Temple.” He had “a certain religiosity”:
“But he was a closed man, closed in his own little world – the world of banquets, of clothes, of vanity, of friends – a closed man, truly in a bubble of vanity. He didn’t have the ability to see others, only his own world. And this man did not recognize the things that happened beyond his closed world. For example, he didn’t think of the needs of so many people, or of the necessity of accompanying of the sick; he though only of himself, of his wealth, of his good life: he was given to the good life.”
The poor man is the Lord, who knocks at the door of our heart
The rich man, then, had the appearance of being religious, but did not know the “peripheries,” he was completely “closed in on himself.” It is precisely the “peripheries” on his very doorstep that he could not see. He took the “way of falsehood,” because he “trusted only in himself, in his things – he did not trust in God.” He was a man who wasn’t able to properly receive his inheritance, or live his life, because “he was closed in on himself.” And, the Pope said, “it is curious – the man had lost his name. It says only that he was a rich man, and when your name is only an adjective, it is because you have lost [something], you have lost substance, you have lost strength.”
“This wealth, this is power, this can accomplish anything, this is a priest with a career, a bishop with a career… How many times [do] we [do this]?… It amounts to naming people with adjectives, not with names, because they have no substance. But I ask myself, ‘Did not God, who is a Father, have mercy on this man? Did He not knock on his heart to move him?” But yes, he was at the door, in the person of that man Lazarus, who had a name. And Lazarus, with his needs and his sorrows, his illnesses – it was the Lord Himself who was knocking at the door, so that this man would open his heart and mercy would be able to enter. But no, he did not see, he was simply closed: for him, outside the door there was nothing.”
The grace to see the poor
We are in Lent, the Pope noted, and it would do us good to ask ourselves what path we are travelling on:
“‘Am I on the road of life, or on the road of lies? How many ways is my heart still closed? Where is my joy: in doing, or in speaking? In going out of myself to meet others, to help them? The works of mercy, eh? Or is my joy in having everything organized, closed in on myself?’ Let us ask the Lord, while we’re thinking about it – no, throughout our life – for the grace of always seeing the Lazarus at our door, the Lazarus who knocks at our heart, and [the grace] to go out of ourselves with generosity, with the attitude of mercy, so that the mercy of God can enter into our hearts.
(from Vatican Radio)…