Guess who is coming to visit.
An Argentinean, the son of Italian immigrants will be visiting our country this week. He was born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; we know him as Pope Francis. He will be sharing the message of God’s compassionate love and our responsibility of sharing that love with others. His priorities are helping the poor, caring for Creation and working towards peace. This message and these priorities are not his, they are Christ’s. He will have many opportunities to share that message during his visit. Will we really listen and act upon this message?
As Pope Francis leaves Cuba on Sunday, September 20, he will have said Mass using readings from Book Wisdom 2:12, 17-20; the Letter of St. James 3:16-4:3, and the Gospel of Mark 9:30-37. These readings are a challenge to us and our civic leaders. I believe Pope Francis’ message will be challenging too. What will be the response when he addresses Congress on Thursday, September 24 and the United Nations on Friday, September 25t?
Will we respond by murmuring, “he is obnoxious to us; he sets himself against our doings, reproaches us for transgressions of the law and charges us with violations of our training”? Wisdom 2:12. Our country is indeed blessed, yet still many experience homelessness or do not have a living wage. Life is not always considered sacred from conception until natural death. Pope Francis on June 5, 2013 General Audience said, “So men and women are sacrificed to the idols of profit and consumption: this is “scrap culture”, the culture of the disposable. . . . Conversely, a ten-point drop in the stock market in some cities is a tragedy. A person who dies is not a news story, but a ten point drop in the stock market is a tragedy! So people are discarded, as if they were trash.” Does not that in many ways describe our culture?
What is the alternative response? All that we have been given is grace and gift. We have rights and responsibilities. We need to hear and act upon wisdom that is “first of all pure, then peaceable, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, without inconsistency or insincerity.” James 3:17. This will take hard work and commitment. The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace for those who cultivate peace. James 3:18
Will Pope Francis’ message fall on deaf ears and cold hearts, and be a quaint memory when he departs?
Will we hear this call to conversion and action from Pope Francis or treat his visit simply as a media event?
Will we call our elected leaders to that same conversion and action?
Let us hear that call and not lose heart! As Pope Francis advised us during a September 4th interview on ABC News, “Be courageous”.
In Christ and Peace,
John