(Vatican Radio) Our journey of faith is not one of alienation, but prepares our hearts
to see the beautiful face of God: this was Pope Francis’ message during Mass in the
Domus Sanctae Marthae. On Friday Mass was attended by Staff from the Vatican Typography,
the Vatican Labor Office and Vatican State Police. Emer McCarthy reports:
The Gospel
of the day recounts Jesus saying to his disciples: “Do not let your hearts be troubled”.
"These
words of Jesus are really beautiful words. In a moment of farewell, Jesus speaks to
his disciples, really from the heart. He knows that his disciples are sad, because
they realize that things are not going well. He says: Do not let your hearts be troubled.
And he starts to talk like that, just like a friend, even with the attitude of a pastor.
I say, the music in the words of Jesus is how the pastor should behave, like a shepherd
with his sheep, right? ... Do not let your hearts be troubled. Have faith in God,
in me '. And what does he start to talk about? About Heaven, about the definitive
homeland. 'Have faith in me': I remain faithful, it is as if he said that, right?
... Like an engineer, like an architect He tells them what He will do: 'I am going
to prepare a place, in my Father’s house is my dwelling'. And Jesus goes to prepare
a place for us. "
Pope Francis asked: "What is that place like? What does
'prepare a place' mean? Does it mean renting a room up there? ‘Prepare a place’, means
preparing our ability to enjoy the chance - our chance - to see, to feel, to understand
the beauty of what lies ahead, of that homeland towards which we walk ".
"And
all of Christian life is the work of Jesus, the Holy Spirit to prepare a place, prepare
our eyes to be able to see ... 'But, Father, I see fine! I don’t need glasses! ':
But that's another type of vision .... Think of those who are suffering from cataracts
and have to undergo an operation to remove them: they can still see, but after surgery
what do they all say? 'I never thought you could see so well without glasses!'. Our
eyes, the eyes of our soul they need, they have to be prepared to contemplate the
beautiful face of Jesus. Our hearing must be prepared in order to hear the beautiful
things, the beautiful words. Above all our hearts must be prepared: prepared for love,
to love more".
In our life’s journey – said Pope Francis- the Lord prepares
our hearts "with trials, with consolations, with tribulations, with good things":
"The
whole journey of life is a journey of preparation. Sometimes the Lord has to do it
quickly, as he did with the good thief: he only had a few minutes to prepare him and
he did it. But the normal run of things goes this way, no?: in preparing our heart,
eyes, hearing to arrive in this homeland. Because that is our homeland. 'But, Father,
I went to a philosopher and he told me that all these thoughts are an alienation,
that we are alienated, that life is this, the concrete, and no-one knows what’s beyond
...'. Some think this is so ... but Jesus tells us that it is not so and says, 'Have
faith in me'. This I tell you is the truth: I do not cheat, I do not deceive. "
"Preparing
for heaven - said the Pope – means beginning to greet him from afar. This is not alienation:
this is the truth, this is allowing Jesus to prepare our hearts, our eyes for the
beauty that is so great. It is the path of beauty and" the path to the homeland.
"
Pope Francis concluded with a prayer that the Lord will give us " this strong
hope," the courage and the humility to allow the Lord to prepare “our eyes, our hearts,
our hearing” for the heavenly homeland, "the definitive dwelling. So be it. "