(Vatican Radio) The problem is not that we are sinners, but that we do not allow ourselves
to be transformed by the encounter with Christ in love: this was the main focus of
Pope Francis’ remarks at Mass on Friday morning in the chapel of the Domus Sanctae
Marthae residence in the Vatican, which was attended by employees of the Vatican Museums.
Listen:
At the center
of the homily was the day's Gospel reading, in which the Risen Jesus thrice asks Peter
if Peter loves Him. “It is,” said Pope Francis, “a dialogue of love between the Lord
and his disciple,” one that retraces the whole history of Peter’s meetings with Jesus,
from Peter’s first calling and invitation to follow the Lord, to his receiving the
name of Cephas – the Rock – and with the name, his peculiar mission, “which,” said
Pope Francis, “was there, even if Peter understood nothing of it [at the time].” Then,
when Peter recognized Jesus as the Christ and went on to reject the way of the Cross,
and Jesus said to him, “Get away, Satan!” and “Peter accepted this humiliation.” Peter
often “believed himself to be a good fellow,” was “fiery” in the Garden of Gethsemane,
and “took the sword” to defend Jesus, but then denied him three times – and when Jesus
looked on him with that look, “so beautiful [it was],” said the Pope, that Peter weeps.
“Jesus in these meetings is maturing Peter’s soul, Peter's heart,” helping Peter to
grow in love. So Peter, when he heard Jesus three times ask him, “Simon, son of John,
do you love me?” was ashamed, because he remembered the time when, three times, he
said he did not know the Lord:
“Peter was saddened that, for a third time,
Jesus asked him, “Do you love me?” This pain, this shame – a great man, this Peter
– [and] a sinner, a sinner. The Lord makes him feel that he is a sinner – makes us
all feel that we are sinners. The problem is not that we are sinners: the problem
is not repenting of sin, not being ashamed of what we have done. That's the problem.
And Peter has this shame, this humility, no? The sin, the sin of Peter, is a fact
that, with a heart as great as the heart Peter had, brings him to a new encounter
with Jesus: to the joy of forgiveness.”
The Lord did not abandon his promise,
when said, “You are rock.” In the episode recounted in Friday’s Gospel, we saw Jesus
saying, “Feed my sheep,” and the Lord “[gave] over His flock to a sinner.”:
“Peter
was a sinner, but not corrupt, eh? Sinners, yes, everyone: corrupt, no. I once knew
of a priest, a good parish pastor who worked well. He was appointed bishop, and he
was ashamed because he did not feel worthy, he had a spiritual torment. And he went
to the confessor. The confessor heard him and said, ‘But do not worry. If after the
[mess Peter made of things], they made him Pope, then you go ahead! .’ The point is
that this is how the Lord is. That’s the way He is. The Lord makes us mature with
many meetings with Him, even with our weaknesses, when we recognize [them], with our
sins.”
Pope Francis went on to say that Peter let himself be shaped by his
many encounters with Jesus, and that this, he said, “is something we all need to do
as well, for we are on the same road.” The Holy Father stressed that Peter is great,
not because he is good, but because he has a nobility of heart, which brings him to
tears, leads him to this pain, this shame - and also to take up his work of shepherding
the flock”:
“Let us ask the Lord, today, that this example of the life of a
man who continually meets with the Lord, and whom the Lord purifies, makes more mature
through these meetings, might help us to us to move forward, seeking the Lord and
meeting Him, allowing us [really] to encounter Him. More than this, it is important
that we let ourselves encounter the Lord: He always seeks us, He is always near us.
Many times, though, we look the other way because we do not want to talk with the
Lord or allow ourselves to encounter the Lord. Meeting the Lord [is important], but
more importantly, let us be met by the Lord: this is a grace. This is the grace that
Peter teaches us. We ask this grace today. So be it.”