“How many weary and oppressed people do we meet even today! In the
street, in public offices, in clinics… Jesus turns his gaze onto each of
those faces, looking at them through our eyes too”. Francis said this in his catechesis at the final Saturday audience for the Jubilee of Mercy.
These Saturday audiences were held once a month throughout the Extraordinary Holy Year and presented an important aspect of mercy: inclusion.”
At the start of the audience, the Pope was welcomed in the courtyard in front of St. Peter’s Basilica by a group of flag throwers who invited him to pass under their flags.
“In his plan of love,” the Pope explained, “God doesn’t want to leave anyone out, he wants to include everyone. Through baptism, for example, he makes us his children in Christ, parts of his body, which is the Church. And we as Christians are invited to use this same criterion: mercy is that attitude, that style, with which we seek to include others in our life, avoiding retreating into ourselves and into our selfish sense of security.”
Francis recalled that in the passage of Matthew’s Gospel that was read out during the audience, Jesus sends out a truly “universal invitation”: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” “No one is excluded from this invitation,” Francis remarked, “because Jesus’ mission is to reveal the love of the Father to each person. It is up to us to open our hearts, trust in Jesus and embrace this message of love that leads us to the mystery of salvation.”
“This aspect of mercy, inclusion,” the Pope explained, “is shown through arms that are wide open ready to welcome, not exclude; not pigeonholing others according to social status, language, race, culture, religion: in front of us there is only one person to love as God loves. The person I come across at work and in my neighbourhood, is a person to love, as God loves. ‘But they are from that country, another country, of this religion, another ...’ Francis added, in an off-the-cuff imitation of what someone may respond. “That is a person whom God loves and I have to love them. That is what inclusion is!”
“How many weary and oppressed people we meet even today! In the street, in public offices, in clinics ... Jesus turns his gaze onto each of those faces, looking at them through our eyes too. And what about our heart? Is it merciful? And the way we think and act, is it inclusive? The Gospel calls us to recognise in the history of humanity the plan for a great work of inclusion, which fully respects the freedom of every person, every community, every people, which calls everyone to form a family of brothers and sisters, in justice, solidarity and peace, and to be part of the Church, which is the body of Christ.”
“How true are the words of Jesus who invites those who are tired and weary to come to Him to find rest!” Francis said. “His outstretched arms on the cross show that no one is excluded from his love and his mercy. No one is excluded from his love and mercy, even the greatest sinner: no one!” Francis added spontaneously. “All are included in his love and in His mercy.”
“The most immediate expression with which we feel welcomed and included in Him is forgiveness,” the Pope continued. “We all need to be forgiven by God. And we all need to meet brothers and sisters to help us to go to Jesus, to open ourselves to the gift he has given us on the cross.”
“Let us not be obstacles to one another! We must not exclude anyone!” Francis said in his final appeal. “In fact, humility and simplicity are the instruments of the inclusive mercy of the Father. This is how the Father’s mercy is inclusive. The mother Holy Church prolongs the great embrace of Christ who died and rose again. This square, with its colonnade, is also an expression of this embrace. Let us engage in this movement of inclusion of others, to be witnesses of the mercy with which God has accepted and welcomed each and every one of us.”
At the end of the audience, Francis sent out a special greeting to the volunteers who helped out during the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, all hailing from different nations. He thanked them “for their precious service, ensuring that pilgrims got the most out of this experience of faith. Over the past months, I have noticed your presence in the square, wearing the logo of the Jubilee and I admired the dedication, patience and enthusiasm that you put into your work.”
Finally, Francis remembered the Feast of Saint Martin of Tours, patron saint of beggars, which was celebrated on Friday 11 November. This year marks “the 17th centenary of his birth,” the Pope said. May his example “inspire in you dear youngsters, especially Europe’s Erasmus students, the desire to carry out concrete gestures of solidarity; may your faith in Christ the Lord sustain you, dear sick people, through the trials of your illness.”