Pope Francis says "Jesus came into the world to teach us the way to heaven, to open its doors for us, and this is the great joy we celebrate..." FULL TEXT
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Audience with the Members of the "Fundación Madre de la Esperanza de Talavera de la Reina", 04.15.2023
This morning the Holy Father Francis held an Audience, in the Vatican Apostolic Palace, with members of the "Mother Hope Foundation of Talavera de la Reina" in Toledo (Spain).
We publish the following statement that the Pope has given in the presence of the Audience:
Speech of the Holy Father
Excellence,
Dear brothers and sisters:
I am very happy that you are here today and that you can share with me and together the feast of the Lord's resurrection. A party that continues and that we still celebrate, on this vigil of Mercy Sunday.
I know that you also have another reason to celebrate, no less than fifty years of working together and growing together. And this is a very beautiful thing.
The path of life is like that Stations of the Cross that you organize every year to accompany the Nazarene. On the one hand, you have to prepare many things, listen, learn, experiment; In short, helping each other, often having the humility to recognize that we cannot do it alone. Then you have to ask the Lord for the courage to go out into the street, carrying his image so that everyone can see it. And so, you take Jesus to others, even if you don't realize it, and you take him with your gestures, with your songs, with his prayers. And it is beautiful that in our littleness, we can be witnesses of Jesus, missionaries of his mercy, missionaries of his love!
In life, as in that Via Crucis, we all have a job, a task. Jesus looks at us and is happy about our effort and the love that we are capable of transmitting ourselves. Some of you are artists, you make true works of art, which are then sold. Being able to earn a living is important, because the worker deserves his salary, but I believe that the benefit of work is greater for those who receive these small objects, perhaps as gifts, and see all the care that you have been able to put in its manufacture. How important it would be that in the work of each person we were able to see all the illusion of learning, the patience of their teachers to teach them, the teamwork that is capable of making the different capacities of each one converge in a final result that it belongs to everyone And all this love, in such a small thing… It seems incredible.
I have seen, in a photo, that you take Jesus captive on your Via Crucis. In this image, Jesus has his hands bound and a cross embroidered on a small scapular. Jesus dresses like this so that we realize that many brothers and sisters who are next to us do not feel capable of doing things like the others, and believe that their hands are tied. But this is not true, all together, with Jesus, we can do many good things. And in that way you are the hands of Jesus, when you work together. They are also his feet, his voice, his Heart, when they go out to share with others the joy of having found him. And how? Giving thanks to God for his parents, for his brothers, for his teachers, for his priests, for all the people who love you.
The colorful embroidered cross invites you to dream of the resurrection. Jesus came into the world to teach us the way to heaven, to open its doors for us, and this is the great joy we celebrate in the resurrection: we are free to do good, to walk together towards that goal. And our cross —that is, effort, patience, fatigue— results in a beautiful work of art, full of color and hope, which, attached to our hearts, gives us strength and encourages us to continue forward.
Let this be our purpose, at least for the next fifty years: to work together and give thanks full of joy because Jesus has chosen us for this great mission.
May Jesus bless you and the Holy Virgin, the Mother of Hope, take care of you always. And please don't forget to pray for me. Thank you.
(After applause, the Holy Father gives the blessing)
We publish the following statement that the Pope has given in the presence of the Audience:
Speech of the Holy Father
Excellence,
Dear brothers and sisters:
I am very happy that you are here today and that you can share with me and together the feast of the Lord's resurrection. A party that continues and that we still celebrate, on this vigil of Mercy Sunday.
I know that you also have another reason to celebrate, no less than fifty years of working together and growing together. And this is a very beautiful thing.
The path of life is like that Stations of the Cross that you organize every year to accompany the Nazarene. On the one hand, you have to prepare many things, listen, learn, experiment; In short, helping each other, often having the humility to recognize that we cannot do it alone. Then you have to ask the Lord for the courage to go out into the street, carrying his image so that everyone can see it. And so, you take Jesus to others, even if you don't realize it, and you take him with your gestures, with your songs, with his prayers. And it is beautiful that in our littleness, we can be witnesses of Jesus, missionaries of his mercy, missionaries of his love!
In life, as in that Via Crucis, we all have a job, a task. Jesus looks at us and is happy about our effort and the love that we are capable of transmitting ourselves. Some of you are artists, you make true works of art, which are then sold. Being able to earn a living is important, because the worker deserves his salary, but I believe that the benefit of work is greater for those who receive these small objects, perhaps as gifts, and see all the care that you have been able to put in its manufacture. How important it would be that in the work of each person we were able to see all the illusion of learning, the patience of their teachers to teach them, the teamwork that is capable of making the different capacities of each one converge in a final result that it belongs to everyone And all this love, in such a small thing… It seems incredible.
I have seen, in a photo, that you take Jesus captive on your Via Crucis. In this image, Jesus has his hands bound and a cross embroidered on a small scapular. Jesus dresses like this so that we realize that many brothers and sisters who are next to us do not feel capable of doing things like the others, and believe that their hands are tied. But this is not true, all together, with Jesus, we can do many good things. And in that way you are the hands of Jesus, when you work together. They are also his feet, his voice, his Heart, when they go out to share with others the joy of having found him. And how? Giving thanks to God for his parents, for his brothers, for his teachers, for his priests, for all the people who love you.
The colorful embroidered cross invites you to dream of the resurrection. Jesus came into the world to teach us the way to heaven, to open its doors for us, and this is the great joy we celebrate in the resurrection: we are free to do good, to walk together towards that goal. And our cross —that is, effort, patience, fatigue— results in a beautiful work of art, full of color and hope, which, attached to our hearts, gives us strength and encourages us to continue forward.
Let this be our purpose, at least for the next fifty years: to work together and give thanks full of joy because Jesus has chosen us for this great mission.
May Jesus bless you and the Holy Virgin, the Mother of Hope, take care of you always. And please don't forget to pray for me. Thank you.
(After applause, the Holy Father gives the blessing)
Source: https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2023/04/15/0275/00595.html
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