Pope Francis Tells Christians "Love pushes us to announce the Gospel by opening ourselves to others" - "Please, have the joy of the Gospel" in Luxembourg
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The final event of the first part of the pope's 46th Apostolic Journey abroad in Luxembourg. Pope Francis addressed a gathering of Luxembourg’s Catholic community. The event coincided with a Marian Jubilee, marking four centuries of devotion to Mary, Consoler of the Afflicted.
Speaking to the faithful gathered in Luxembourg’s Notre-Dame Cathedral, Pope Francis focused on three key themes: service, mission, and joy.
APOSTOLIC JOURNEY OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS
TO LUXEMBOURG AND BELGIUM
(September 26-29, 2024)
MEETING WITH THE CATHOLIC COMMUNITY
ADDRESS OF THE HOLY FATHER Pope Francis
Cathedral of “Notre-Dame” (Luxembourg)
Thursday, September 26, 2024
___________________________
WORDS OF THE HOLY FATHER after the testimonies
I would like to return to what you said about the drama of migration. Let us not forget a refrain that in the Bible, in the Old Testament, returns, returns, returns: the widow, the orphan and the foreigner.
Having compassion – says the Lord, already in the Old Testament – for the abandoned. At that time widows were abandoned, orphans too and so were foreigners, migrants. Migrants are part of the revelation. Many thanks to the people and the Government of Luxembourg for what they do for migrants, thank you!
* * *
Your Royal Highness,
Your Eminence and brother Bishops,
dear sisters, dear brothers!
I am very happy to be here with you, in this magnificent Cathedral. I am grateful to the Grand Duke and his family for their presence; and I thank Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich for his kind words, as well as Diogo, Christine and Sister Maria Perpetua for their testimonies.
Our meeting is taking place in conjunction with an important Marian Jubilee, with which the Luxembourg Church commemorates four centuries of devotion to Mary, Consoler of the Afflicted, Patroness of the Country. The theme you have chosen for this visit fits well with this title: “To serve”. Consoling and serving, in fact, are two fundamental aspects of the love that Jesus gave us, that he entrusted to us as a mission (see John 13:13-17) and that he showed us as the only way to full joy (see Acts 20:35). For this reason, shortly, in the opening prayer of the Marian Year, we will ask the Mother of God to help us be "missionaries, ready to witness the joy of the Gospel", conforming our hearts to hers "to put ourselves at the service of our brothers". We can then stop to reflect on these three words: service, mission and joy.
First of all, service. A short while ago it was said that the Luxembourg Church wants to be "the Church of Jesus Christ, who did not come to be served but to serve" (see Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45). And the image of Saint Francis embracing the leper and healing his wounds was also recalled. I, of service, would like to recommend to you an aspect that is very urgent today: that of welcoming. I do so here, among you, in a special way, because your country has and keeps alive, in this field, a centuries-old tradition, as Sister Maria Perpetua reminded us, and as has emerged many times, also in other testimonies, in the cry: “todos, todos, todos!”, “tutti, tutti, tutti!”, repeated on various occasions. Yes, the spirit of the Gospel is a spirit of welcome, of openness to all, and does not allow any type of exclusion (see Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii gaudium, 47). I encourage you, therefore, to remain faithful to this heritage of yours, to this wealth that you have, continuing to make your country a friendly home for anyone who knocks on your door asking for help and hospitality.
It is a duty of justice even before that of charity, as Saint John Paul II already said when he recalled the Christian roots of European culture. He encouraged precisely the young people of Luxembourg to chart the path to “a Europe not only of goods and commodities, but of values, of men and hearts,” in which the Gospel would be shared “in the word of proclamation and in the signs of love” (Address to the young people of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, 16 May 1985, 4), both things. I emphasize this because it is important: a Europe, and a world, in which the Gospel is shared in the word of proclamation combined with the signs of love.
And this brings us to the second theme: the mission. The Cardinal Archbishop, a short while ago, spoke of an “evolution of the Luxembourg Church in a secularized society.” I liked this expression: the Church, in a secularized society, evolves, matures, grows. It does not withdraw into itself, sad, resigned, resentful, no; rather, it accepts the challenge, in fidelity to the values of always, to rediscover and revalue in a new way the ways of evangelization, moving more and more from a simple approach of pastoral care to that of missionary proclamation – and it takes courage. And to do this it is ready to evolve: for example – as Christine reminded us – in sharing responsibilities and ministries, walking together as a Community that proclaims and making synodality a “lasting way of relating” among its members.
And the value of this growth was shown to us by our young friends who just now interpreted some scenes from the musical Laudato si’. Well done, they did well! Thank you for the gift you have given us! Your work, the fruit of a community effort that involved many in the Archdiocese, is a doubly prophetic sign for all of us! It reminds us, first of all, of our responsibilities towards the “common home”, of which we are custodians and not despots. But then it also makes us reflect on how this mission, lived together, constitutes in itself a wonderful choral instrument to tell everyone the beauty of the Gospel. And this is important, it is important for all of us: what drives us to the mission, in fact, is not the need to “make up the numbers”, to “proselytize”, but the desire to make as many brothers and sisters as possible know the joy of the encounter with Christ. And here I would like to recall a beautiful expression of Benedict XVI: “The Church does not grow by proselytism but by attraction”.
Here then, beyond the difficulties, is the living dynamism of the Holy Spirit that acts in us! Love pushes us to announce the Gospel by opening ourselves to others and the challenge of the announcement makes us grow as a community, helping us to overcome the fear of taking new paths and pushing us to gratefully welcome everyone's contribution. It is a beautiful, healthy, joyful dynamic that will do us good to cultivate in us and around us.
And so we come to the third word: joy. Diogo, speaking of the experience of the World Youth Day, recalled the happiness he felt on the eve of the celebration, in waiting, together with peers of every origin and nation, for the moment of our meeting, as well as the emotion of waking up, the next morning, surrounded by so many friends; and again the enthusiasm felt during the preparation done together in Portugal and the joy, after a year, in reuniting with the others here in Luxembourg. Do you see? Our faith is like this: it is joyful, “dancing”, because it tells us that we are children of a God who is a friend of man, who wants us happy and united, and who is happier with nothing than our salvation (see Luke 15:4-32; St. Gregory the Great, Homilies on the Gospels, 34:3). And on this, please: those sad, boring, long-faced Christians do harm to the Church. No, these are not Christians. Please, have the joy of the Gospel: this makes us believe and grow so much.
In this regard, I would like to conclude by recalling another beautiful tradition of your country, which I have been told about: the spring procession – Springprozession –, which takes place at Pentecost in Echternach, in memory of the tireless missionary work of Saint Willibrord, evangelizer of these lands. The entire city pours out dancing in the streets and squares, along with so many pilgrims and visitors who flock, and the procession becomes a huge, unique dance. We remember that King David danced before the Lord and this is an expression of faithfulness. Big and small, everyone dances together toward the Cathedral – this year even in the rain, I heard –, witnessing with enthusiasm, in memory of the holy Shepherd, how beautiful it is to walk together and find ourselves all brothers around the table of our Lord. And here, just a little word: please, do not lose the ability to forgive. You know that we all have to forgive, but do you know why? Because we have all been forgiven and we all need forgiveness.
Dear sisters, dear brothers, the mission that the Lord entrusts to us is beautiful: to console and serve, following the example and with the help of Mary. Thank you, consecrated men and women, for the work you do, seminarians, priests, everyone; and also for the generous help that you wanted to share with those in need. Where there is a needy person there is Christ. I bless you and pray for you. And you too, please, pray for me. Thank you.
APOSTOLIC JOURNEY OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS
TO LUXEMBOURG AND BELGIUM
(September 26-29, 2024)
MEETING WITH THE CATHOLIC COMMUNITY
ADDRESS OF THE HOLY FATHER Pope Francis
Cathedral of “Notre-Dame” (Luxembourg)
Thursday, September 26, 2024
___________________________
WORDS OF THE HOLY FATHER after the testimonies
I would like to return to what you said about the drama of migration. Let us not forget a refrain that in the Bible, in the Old Testament, returns, returns, returns: the widow, the orphan and the foreigner.
Having compassion – says the Lord, already in the Old Testament – for the abandoned. At that time widows were abandoned, orphans too and so were foreigners, migrants. Migrants are part of the revelation. Many thanks to the people and the Government of Luxembourg for what they do for migrants, thank you!
* * *
Your Royal Highness,
Your Eminence and brother Bishops,
dear sisters, dear brothers!
I am very happy to be here with you, in this magnificent Cathedral. I am grateful to the Grand Duke and his family for their presence; and I thank Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich for his kind words, as well as Diogo, Christine and Sister Maria Perpetua for their testimonies.
Our meeting is taking place in conjunction with an important Marian Jubilee, with which the Luxembourg Church commemorates four centuries of devotion to Mary, Consoler of the Afflicted, Patroness of the Country. The theme you have chosen for this visit fits well with this title: “To serve”. Consoling and serving, in fact, are two fundamental aspects of the love that Jesus gave us, that he entrusted to us as a mission (see John 13:13-17) and that he showed us as the only way to full joy (see Acts 20:35). For this reason, shortly, in the opening prayer of the Marian Year, we will ask the Mother of God to help us be "missionaries, ready to witness the joy of the Gospel", conforming our hearts to hers "to put ourselves at the service of our brothers". We can then stop to reflect on these three words: service, mission and joy.
First of all, service. A short while ago it was said that the Luxembourg Church wants to be "the Church of Jesus Christ, who did not come to be served but to serve" (see Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45). And the image of Saint Francis embracing the leper and healing his wounds was also recalled. I, of service, would like to recommend to you an aspect that is very urgent today: that of welcoming. I do so here, among you, in a special way, because your country has and keeps alive, in this field, a centuries-old tradition, as Sister Maria Perpetua reminded us, and as has emerged many times, also in other testimonies, in the cry: “todos, todos, todos!”, “tutti, tutti, tutti!”, repeated on various occasions. Yes, the spirit of the Gospel is a spirit of welcome, of openness to all, and does not allow any type of exclusion (see Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii gaudium, 47). I encourage you, therefore, to remain faithful to this heritage of yours, to this wealth that you have, continuing to make your country a friendly home for anyone who knocks on your door asking for help and hospitality.
It is a duty of justice even before that of charity, as Saint John Paul II already said when he recalled the Christian roots of European culture. He encouraged precisely the young people of Luxembourg to chart the path to “a Europe not only of goods and commodities, but of values, of men and hearts,” in which the Gospel would be shared “in the word of proclamation and in the signs of love” (Address to the young people of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, 16 May 1985, 4), both things. I emphasize this because it is important: a Europe, and a world, in which the Gospel is shared in the word of proclamation combined with the signs of love.
And this brings us to the second theme: the mission. The Cardinal Archbishop, a short while ago, spoke of an “evolution of the Luxembourg Church in a secularized society.” I liked this expression: the Church, in a secularized society, evolves, matures, grows. It does not withdraw into itself, sad, resigned, resentful, no; rather, it accepts the challenge, in fidelity to the values of always, to rediscover and revalue in a new way the ways of evangelization, moving more and more from a simple approach of pastoral care to that of missionary proclamation – and it takes courage. And to do this it is ready to evolve: for example – as Christine reminded us – in sharing responsibilities and ministries, walking together as a Community that proclaims and making synodality a “lasting way of relating” among its members.
And the value of this growth was shown to us by our young friends who just now interpreted some scenes from the musical Laudato si’. Well done, they did well! Thank you for the gift you have given us! Your work, the fruit of a community effort that involved many in the Archdiocese, is a doubly prophetic sign for all of us! It reminds us, first of all, of our responsibilities towards the “common home”, of which we are custodians and not despots. But then it also makes us reflect on how this mission, lived together, constitutes in itself a wonderful choral instrument to tell everyone the beauty of the Gospel. And this is important, it is important for all of us: what drives us to the mission, in fact, is not the need to “make up the numbers”, to “proselytize”, but the desire to make as many brothers and sisters as possible know the joy of the encounter with Christ. And here I would like to recall a beautiful expression of Benedict XVI: “The Church does not grow by proselytism but by attraction”.
Here then, beyond the difficulties, is the living dynamism of the Holy Spirit that acts in us! Love pushes us to announce the Gospel by opening ourselves to others and the challenge of the announcement makes us grow as a community, helping us to overcome the fear of taking new paths and pushing us to gratefully welcome everyone's contribution. It is a beautiful, healthy, joyful dynamic that will do us good to cultivate in us and around us.
And so we come to the third word: joy. Diogo, speaking of the experience of the World Youth Day, recalled the happiness he felt on the eve of the celebration, in waiting, together with peers of every origin and nation, for the moment of our meeting, as well as the emotion of waking up, the next morning, surrounded by so many friends; and again the enthusiasm felt during the preparation done together in Portugal and the joy, after a year, in reuniting with the others here in Luxembourg. Do you see? Our faith is like this: it is joyful, “dancing”, because it tells us that we are children of a God who is a friend of man, who wants us happy and united, and who is happier with nothing than our salvation (see Luke 15:4-32; St. Gregory the Great, Homilies on the Gospels, 34:3). And on this, please: those sad, boring, long-faced Christians do harm to the Church. No, these are not Christians. Please, have the joy of the Gospel: this makes us believe and grow so much.
In this regard, I would like to conclude by recalling another beautiful tradition of your country, which I have been told about: the spring procession – Springprozession –, which takes place at Pentecost in Echternach, in memory of the tireless missionary work of Saint Willibrord, evangelizer of these lands. The entire city pours out dancing in the streets and squares, along with so many pilgrims and visitors who flock, and the procession becomes a huge, unique dance. We remember that King David danced before the Lord and this is an expression of faithfulness. Big and small, everyone dances together toward the Cathedral – this year even in the rain, I heard –, witnessing with enthusiasm, in memory of the holy Shepherd, how beautiful it is to walk together and find ourselves all brothers around the table of our Lord. And here, just a little word: please, do not lose the ability to forgive. You know that we all have to forgive, but do you know why? Because we have all been forgiven and we all need forgiveness.
Dear sisters, dear brothers, the mission that the Lord entrusts to us is beautiful: to console and serve, following the example and with the help of Mary. Thank you, consecrated men and women, for the work you do, seminarians, priests, everyone; and also for the generous help that you wanted to share with those in need. Where there is a needy person there is Christ. I bless you and pray for you. And you too, please, pray for me. Thank you.
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