Pope Francis says "Our hope has a name—Jesus—God who was not disgusted by our clay and who, instead of saving us from the clay, became clay for us.”
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Pope Francis meets with seminarians and formators of several Spanish dioceses. In October 2024, torrential rains flooded the Spanish city of Valencia, killing around 230 people and causing massive property damage. Thousands of volunteers and nonprofit organizations mobilized to assist those affected by one of Spain’s deadliest natural disasters. On Thursday, three months later, Pope Francis met with the seminarians, formators, and bishops of the Archdiocese of Valencia, along with several other Spanish dioceses, for an audience in the Vatican.
ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS
TO THE FORMATORS AND SEMINARIANS OF THE SPANISH DIOCESES OF VALENCIA,
ORIHUELA-ALICANTE, SEGORBE-CASTELLÓN, MALLORCA, MENORCA AND IBIZA
Clementine Hall
Thursday, 30 January 2025
________________________________
Dear Brothers in the Episcopate, dear seminarians and formators
of the Ecclesiastical Province of Valencia:
It is not easy for me to express my feelings to you, thinking of the surely atypical Christmas with that experience of “God having become clay” in you. A pain and a mourning that despite its hardness opens us to hope because, forcing us to touch bottom and leave behind everything that seemed to sustain us, allows us to go further. It is not something we can do alone, it is an immense darkness that you have lived and are living. And I think of the selfless help of so many people, the eyes full of dedication of the people, who have been able to enlighten us with the tenderness of God.
You are called to work in this field. DANA is not an atypical phenomenon that we simply hope will not happen again, it is the extrapolation of what every human being experiences when faced with a loss and feels alone, disoriented, in need of support to be able to continue. Jesus says it very clearly: “For this I have been anointed – for this you are anointed – to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor” (cf. Is 61:1; Lk 4:18). We are already in this Year of Grace, which I wanted to dedicate to hope and which you will live in all its strength meditating on these words.
I once said that “hope” is not “optimism”, “optimism” is a light expression, hope is something else. We cannot take the suffering of people lightly and try to console them with phrases of circumstance and do-goodism. Our hope has a name, Jesus, that God who has not felt disgust for our mud and who, instead of saving us from the mud, has become mud for us. And being a priest is being another Christ, it is becoming mud in the tears of the people, and when you see broken people, because in Valencia there are broken people, who have lost their lives in pieces, give them pieces, pieces, of yourselves, as Christ does in the Eucharist. Please, give yourself freely, because everything you have you have received for free, do not forget the gratuitousness, and please I ask you to pray for me. Thank you very much.
TO THE FORMATORS AND SEMINARIANS OF THE SPANISH DIOCESES OF VALENCIA,
ORIHUELA-ALICANTE, SEGORBE-CASTELLÓN, MALLORCA, MENORCA AND IBIZA
Clementine Hall
Thursday, 30 January 2025
________________________________
Dear Brothers in the Episcopate, dear seminarians and formators
of the Ecclesiastical Province of Valencia:
It is not easy for me to express my feelings to you, thinking of the surely atypical Christmas with that experience of “God having become clay” in you. A pain and a mourning that despite its hardness opens us to hope because, forcing us to touch bottom and leave behind everything that seemed to sustain us, allows us to go further. It is not something we can do alone, it is an immense darkness that you have lived and are living. And I think of the selfless help of so many people, the eyes full of dedication of the people, who have been able to enlighten us with the tenderness of God.
You are called to work in this field. DANA is not an atypical phenomenon that we simply hope will not happen again, it is the extrapolation of what every human being experiences when faced with a loss and feels alone, disoriented, in need of support to be able to continue. Jesus says it very clearly: “For this I have been anointed – for this you are anointed – to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor” (cf. Is 61:1; Lk 4:18). We are already in this Year of Grace, which I wanted to dedicate to hope and which you will live in all its strength meditating on these words.
I once said that “hope” is not “optimism”, “optimism” is a light expression, hope is something else. We cannot take the suffering of people lightly and try to console them with phrases of circumstance and do-goodism. Our hope has a name, Jesus, that God who has not felt disgust for our mud and who, instead of saving us from the mud, has become mud for us. And being a priest is being another Christ, it is becoming mud in the tears of the people, and when you see broken people, because in Valencia there are broken people, who have lost their lives in pieces, give them pieces, pieces, of yourselves, as Christ does in the Eucharist. Please, give yourself freely, because everything you have you have received for free, do not forget the gratuitousness, and please I ask you to pray for me. Thank you very much.
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