The Pope encourages the Church in Belgium to live with the joy of the Gospel

Silvija Krivteža – Vatican

The Holy Father thanked the Archbishop of Brussels for his congratulatory speech. “You are the “Church on the Way””, said the Pope, expressing gratitude for the Church in Belgium’s great contribution to the creation of Christianity, its efforts to be close to everyone. When answering the questions, Francis continued with the words – gospel, pleasure, mercy.

The first way gospel. The changes of our time and the crisis of faith, seen in Western Europe, bring us back to the most important thing, that is, to the Gospel, so that the Good News that brought Jesus preached anew to all nations. and his beauty is revealed. A crisis – every crisis – said the Pope – is a time to wake up from sleep and return. It is a wonderful opportunity – in the language of the Bible cairo – to seek the paths of the Spirit as they were with Abraham, and Moses, and the prophets. We have moved from a Christianity rooted in a friendly social context to a “minority” Christianity. And it takes courage to go back and engage in the work of evangelism.

The Pope confirmed that everyone needs the courage to return. The Lord opens our hearts to meet those who are different from us. It is beautiful, even necessary, to have different dreams and spirituality among young people. You said that “everyone is on the way, but we are taking different paths”. As it should be, there can be many personal or community paths that lead to the same goal, to meet the Lord. Everyone has a place in the church, and no one can be a copy of another person. Unity in the Church is not unity, but finding harmony in diversity! How can we bring the Gospel to a society that no longer listens to it or has turned away from the faith? – Francis asked.

There is another way pleasure. It is about the kind of joy that accompanies and sustains us even in the dark and painful times. It is a gift that comes from above, from God. This is the joy of a heart awakened by the Gospel. It is the sense that we are not alone on the road, that God is in a situation of poverty, sin and suffering, taking care of us, and that he does not let death have the last word. Joy is a sign of grace – said Josef Ratzinger at the time, who explained that where there is no joy, where there is no spark of grace, there is no Spirit of Jesus Christ. Let your preaching, celebration of feasts, service and apostolate be the joy of the heart, because it attracts even those who are far away, said the Pope.

The third way – mercy. The Gospel of Christ, accepted and shared, received and given to us, invites us to rejoice, to discover that God is the Father of mercy, who touches us , who will lift us up, will never give up his love for us. God will never give up his love for us, – again the holy Father. God will never give up his love. In the face of evil, we can sometimes feel “unjust” because we are simply applying worldly justice: “He who does evil must pay. However, God’s justice is much more perfect: even if those who have done evil are asked to pay for it. our mistakes, but to be healed in our hearts, we need God’s merciful love.

Francis thanked the Catholic community for the wonderful work they are doing in trying to turn suffering into help, solidarity and compassion. Abuse causes suffering and terrible wounds, endangering the path of faith. We need a lot of compassion so that we do not remain hard and cold in front of the suffering of the victims, but make them feel our closeness and give them all possible help, in order to learn from them to be In the Church that will be a servant. of all, to conquer none. Yes, because one of the roots of violence is the abuse of power, when we use our responsibilities to beat or manipulate others.

Mercy is the key word for prisoners. Jesus shows us that God does not run away from our wounds and dirt. He knows that we can all do evil, but no one is evil. No one is ever lost. Therefore, it is right to follow all the paths of earthly justice and humane, psychological and penal paths, but the punishment must be healing, it must lead to healing. People need to be helped to rise again and find their way in life and in society. Let’s remember: we can all do evil, but no one is evil, no one is lost forever. Mercy, always mercy, – said the Pope.

“Walk together to be a merciful Church. Nothing Christian happens without the Holy Spirit. This is what the Blessed Virgin Mary, our Mother, teaches us. May she guide and protect you. I give you my blessing. And please don’t forget to pray for me. – Pope Francis said at the end of his speech.