When Jesus forgives us, "when he brings us back to life? When he returns us to Our Mother . "Our reconciliation with God does not end with the dialog ' You, me and the priest who gives me forgiveness ' ; it ends when He restores us to Our Mother. Reconciliation ends there, because there is the path of life, there is forgiveness, there is no reconciliation outside of Mother Church.

Vatican City ( AsiaNews ) - The Church "has a certain dimension of widowhood ", " her Bridegroom is gone and she walks throughout history, hoping to find Him , to meet Him ," and in the meantime, "she goes ahead and raises her children , gives them strength and accompanies them until the final farewell, handing them over to her Spouse whom she will eventually encounter . "

The trigger for today's homily reflection by Pope Francis during Mass at Casa Santa Marta, was the Gospel story of the encounter between Jesus and the widow of Naim , which shows how Jesus has the "capacity to suffer with us, to be close to our sufferings and make them his own". In fact, Jesus "was moved by a great compassion" for this widow who had lost her son . As reported by Vatican Radio, the Pope pointed out that Jesus "knew what it meant to be a widow at that time" and that "he had a special love for the widows, he cared for them."

" This poor widow" is "an icon of the Church , because the Church is in a sense a widow". "The Bridegroom is gone and she is walking in history, hoping to find Him, to meet with Him.  She will be His definitive bride. But in the meantime she - the Church - is alone ! The Lord is not visible. She has a certain dimension of widowhood ... it makes me think of the widowhood of the Church. This brave Church , that defends her children, like the widow who went to the corrupt judge to defend, defend and eventually won . Our Mother Church is brave ! She has the courage of a woman who knows that her children are hers , and must defend them and bring them to the final encounter with her Spouse . "

The Pope then spoke of some figures of widows in the Bible , in particular the courageous Maccabean widow with seven children who are martyred for not renouncing God. The Bible says this woman spoke to her children "in the local dialect, in the first language". And our mother Church speaks in dialect, in "the language of true orthodoxy that we all understand, the language of the catechism" that "gives us just the strength to advance in the fight against evil".

"This dimension of widowhood of the Church, journeying through history, hoping to meet, to find her Spouse ... this is Our Mother the Church! She is a Church which, when she is faithful , knows how to cry . When the Church does not cry, something is wrong.  She weeps for her children and prays! A Church that goes forward and raises her children, gives them strength and accompanies them until final farewell, handing them to her Bridegroom, whom she too will eventually encounter. This is our mother Church ! I see here in this widow, who is crying . And what does the Lord say to the Church ? Do not cry. I am with you, I will accompany you, I will wait for you there, at the wedding, the last wedding, that of the lamb. Stop, this son of yours that was dead, now lives". "And this "is the dialogue with the Church of the Lord". She "defends the children, but when He sees that the children are dead, crying , and the Lord says to her : ' I am with you and your son is with me.'" As he told the boy in Naim to get up from his death bed, many times Jesus also tells us to get up "when we are dead from sin and we go to ask for forgiveness".

And then what does Jesus do "when He forgives us when we brought back to life? He returns us to our mother . "Our reconciliation with God does not end with the dialog 'You, me and the priest who gives me forgiveness' ; it ends when He restores us to our mother. Reconciliation ends there, because there we find the path of life , there we find forgiveness, there is no reconciliation outside of Mother Church. And so, seeing this poor widow, all of these things come to me, a little ' out of order ... But I see in this the icon of the widow, the widowhood of the Church which is journeying to find her Bridegroom. I get the urge to ask the Lord for the grace always trust in this 'Mom' who defends us , teaches us, makes us grow and speak [Her] dialect. "

 

 

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