Heir of a great story “rooted in the testimony of Peter, Paul and countless martyrs”. Pope Leone recalls the role of the church of Rome who, as the inscription on the facade of the Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano plays, is that of “being Mater Omnium Ecclesiarum, mother of all churches”.
It enhances, as Pope Francis said, the maternal dimension of the Church and the characteristics that are proper to it: “The tenderness, the availability to sacrifice and that listening ability that allows not only to help, but often to prevent needs and expectations, even before they are expressed. These are traits that we hope grow everywhere in the people of God, even here, in our great diocesan family: in the faithful, in the shepherds, in me first ». Taking inspiration from the Gospel of the day in which it is told “of how the community of origins faced the challenge of opening to the pay world in the announcement of the Gospel” underlines that “it was not an easy process: it required a lot of patience and mutual listening; This happened above all within the community of Antioch, where the brothers, dialoguing – also discussing – came to define the question together. But then Paolo and Barnaba went up to Jerusalem. They did not decide on them: they sought communion with the mother church and went there with humility. There they found, to listen to them, Pietro and the apostles. The dialogue that has finally led to the right decision was thus enabled: recognizing and considering the effort of the newbies, it was agreed to not impose excessive weights, but to limit themselves to asking for the essentials. Thus, what might seem like a problem has become an opportunity for everyone to reflect and grow “.
The biblical text also says more. Rereading the words that the brothers of Jerusalemme add, by letter, to those of Antioch, communicating them the decisions made: “It seemed well (…) to the Holy Spirit and to us”. That is, they underline “that in the entire story the most important listening, which made it possible to be all the rest, was that of the voice of God. They remind us, thus, that communion is built first of all” on their knees “, in prayer and in a continuous commitment of conversion. Only in this tension, in fact, each one can hear the voice of the spirit that shouts in itself: “Abbà! Father!” and consequently listen and understand others as brothers. The Gospel also reaffirms this message, telling us that in the choices of life we are not alone. The spirit supports us and indicates the way to follow, “teaching us” and “remembering” everything that Jesus said “.
Pope Leone recalls that “we are all the more capable of announcing the Gospel the more we let us conquer and transform, allowing the power of the spirit to purify ourselves in the intimate, to make our words simple, honest and clear our desires, generous our actions. And here the other verb comes into play: “remember”, that is, to return to turn the attention of the heart to what we have experienced and learned, to penetrate its meaning more deeply and enjoy its beauty ».
He thinks “of the demanding journey that the diocese of Rome is traveling in recent years, articulated on various listening levels: towards the surrounding world, to welcome their challenges, and within the communities, to understand the needs and promote skilled and prophetic initiatives of evangelization and charity. It is a difficult journey, still in progress, that tries to embrace a very rich, but also very complex reality. However, it is worthy of the history of this church, which many times has shown that she knows how to think “big”, spending itself without reservations in courageous projects, and putting themselves involved even in the face of new and demanding scenarios “. And it is also important “the great work with which the whole diocese, just in these days, is lavish for the Jubilee, in the welcome and care of pilgrims and in countless other initiatives. Thanks to many efforts, the city appears to those who come to you, sometimes from very far, like a large open and welcoming house, and above all as a hearth of faith ».
For his part, Leone expresses “the desire and commitment to enter this construction site so vast by putting me, as far as it will be possible, listening to everyone, to learn, understand and decide together:” Christian with you and bishop for you “, as Sant’Agostino said. I ask you to help me do it in a common effort of prayer and charity ». Remember both the words of St. Leone the Great: «All the good we accomplished in carrying out our ministry is the work of Christ; And not of us, who we can nothing without him, but we are lined with him, he from whom all the effectiveness of our work derives “, which those of John Paul I, who on September 23, 1978,” with the radiant and serene face that had already earned him the nickname of “Pope of the smile”, thus greeted his new diocesan family: “San Pio X – he said – he had exclaimed in Venice: It would be of me, Venetians, if I don’t love you? ‘. I too express all my affection, with the desire to share with you, on the common path, joys and pains, labors and hopes. I also offer you “what little I have and that I am”, and I entrust it to the intercession of the saints Peter and Paul and of many other brothers and sisters whose holiness has illuminated the history of this church and the streets of this city. The Virgin Mary accompanies us and interceda for us ».
