“The catechists in-segnano, that is, leave an inner sign: when we educate to the faith, we do not give a teaching, but we set the word of life in the heart, to bring fruits of good life”. Pope Leone speaks to over 35 thousand who, in St. Peter’s Square, celebrate their Jubilee. Before the homily it gives the mandate to 39 of them. Each of the candidates for the Ministry of Catechist replies his “here I” to the call by name and, after the homily, receives a crucifix, a sign of his special vocation. Leone explains the parable of the rich “who has no name because he has lost himself” and Lazarus, a symbol of all the poor whose God does not forget, and urges those who must transmit faith to be first of all witness.
“You catechists,” he explains, “you are those disciples of Jesus, who become witnesses: the name of the ministry you carry out comes from the Greek verb Katēchein, which means instructing in the man of voices, making it resound. This means that the catechist is a person of speech, a word he pronounces with his own life. Therefore the first catechists are our parents, those who spoke to us first and taught us to speak. As we learned our mother tongue, so the announcement of the faith cannot be delegated to others, but it happens where we live. First of all in our homes, around the table: when there is a voice, a gesture, a face that leads to Christ, the family experiences the beauty of the Gospel “.
And he still underlines that “we have all been educated to believe through the testimony of those who believed before us. As children and young people, by young people, then as adults and also by the elderly, the catechists accompany us in faith by sharing a constant journey, as you did today, in the jubilee pilgrimage ». A dynamic involving the whole Church. “In this communion, catechism is the” travel tool “that repairs us from individualism and discord, because it attests to the faith of the whole Catholic Church. Each faithful collaborates in his pastoral work by listening to the questions, sharing the evidence, serving the desire for justice and truth that inhabits human consciousness ».
The pontiff also underlines that the evangelical song for the jubilee mass of the catechists, “For a singular coincidence”, it is the same as the 2016 Jubilee Analogue, that of Mercy. And he cites Pope Francis that “for that circumstance he highlighted that God redeem the world from all evil, giving his life for our salvation. Its action is the beginning of our mission, because it invites us to donate ourselves for the good of all. The Pope said to the catechists: “This center around which everything revolves, this beating heart that gives life to everything is The Easter announcement, the first announcement: the Lord Jesus is risen, the Lord Jesus loves you, for you he gave his life; Risen and alive, he is next to you and awaits you every day “». Words that even today “make us reflect on the dialogue between the rich man and Abraham, whom we listened to in the Gospel: it is a plea that the rich addresses to save his brothers and that becomes a challenge for us. Speaking with Abraham, in fact, he exclaims: “If someone from the dead will go to them, they will convert”. So Abraham replies: “If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded even if one resurrected by the mort”. Well, one has risen from the dead: Jesus Christ. The words of writing, then, do not want to disappoint or discourage us, but they arouse our conscience. Listening to Moses and the prophets means remembering the commandments and promises of God, whose providence never abandon anyone. The Gospel announces that everyone’s life can change, because Christ has risen from the dead. This event is the truth that saves us: therefore it must be known and announced, but it is not enough. It must be loved: It is this love that leads us to understand the Gospel, because it transforms us by opening the heart to the Word of God and the face of the neighbor “.
The condemnation of Pope Leone lasts also looking at today: «The story that Christ delivers us is, unfortunately, very current. At the gates of opulence, the misery of whole peoples is today, shedged by war and exploitation. Through the centuries, nothing seems to have changed: How many Lazarus die in front of the derivorous who forgets justice, to the profit that tramples on charity, to the blind wealth in front of the pain of the miserable! Yet the Gospel ensures that Lazzaro’s sufferings have a term ».
Not only that, the pontiff recalls that they are precisely the poor, the miserable who teach us. “At the Diacono DeograTias, who asked him how to be a good catechist,” explains Pope Prevost, “Sant’Agostino replied: “Expire everything so that those who listen to you listening to believe, believing spers and hoping for loves“. Dear brothers and sisters, we make this invitation ours! Remember that Nobody gives what he doesn’t have. If the rich of the Gospel had had charity for Lazzaro, he would have done good, as well as to the poor, also to himself. If that nameless man had had faith, God would have saved him from all torment: it was the attachment to worldly wealth that took away the hope of the true and eternal good. When we are also tempted by deordigia and indifference, the many Lazzaro of today remind us of the word of Jesus, becoming for us an even more effective catechesis in this Jubilee, which is for all conversion and forgive time, commitment for justice and sincere research of peace».
At the end of the celebration, the Pontiff, in celebrating the Angelus, recalled the victims of the typhoon that was fallen in Asia and announced that on the next November 1, during the Jubilee for education, he will confer the title of doctor of the church in San John Henry Newman.
