A Pope Pleasing God and Taking Care of People
(Homily 3rd Sunday of Easter)
“Peter, do you love me? Feed my sheep.” As we mourn the death of a pope and get ready for a new pope, we reflect about the office of Peter.
1. A good shepherd is not simply a man who
loves human beings, but mainly a man who loves Jesus. In fact, if you love
Jesus, then you necessarily love the people for whom Jesus gave up His life on
the cross. And if you do not love Jesus, the love of other human beings becomes
worldly, imperfect and sometimes even false or diminishing of other people’s
dignity.
Jesus did not
ask Peter, “Do you love people?” What is loving people? We usually love our
close relatives, we all enjoy hanging out with friends, some people enjoy being
always around people (others do not), other people love works of charity
towards the poor. Is loving people loving those who love us? “If you love those
who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love
them” (Luke 6:32). Is loving people loving those who can repay us? “If
you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you?”
(Luke 6:34). Is loving people loving those from whom we expect some
recognition? Is loving people the same as loving recognition, or affection?
Is loving
people the same as pleasing people? Look at the beautiful prayer for the
election of a new pope that the conference of Bishops prepared: “O God,
eternal shepherd, who govern your flock with unfailing care, grant in your
boundless fatherly love a pastor for your Church who will please you by his
holiness and to us show watchful care.” The Church is not asking for a pope
who will please us, but for one who will take care of us and please God.
“Peter, do
you love me?” Then, “feed my sheep.” We need a pope in love with Jesus. Only a
man like this will give his life for the sheep, as Jesus did. Only a man like
this will feed the sheep, take care of them…
2. What do we need from a pope? We need good
doctrine, good guidance and good packaging.
- A good pope does not try to please people
with his doctrine, changing the Church’s doctrine or being ambiguous about it
in order to get people’s approval. A good pope loves Jesus first: How can you
falsify the words of someone you love? A good pope truly loves people: How can
you give your children poison instead of Jesus’ message of salvation? (cf. Luke
11:11-12) A good pope is a man convinced that Jesus is the only one who has
words of eternal life (cf. John 6:68), and these words are what people
need.
In fact, people
who follow their own ways think that they are going to be happy in this or that
way, and it never works. God made us and He knows better. This is why we need
to follow God’s way, God’s message of salvation. The Gospel is eternal as God
is, and this is why it never changes, and it always works. We do not need to change
our doctrine but to change our hearts. We need to change, not Jesus. A
good pope is convinced of this.
- Good guidance means making the right
pastoral decisions to lead people to salvation. It has a lot to do with good
doctrine. A pope who thinks that the Church is an institution simply fostering
world peace, or welfare for all, is missing the point.
Certainly,
part of the Church’s mission is corporal mercy. This mercy is simply like an
expansion of God’s love in the heart of Christians: we must take care of the
corporal needs of our neighbors. But our main job is not to make people live
longer or more comfortably on earth, it is rather to make people live forever
in Heaven. Our main job is to give meaning to people’s lives and to people’s
sufferings. We Christians are not simply called to take away suffering from the
world, but rather to take away sin, which is the cause of suffering. We are
called to preach the good news that God loves human beings and died and rose
for them, so that they may one day live with Him forever. We are not simply
called to make people healthy or financially stable, but to make them good, to
make them happy. Our social work, which must never be missing in the Church, is
simply an effect of God’s love in our hearts and must be for the poor a sign
that God loves them, despite the appearances.
A pope who
knows what the Church is for makes decisions leading the Church to salvation,
to a deeper knowledge of God’s message and to a stronger practice of God’s
commandment of love. Not everyone needs the exact same guidance because not
everyone is in the same place. Particular laws and decrees may change according
to differing circumstances, but the doctrine never changes.
- Finally, what do I mean by good
packaging? Good methods, renewed fervor, right expressions… The New
Evangelization is about new ways of saying the same things, not about saying
new things. We need to say things in a kind way. And kindness comes from
compassion, from true love of people. Kindness also comes from an
acknowledgement of people's dignity, sensibility and education. Yes, there must
be a true desire of pleasing people but for their own sake, not for the
preacher’s sake. Kindness and firmness both come from true love. Parents know
that you cannot always be soft but, if you truly want to win over hearts,
kindness is your best ally.
May God give
us a good pope. A pope in love with Him, who takes good care of us. A pope who
wants to please God and not the world. A pope who also wants to please us for
our good and not for his own personal sake. May God give us a man leading us to
Him, to a greater knowledge and love of God, a man truly “building a bridge”[1]
between us and God, so that we may be saved.
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