The secret lies in a gaze

The synod on the family has started. There are many issues that affect the lives of millions of believers. The Synod- Fathers, then have a great responsibility in merging the principles of the Gospel with the many challenges and queries that come from society. A daunting task, which cannot be addressed simply in an academic way. Many people wonder whether Pope Francesco will succeed in converging the different schools of thought with the many demands of men and women of good will, who want to be accepted by the Church. The theme of the family, however, can be tackled only looking to Jesus. This was the exhortation that Pope Bergoglio, with deep spiritual passion, made yesterday evening at St. Peter’s square.

The secret is to focus our gaze on the One that helps us understand the Truth, because only through His light, do we see light. This way of being, in Christ, requires significant effort and inner contemplation. Those who want the best for new generations and therefore for the family of mankind, should not shelter themselves behind or be choked by their own limited theological and ascetic insights. The man of God, and thus the contemplative one, is he who will abandon himself firmly believing in that Light which comes from above.

The Holy Spirit, the third person of the Holy Trinity, will need to make its way through-once again-even when it finds closed doors, something already seen in church history. If it really wishes to save the lost sheep, it will need to fix one eye on Jesus and the other on the weaker. Human misery is not limited to a lack of material possessions, but rather to a more widespread and developed moral poverty. Man has emptied himself of those fundamental values, rules, in the arrogance of thinking himself to be God.

The arrogance in the “non God-fearing” has exceeded all limits by creating and fomenting an endless unhappiness; the expression on these unhappy people is empty and without hope, and what is more shocking is to see this process of dehumanization accelerate in all walks of society …Including in the Church. Whenever intolerance prevails and you are no longer in touch with the people in the street, even a clerc, clergyman, or follower may abandon Jesus leaving Him dying on the streets of the world, without ever meeting Him.

Families need to place Jesus at the centre of their lives, and those who reckon themselves to be servants and teachers of the Gospel, should pledge to be the first to give witness, and come out from that individualism, from divisions within the clergy, from the murmur and judgements passed against fellow brothers or sisters. The sermons and magisterial documents, will be of no force, if those words are not a result of a life lived and experienced in witness of the truth.

Translation provided by Marina Stronati