What Pope Francis Taught Me About Poverty, Healing and God's Saving Love
Pope Francis and the healing presence of Jesus
Pope Francis visited the Philippines from January 15 to 19, 2015. He visited both Manila and Leyte. During this time, it’s as though time stopped for this country. A holiday was declared, many roads were closed. The media coverage was non-stop. All eyes were on the Pope as though God Himself had visited this nation.
I was not able to see him personally, but even from afar, I can attest that I have been very blessed. The whole nation has been blessed!
Lord, I have seen your salvation. And it belonged to those whose hearts are like those of little children! As I’ve watched on television the motorcades, the encounters and the homilies of Pope Francis, God has made me understand many things, things I couldn’t grasp even with long hours of study, thinking or imagination.
Through Pope Francis, I was able to understand Jesus more, how He was like when He walked the earth with His disciples.
Through His representative on earth, I was able to see Him better, as an image is made clearer if we see it through a mirror that is clean and clear.
If the Pope, who is but a mirror of His image, could reflect such a great intensity of love, how much more if we saw Jesus face to face! If the Pope’s sincere gestures could evoke our gratitude and awe at God’s mercy, how much more the infinite and unfathomable passion and suffering of Jesus Christ at the cross!
Indeed, it’s as though my spiritual eyes have suddenly been opened and I saw how God has saved His people, how He is even now constantly saving us.
God’s mercy is so great that He reaches out to the farthest corners of the earth. His mercy is so great that no darkness can overcome it! He has brought Light to the world and He seeks to bring His Light to the darkness where we are.
He is like the Pope who comes to comfort, inspire and console.
He comes to meet us right where we are, in our emptiness and in our poverty, in our sickness and in our pain.
Though we are in the midst of a fierce storm, He goes with us to make us feel that we are never alone.
God’s salvation is not such that He will immediately bring us out of this painful world. It is not that He would answer every question of ours. His Salvation comes through His presence, a presence that goes with us through our most painful sufferings.
God’s salvation comes through a Person, in the Person of Jesus Christ.
In Him is love and beauty. In Him is mercy and compassion and kindness. In Him is a heart that knows how to weep with those who hurt.
We can argue with many things and fill our minds and our mouths with eloquent words and reasoning. But nothing can compare to the presence of the One who saves us!
For those who suffer, it is enough to see Christ.
Words are sometimes silent. A warm embrace is enough. A glance of love is more than enough.
And we come to Him. We who are poor. We who are sick. We who are but beggars of His mercy and love. We come to Him like little children!
How hungry we all are for His love! How hungry we all are for His light!
And so we flock to Him. We follow Him wherever He goes because we know now that He is the Bread that can fill the hunger of our souls!
Once we see what we need, Who we need, an intense longing is stirred within our hearts that can never be quenched until we have found full possession of Him who is our salvation.
When we finally know who can give us life and meaning and wholeness, we would gladly give away everything because everything else counts us nothing compared to the riches of Him who alone can give us joy! And God so desires to give us Himself that nothing could prevent Him from saving us but our own pride.
Pride alone hinders us.
Even if we see Him (His goodness, mercy, light and truth), we may still choose to turn away out of pride and prefer our darkness over His light. Instead of rejoicing at His salvation, we may grumble and prefer to exclude ourselves from happiness. Instead of being enlightened with wisdom and truth, we may choose to believe in our own lies.
And so it is the humble who are blessed. For it is the humble and the little children, the poor and the sick, the old and the weak who ardently seek the face of Jesus. We don’t come to God with our self-sufficiency, with expectations of praise for our good works or our eloquent words. We come to Him empty-handed and willing to be filled! We come to Him because we love Him and because we know that He loves us.
Meanwhile, the rich and the strong think they have no need of Him. The self-righteous also are blinded by their own illusions of righteousness and they fail to see what true holiness means.
What do we expect God to do or to show us that we may believe?
We may hear great words of wisdom. We may see true works of charity. We may witness sincere sacrifice out of pure love and mercy. We may see the deaf hear and the lame walk and even the dead rise again to life, yet still not believe because of our pride and hypocrisy.
God seeks us all, but are we willing to be found? God desires to love us all, but are we willing to be loved?
Are we willing to strip ourselves of our self-centeredness so we can finally focus our eyes on Him who alone can bring us joy?
“Do you feel self-sufficient, and only offer something and think you have no need of anything? Do you know that you, too, are poor? Do you know the need to receive? Do you let yourselves be evangelized by the ones you serve?” – Pope Francis
“The works I do in my Father’s name testify to me. But you do not believe, because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.”
…If I do not perform my Father’s works, do not believe me; but if I perform them, even if you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may realize [and understand] that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”
– John 10:25-30, 37-38, WEBBE
The above article was taken from Jocelyn’s book “To Love an Invisible God: Falling for the Intimate Love of Jesus.”
How do you love a God you cannot even see? Can we really love Him as we love another Person? A Person who can listen to us and respond to us? A Person who can know us far more intimately than any human being can? Do we even believe that He exists? Let this book take you on a journey of discovery, healing and love.
My beloved spoke, and said to me, “Rise up, my love, my beautiful one, and come away." - Song of Solomon 2
I don't know if it is just my imagination or ardent desire, but for what seems to be the first time, I saw in my mind's eye how amiable and homely and sweet Jesus really is. How gentle, loving and friendly. How warm, pure and humble His love is. He is not the distant and formal figure I have often had at the back of my mind, someone that I would fear approaching. He is not harsh, not sarcastic, not demanding. He is not too serious at all in demeanor at that time. But He wears this beautiful smile and no child would ever fear approaching Him. "It's alright", He seems to say. "I see you, I love you, and my heart is very near. I come to you in the gentlest yet in the most intimate way. I'm here, I will take care of you. You can rest in Me."
I know how unworthy I am. But Jesus often takes us by surprise with the sweetest revelations of His love.
See the book “To Love an Invisible God: Falling for the Intimate Love of Jesus.”
Absolutely beautifully describes the love of God.
Wonderfully heart-warming!