In order to do the Lord’s work, Pope Francis said, we should remember
our first encounter with Jesus, in which we were invited to recognize
our own sinfulness and experience his loving gaze. “Those who consider themselves righteous, they can cook in their own
stew!” the Pope said during morning Mass on July 5. “He came for us
sinners and this is beautiful.”Reflecting on a Bible passage in which the tax collector Matthew decides
to follow Jesus, he asked those present to remember their first
encounter with Christ. Remember always, it is like blowing on the embers of that memory, no?
Blowing to keep the fire alive, always,” he said at the chapel of St.
Martha. “That memory gives Matthew strength and to all of them to forge ahead:
‘the Lord has changed my life, I met the Lord!’” he added. Pope Francis gave his homily based on the Gospel passage in which Jesus
invites Matthew, a tax collector, to follow him. Later in the reading,
Pharisees criticize Jesus for eating with tax collectors and sinners to
which he replies, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but
those who are sick do. The taxpayers were sinners twice because they were attached to money
and were also traitors of the country in the sense that they collected
taxes from their own people for the Romans,” said the Pope. “Matthew feels Jesus’ gaze upon him and he feels stunned,” he said. “He hears Jesus’ invitation, ‘follow me, follow me.’” According to the Holy Father, Matthew is then “full of joy but he’s also doubtful because he’s also very attached to money. It just took a moment and we see how (the artist) Caravaggio was able
to capture it, that man who was looking, but also, with his hands, was
taking the money,” he stated. He noted that there is “a moment in which Matthew says yes, leaves everything and goes with the Lord. It is the moment of mercy received and accepted, ‘yes I’m coming with
you!’ and it is the first moment of the meeting, a profound spiritual
experience,” said Pope Francis. He then reflected on the second part of the reading, during which Jesus eats with the sinners and tax collectors. “The Lord feasts with the sinners. God’s mercy is celebrated,” he said. He explained how the biblical parables talk of those who refuse to take
part in the Lord’s feast; that Jesus went out to find the poor and the
sick and feasted with them. “And following these two moments, the stunned encounter and the feast,
comes the ‘daily work’ of announcing the Gospel,” he added. The Pope stressed that this work “must be nurtured with the memory of
that first encounter, of that feast” and that this work is not just for
one moment, but lasts up to the end of one’s life. The strength to do this work, he told the Governorate, comes from the
memory of “those events, of that encounter with Jesus who has changed my
life, who had mercy!”
I am just beginning to dive into the beautiful, ancient devotion to the Five Wounds of Jesus, and I wanted to share a bit of the journey with you. It can feel a little overwhelming at first to look at the Crucifix this closely, but I’ve found such a gentle guide in St. Bernard of Clairvaux . In his Jubilee Rhythm on the Passion, Bernard doesn't treat the wounds of Jesus as distant historical facts or sights to be avoided. Instead, he approaches them with the tenderness of a friend, speaking directly to the feet, hands, side, and face of our Lord. For someone like me who is just starting out, his rhythm teaches that prayer isn't just about reciting words; it’s a holy hide-and-seek. Bernard invites us to literally hide ourselves within these wounds, seeing them as clefts in the rock where we can find shelter when our own lives feel turbulent or heavy. As I start this process, I’ve been practicing what I call gazing and greeting. Following Bernard’s lead, I look at the Crucifix an...