Meditation

Today, the word of God surprises us with powerful imagery that makes us think. Imagery that challenges us, but also stimulates our enthusiasm.

In the first reading, Joshua tells Moses that two members of the people are prophesying, proclaiming the word of God without authority. In the Gospel, John tells Jesus that the disciples prevented a man from casting out evil spirits in his name. And here comes the surprise: Moses and Jesus rebuke these collaborators for their narrow-mindedness! May everyone be a prophet of the word of God! May everyone perform miracles in the name of the Lord!

On the other hand, Jesus encountered hostility from those who had not accepted what he said and did. For them, Jesus' openness to the honest and sincere faith of many people who were not part of God's chosen people seemed intolerable. The disciples, for their part, acted in good faith. But the temptation to be scandalized by God's freedom, which sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous (cf. Mt 5:45), bypassing bureaucracy, official circles, and closed circles, threatens the authenticity of the faith and must, therefore, be vigorously rejected.

When we realize this, we can understand why Jesus' words about scandal are so harsh. For Jesus, intolerable scandal consists of anything that destroys and corrupts our trust in the workings of the Spirit!

Our Father is not outdone in generosity, and He sows. He sows His presence in our world, for love consists in this: it is not we who loved God first, but He who loved us first (cf. 1 John 4:10). This love gives us this profound certainty: He seeks us; He awaits us. It is this trust that leads the disciple to encourage, accompany, and nurture all the good initiatives around him. God wants all His children to partake in the feast of the Gospel. “Do not hinder anything that is good,” says Jesus, “on the contrary, help it to grow!” To question the work of the Spirit, to give the impression that this work has nothing to do with those who are not “part of our group,” who are not “like us,” is a dangerous temptation. This not only blocks conversion to faith but also constitutes a perversion of faith.

Faith opens the "window" to the active presence of the Spirit and shows us that, like happiness, holiness is always linked to small gestures. "Whoever gives you a cup of water because you belong to Christ," says Jesus, "a small gesture, truly I tell you, they will certainly not lose their reward" (Mark 9:41). These are the small gestures we learn at home; familiar gestures that get lost in the anonymity of daily life, but which make each day different. They are the gestures of a mother, a grandmother, a father, a grandfather, a child, siblings. They are gestures of tenderness, affection, and compassion. They are the gestures of a hot meal for someone waiting for supper, of breakfast prepared early by someone who knows how to keep us company in the early morning. They are the gestures of the home. They are the blessing before going to sleep and the embrace upon returning home after a long day at work. Love is shown in small things, in the smallest daily gestures that give life its homey flavor. Faith grows when it is lived, and it is forged by love. That is why our families, our homes, are true domestic churches. They are the appropriate place where faith becomes life and where life grows by becoming faith.

Jesus invites us not to prevent these small miracles. On the contrary, he wants us to bring them about, to nurture them, to live life as it comes to us, helping to awaken all these small acts of love, signs of his living and active presence in our world.

This attitude to which we are invited leads us to ask ourselves: today, here, at the end of this feast, how are we trying to live according to this logic in our homes, in our societies? What kind of world do we want to leave to our children (cf. Laudato Si' , n. 160 ) ? We cannot answer these questions alone, by ourselves. It is the Spirit who invites and urges us to answer them with the great human family. Our common home can no longer tolerate sterile divisions. The urgent challenge of safeguarding our home includes the effort to unite with the entire human family in the pursuit of sustainable and integral development, for we know that things can change (cf. ibid., n. 13). May our children find in us models of communion, not division! May our children find in us men and women capable of joining with others to bring to fruition all the good that the Father has sown.

In a direct yet affectionate manner, Jesus said, “If you, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:13). What wisdom in these words! Certainly, when it comes to goodness and purity of heart, we humans have little to boast of! But Jesus knows that, with regard to children, we are capable of boundless generosity. That is why he encourages us: if we have faith, the Father will give us his Spirit.

We Christians, disciples of the Lord, ask the families of the world to help us! Many of us are participating in this celebration, and that in itself is already something prophetic, a kind of miracle in today's world, weary of inventing new divisions, new destructions, new disasters. May we all be prophets! May each of us open ourselves to the miracles of love for the good of our own family and all the families of the world—I speak of miracles of love—and thus overcome the scandal of a petty and distrustful love, closed in on itself and impatient with others. I entrust to you this question, for each of you to answer—because I used the word "impatient"—: In my home, do we shout or do we speak with love and tenderness? This is the proper way to measure our love.

How wonderful it would be if, everywhere, even beyond our borders, we could encourage and value this prophecy and this miracle! Let us renew our faith in the word of the Lord which invites families to this openness; which invites everyone to take part in the prophecy of the covenant between a man and a woman, which gives life and reveals God; which helps us to take part in the prophecy of peace, tenderness and love in the family; which helps us to take part in the prophetic act of taking care of our children and our grandparents, with tenderness, with patience and with love.

Anyone who would like to start a family that teaches children to rejoice in every act aimed at overcoming evil – a family that shows that the Spirit is alive and at work – will find gratitude, appreciation, and esteem, regardless of their people, religion, or region.

May God grant us all to be prophets of the joy of the Gospel, of the Gospel, of the family, of the love of family, to be prophets as disciples of the Lord, and may He grant us the grace to be worthy of that purity of heart which is not scandalized by the Gospel! Amen!

APOSTOLIC JOURNEY OF POPE FRANCIS

TO CUBA, THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND A VISIT TO THE HEADQUARTERS OF THE UNITED NATIONS

(19-28 SEPTEMBER 2015)

CLOSING MASS OF THE 8TH WORLD MEETING OF FAMILIES

HOMILIES OF THE HOLY FATHER

Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia

Sunday, September 27, 2015