CATHOLIC today’s
A monthly publication of the Archdiocese of Kuching, Sarawak
Permit No PPK 148/01/2013(031378)
Vol 28 No 5 August 2016
Inside...
Jesus said, “I have come to set the earth on fire.”
Final Professions of David Au P3 & P4
Lk 12:49
Lilian Bong P12
今日教友 第十六至二十二頁
Pope Francis to young people at World Youth Day Closing Mass:
Not one of you is insignificant
Photo: CNS
KRAKOW, Poland — Our true identity cannot be lived out in glum negativity, but only in the knowledge that, in God’s eyes, our value cannot be measured; no one is insignificant. Pope Francis made these remarks on Sunday 31 July to at least 1.5 million young people who filled Polish city’s “Campus Misericordiae” – or “Field of Mercy” for the final Mass of World Youth Day (WYD). The Mass was the final major event of WYD in Krakow, which marks the end of the Pope’s 27-31 July visit to Poland. Pope Francis centred his address on the day’s Gospel account of Jesus’ encounter with the tax collector Zacchaeus, a man despised by the Jews for his collaboration with the Romans. The scene demonstrates how Jesus does not simply want to “greet” people, the Pope said. Rather, he “wants to draw near to us personally, to accompany our journey to its end, so that his life and our life can truly meet.” There were several key obstacles
which Zacchaeus had to overcome in approaching Jesus, the pontiff explained, the first his being so physically small that he had difficulty seeing Jesus in the crowd. “Even today we can risk not getting close to Jesus because we don’t feel big enough, because we don’t think ourselves worthy,” the Pope said. “This is a great temptation; it has to do not only with selfesteem, but with faith itself.” “We have been created in God’s own image; Jesus has taken upon himself our humanity and his heart will never be separated from us; the Holy Spirit wants to dwell within us. We have been called to be happy for ever with God!” Francis explained that our true “stature” is found in our spiritual identity: that is, in the fact that we “are God’s beloved children, always.” “Not to accept ourselves, to live glumly, to be negative, means not to recognise our deepest identity,” he said. “It is like walking away when God wants to look at me, trying to spoil his dream for me.”
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The Pope added that “God loves us the way we are, and no sin, fault or mistake of ours makes him change his mind.” “No one is insignificant. He loves all of us with a special love; for him all of us are important: you are important!” God is not concerned about whether you are stylish or what kind of phone you have, Pope Francis said. “In his eyes, you are precious, and your value is inestimable.” “He believes in us even more than we believe in ourselves. He is always ‘cheering us on’; he is our biggest fan.” However, to brood over our problems or “past injuries,” the pontiff said, “is unworthy of our spiritual stature!” “It is a kind of virus infecting and blocking everything; it closes doors and prevents us from getting up and starting over. God, on the other hand, is hopelessly hopeful!” Francis encouraged the youth in their awareness of being God’s beloved sons and daughters, and recommended that they pray every morning: “Lord, I thank you for loving me; help me to be in love
with my own life!” Another obstacle Zacchaeus faced was his shame before Jesus. “It must have been quite a struggle – on one hand, a healthy curiosity and desire to know Jesus; on the other, the risk of appearing completely ridiculous.” However, the “attraction of Jesus was more powerful” than Zacchaeus’s shame, the Pope said, comparing his encounter to that of someone who behaves in unexpected ways upon falling in love. “For us too, this is the secret of joy: not to stifle a healthy curiosity, but to take a risk, because life is not meant to be tucked away,” he said. However, Francis explained we cannot wait around when Jesus “offers us life – we can’t respond by thinking about it or ‘texting’ a few words!” The Pope went on to encourage young people not to be ashamed of bringing everything to the sacrament of confession, “especially your weaknesses, your struggles and your sins.” • Continued on p8
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