“As witnesses of the faith in Christ, who sank into the fragility of our human condition, we are called to immerse ourselves in the wounds of the needy. And to do so together,” said His Holiness Pope Francis in his address to the ecumenical delegation coming from Finland.
His Holiness Pope Francis received this morning, Thursday, in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican, an ecumenical delegation from Finland on the occasion of St. Enrico’s Day. On the occasion, the Holy Father addressed a speech in which he welcomed his guests and said, “Thank you for coming this year to Rome to celebrate St. Enrico’s Day in a more ecumenical way: I am really pleased to receive representatives not Not only for Lutherans and Catholics, but also for Orthodox and Methodists. I am grateful to you, dear sister, for your kind words and for your condolences on the death of my predecessor, Benedict XVI. I am also grateful for the feelings you have engendered in us through the image of the Baltic Sea, the source of life threatened by man, and the place of encounter so painfully affected by the climate of conflict caused by the turmoil of a fierce war.
Pope Francis went on to say: I particularly like to recall what you told us regarding water, which reminds us Christians of the gift of reconciliation received in Baptism. We recently celebrated the Baptism of the Lord. The Son of God, by immersing himself in the waters of the Jordan River at the beginning of his public ministry, showed his desire to be fully immersed in our human condition. And we, having been baptized into Christ, have been immersed in Him by grace, therefore we are called children of God and we are His children and in His image, brothers and sisters among ourselves. Having received the one baptism, we are called as believers first to give thanks that, starting from the waters of baptism, our life has been reconciled with God, with others, and with creation. We are children of reconciliation, and therefore we are called to be more and more reconciled among ourselves, and to be reconciliation makers in the world.
The Holy Father added, saying it is nice to see all this during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. This week, as we recite the Nicene-Constantinople Creed together, we profess “one baptism for the remission of sins”, but this year we also reflect on some words taken from the book of the Prophet Isaiah: “Learn to do good, seek justice”. And so we hear the echo of our Baptism, which calls us, justified by grace, to freely do works of justice, to practice concrete gestures of closeness towards those who are victims of injustice, rejection and various forms of persecution, especially to victims of wars. As witnesses of the faith in Christ, which sank into the fragility of our human condition, we are called to immerse ourselves in the wounds of the needy. And to do it together.
In the community of all the baptized, continued the Pope, we know that we are in fact united with each other, here and now, with every sister and brother in Christ, but also with our mothers and fathers in the faith who lived before us. And from the perfect fellowship of heaven they look at us and invite us to walk together on this earth. Saint Enrico, witness of the faith, messenger of hope and instrument of charity, is one of them. With him we celebrate the ecumenical communion of all the saints known and unknown, who have been reborn to a new life from the waters of baptism. So we can simultaneously embrace with our eyes the grace of the original baptism and the goal of eternal life. The source of life that made us on earth children of heaven and heaven where the saints await and encourage us. Let us acknowledge in everything the greatness of the unity that unites us and the importance of praying together, diligent work and intense dialogue in order to overcome divisions and be, according to the will of the Lord, one in the Trinitarian communion so that the world may believe. We certainly understand that, but awareness alone is not enough. We must nurture a true passion, a passion that springs from the love of communion and from the desire to overcome the counter-witness given by the historical divisions among Christians, which have wounded the unity of the Body of Christ. Today we need a fervent zeal for the good news, because in our proclamation together we rediscover ourselves as brothers and sisters, and because we know that we cannot spread the name of Jesus, who was born, died and rose for all, without bearing witness to the beauty of unity, the distinctive sign of his disciples.
Pope Francis concluded his speech by saying, “Dear ones, as I renew my gratitude for your annual visit, which is always expected and welcomed, I want today to ask you for the gift of this burning passion, so that we may never tire of loving, hoping, and seeking those who are far away, and that we may be kindled from within with the desire to proclaim Jesus and build unity.” that he wants. Let us ask for the gift of a renewed apostolic zeal that makes us rediscover every time other believers as our brothers and sisters in Christ, who makes us feel that we are apostles reconciled by God, in order to reconcile us with each other and become reconciliation makers for the sake of the world. So now I would like to invite you to recite together the Our Father, the filial prayer that, better than any other prayer, reveals the truth of our Baptism. We can pray it each in his own language, but together: with each other and for each other.
