On the morning of today, Wednesday 10 June, the fifth day of the apostolic journey, from the Archbishop’s House of Barcelona, his residence in the Catalan metropolis, Leo
Dear brothers and sisters,
thank you all for your warm and friendly welcome!
I feel edified by the testimony that Montse and Josefina shared. A thousand thanks. I also thank Father Jesús for his words, which highlight the commitment of the chaplains and volunteers of the diocesan penitentiary ministry of Sant Feliu de Llobregat.
Every human being is “worthy” for the simple fact “of having been wanted, created and loved by God” (cf. Magnificent humanity52). There is, therefore, no situation that causes the Lord to turn his gaze away from us. It is a consoling truth that accompanies us at all times and reminds us how his merciful love is always above how much good or bad we have done.
This applies, in a particular way, to you, dear brothers and sisters, who bear the burden of being far from your loved ones and, furthermore, suffer because of your current condition. When you are tempted to feel inferior and think that it is not worth going forward, “raise your gaze” towards Him who, through the presence of many people, never stops showing you his love and closeness.
Even if oppression and sadness mark some moments of your journey, remember that life’s mistakes do not determine a person’s identity. Saint Augustine, in his Confessionstells us about his life journey and talks about it: if we trust in divine grace and let ourselves be guided and transformed by it, we discover how in our lives the past does not condemn the future, but offers us the possibility of changing our decisions and our choices.
Let us make room for the Lord in our hearts and seek his face. Let us be accompanied by his love. Let us cling to Him, who continually invites us to hope and shows us a wonderful horizon that no physical barrier can prevent us from reaching. Today, He continues to speak to us in the depths of our consciences to make us discover that He has his home among us. Just wait until we give it a chance.
Dear friends, I invite you to continue dreaming God’s dream. To each of you I say: God loves you as you are, but dreams of you better! The Lord allows all of us to always start over, since being human and being Christian does not consist in not making mistakes, but in growing in the ability to convert, repent, amend and, above all, to reconcile and forgive.
I entrust you in a particular way to the maternal intercession of Our Lady de la Merced and with all my affection I ask the Lord to bless you. Thank you very much.
After giving the blessing to those present, the Pontiff gave a gift of an icon of Our Lady of Kazan, depicted with the white robes of the Fátima apparitions. Here, in a translation from Spanish, are the off-the-cuff words with which the Bishop of Rome accompanied the gift.
We want to leave as a gift, also to remember this visit, this image of our Mother Mary, the Virgin who always accompanies us with a mother’s love and who never forgets her children.
May the blessing of this moment always accompany you. Thank you!
Read also:
Behind the prison walls listening to the wounds that seek a future
by our correspondent Silvina Pérez
