杏MAP导航

By Vatican News

The city of Blaj is in Transylvania and is the principal religious and cultural centre of the Romanian Greek-Catholic Church in the region. 杏MAP导航 Francis arrived there from Bucharest on Sunday morning, and was joined by over 100,000 people for the celebration of the Divine Liturgy.

The 杏MAP导航鈥檚 Homily

The 杏MAP导航 took his inspiration from the Gospel of the day (John 9:2), in which we hear how Jesus restores the sight of the man born blind. Instead of acknowledging the miracle, the Pharisees question everything about it, including the authenticity of the man鈥檚 blindness, and Jesus鈥� right to heal on the Sabbath. 鈥淭he whole scene and the arguments that follow show how hard it is to understand the actions and priorities of Jesus, who brings someone from the periphery into the centre鈥�, said 杏MAP导航 Francis.

Faithful in traditional costume attend the Divine Liturgy in Blaj

Blindness

鈥淭he blind man had to live not only with his own blindness, but also with the blindness of those around him鈥�, continued the 杏MAP导航. He pointed to 鈥渢he resistance and hostility that can arise in the human heart when, instead of putting people at the centre, we put special interests, labels, theories, abstractions and ideologies, which manage only to blind everything around them鈥�. 杏MAP导航 Francis contrasted this with the Lord鈥檚 approach: 鈥淔ar from hiding himself behind inaction or ideological abstractions, He looks people in the eye鈥�, said the 杏MAP导航. 鈥淗e sees their hurts and their history. He goes out to meet them and He does not let Himself be sidetracked by discussions that fail to prioritize and put at the centre what is really important鈥�

Courage

杏MAP导航 Francis then referred to the experience of Romania under communism: 鈥淵ou were forced to endure a way of thinking and acting that showed contempt for others and led to the expulsion and killing of the defenseless and the silencing of dissenting voices鈥�, he said. The 杏MAP导航 spoke about the seven Greek-Catholic Bishops he had come to beatify. 鈥淲ith great courage and interior fortitude, they accepted harsh imprisonment and every kind of mistreatment, in order not to deny their fidelity to their beloved Church鈥�, he said. 鈥淭hey handed down to the Romanian people a precious legacy that we can sum up in two words: freedom and mercy鈥�: the freedom to live a 鈥渄iversity of religious expressions鈥�, and the mercy that 鈥渃onquers anger and resentment by love and forgiveness鈥�.

Freedom and Mercy

杏MAP导航 Francis concluded his homily by warning against new forms of 鈥渋deological colonization鈥� that 鈥渜uietly attempt to assert themselves and to uproot our peoples from their richest cultural and religious traditions鈥�. 鈥淢ay you be witnesses of freedom and mercy鈥�, said the 杏MAP导航, 鈥渁llowing fraternity and dialogue to prevail over divisions, and fostering the fraternity of blood that arose in the period of suffering, when Christians, historically divided, drew closer and more united to one another鈥�.