More from Pope Francis in the last several months on mission:
““You must also be ‘men of Advent,’ capable of gathering the signs of new times and guiding brothers on the paths that God opens in the Church and in the world. … Today, every land is ‘mission land,’ every dimension of the human is mission land, which awaits the proclamation of the Gospel.” Oct 7, 2016”
““The Church is called to operate with renewed vigor to reawaken faith and rekindle charity, especially among the most vulnerable population, poor spiritually and materially.” Oct 10, 2016”
““When the misery of the other comes into my heart, I feel mercy; which is not the same as to have pity, pity is another feeling. I can feel pity when I see a wounded animal or such a situation, but mercy is another feeling. It is when the misery of another, or a situation of pain or misery, gets into my heart, and I permit the situation to touch my heart. I say this: It is an outward journey, the journey of misery to the heart. And this is the path: It is not mercy if it is not of the heart, a heart wounded by the misery of another…. It is distinct from having good feelings; this is not mercy, it is having good feelings. It is distinct from hands-on philanthropy, which is not mercy: It is good, it is good, philanthropy is not a bad thing, but it is not mercy, which is another thing. … Mercy is the journey of misery to my heart, taken up by my heart, that moves my heart; and sometimes it moves so much that the heart becomes like a compass at the North Pole, and does not know where to stop, because of what it feels.” Oct 10, 2016”
““Today is a time of mission and a time of courage! …What is required of us is courage to fight, not necessarily to win; to announce, not necessarily to convert. We are required to have the courage to be willing to not always conform in the world, but without ever becoming argumentative or aggressive. Required of us also is the courage to be open to all, to never belittle the absoluteness and uniqueness of Christ, the one Savior of all. We are required to have the courage to stand up to unbelief, without becoming arrogant. We are also required to have the courage of the publican … who, with humility, does not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beats his breast, saying: “O God, be merciful to me a sinner.” Oct 23, 2016”
““Be passionate and dream … poverty is at the heart of the Gospel. … Only one who feels he is lacking something, looks up and dreams. One who has everything cannot dream. … Find a beautiful life in the worst situations. … Poor yes, but not dragged-down. That is dignity, the same dignity that Jesus had, who was born poor, lived poor… Poor yes, dominated no, exploited no… this dignity has saved you from being slaves. Poor yes, slaves no. … To be able to help, to give a hand to one who is suffering more than I am, the capacity to be solidaristic is one of the fruits that poverty gives us. When there is much wealth one forgets to be solidaristic because one is accustomed to not lacking anything. Poverty makes one solidaristic and one stretches one’s hand to one who is going through a more difficult situation.” Nov 11, 2016”
““Do we ever carry out an examination of conscience, to ask ourselves whether or not we too, at times, can be annoying to others? It is easy to point the finger at the defects and shortcomings of others, but we should learn to put ourselves in other people’s shoes. Let us look above all at Jesus: how much patience He had to have during the three years of His public life! Once, while He was walking with His disciples, He was stopped by the mother of James and John, who said to Him, ‘Promise that in your kingdom these two sons of mine will sit on your right and on your left’. Even in that situation, Jesus took the opportunity to give a fundamental teaching: His is not a kingdom of power and glory like earthly ones, but rather of service and giving to others. Jesus teaches always to go towards the essential and to look further ahead, to assume one’s mission with responsibility”. Nov 16, 2016”
““The people of God have a great flair for accepting, for canonizing as well as condemning – because the people of God are capable of condemning – for forgiving so many weaknesses, so many sins by priests but they cannot forgive two of them: attachment to money, because when they see a priest attached to money, they do not forgive him, and mistreating people, because when a priest mistreats the faithful: The people of God can’t accept this and they do not forgive him. … Be courageous. Make a choice. Sufficient money like that of an honest worker, sufficient savings like those of an honest worker. But all these financial interests are not permissible, this is idolatry. May the Lord grant us all the grace of Christian poverty.” Nov 18, 2016”
““With the law they themselves [chief priests and elders] had made – intellectualistic, sophisticated, casuistic – they cancelled the law the Lord had made, they lacked the memory that connects the current moment with Revelation. … Because these people had forgotten what it was to be a pastor. They were the intellectuals of religion, those who had the power, who advanced the catechesis of the people with a morality composed by their own intelligence and not by the revelation. … The [present] evil of clericalism is a very ugly thing! It is a new edition of these people. And the victim is the same: the poor and humble people that awaits the Lord. The Father has always sought to be close to us: He sent His Son. We are waiting, waiting in joyful expectation, exulting. But the Son didn’t join the game of these people: The Son went with the sick, the poor, the discarded, the publicans, the sinners – and that is scandalous – the prostitutes. Today, too, Jesus says to all of us, and even to those who are seduced by clericalism: “The sinners and the prostitutes will go before you into the Kingdom of Heaven.” Dec 13, 2016”
““These [doctors of the law] had a psychology of princes: ‘We are the masters, the princes, and we teach you. Not service: we command, you obey.’ And Jesus never passed Himself off like a prince: He was always the servant of all, and this is what gave Him authority. … Jesus did not have an allergy to the people: touching the lepers, the sick, didn’t make Him shudder … [the Pharisees] despised the poor people, the ignorant. They liked to walk about the piazzas, in nice clothing. They were detached from the people, they were not close [to them]; Jesus was very close to the people, and this gave authority. Those detached people, these doctors, had a clericalist psychology: they taught with a clericalist authority – that’s clericalism. … Jesus lived what He preached.” Jan 10, 2017”