Celebrating the feast of St Ignatius of Loyola with more than 200 of his Jesuit confreres in Rome, Pope Francis prayed that he and all of them would receive “the grace of shame” for their failures and the humility to recognise that whatever good they accomplish is really done by the Lord.
Jesus told his disciples never to be ashamed of following him, but Jesuits were taught to look upon the crucifix and “feel that very human and very noble sentiment which is shame for not measuring up”, the Pope said on July 31 during his homily at the Mass in Rome’s Church of the Gesu, where St Ignatius is buried.
Holy See spokesman Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi said the Mass was “beautiful and very familial”.
In his spirituality and spiritual tradition, he said, the Pope saw himself as a “son of St Ignatius” and felt “very close to the Society of Jesus”.
For the Jesuits, Fr Lombardi said, the Pope was a confrere, but “we know the pope is the pope”.
In his homily, Pope Francis prayed that Mary would “help us experience shame for our inadequacy before the treasure that has been entrusted to us, so that we would live with humility before God”.
The Pope also prayed for “our brother in Syria”, an obvious reference to Jesuit Father Paolo Dall’Oglio, who was expelled from Syria in June 2012 after intensifying his public calls for democratic change in the country.
He reportedly returned to Syria occasionally.
Every Christian and every Jesuit, Pope Francis said, should ask himself regularly “‘is Christ the centre of my life?’ because there is always the temptation to place ourselves at the centre”.
And, he said, one cannot serve Christ without being in harmony with and serving the Church.
“There are no parallel or isolated paths,” he said.
“To serve Christ is to love this concrete church and to serve it with generosity and obedience.”
But most of the Pope’s homily focused on humility and recognising one’s limits, so as to be mindful always of the greatness of God’s mercy.
“We look at the wisdom of Christ and our ignorance, at his omnipotence and our weakness, at his justice and our inequity and at his goodness and our badness,” the Pope said.
“We ask for the grace of shame, the shame that comes from a continuous conversation of mercy with him, the shame that makes us blush before Jesus Christ.”
CNS
