EXPERIENCE IN THE AUDIENCE WITH POPE FRANCISCO ON AUGUST 28TH OF THIS YEAR.
“One crosses seas and deserts in order to reach a land where one can live in peace and security.”
Pope Francis
August 28th is a very special day for my formation life, since this date was the first time that I had the joy of meeting the Vicar of Christ, His Holiness Pope Francis. This experience made me reaffirm my vocational response. The reasons were simple, but of enormous significance. One of them is that knowing that we would go as a school to a catechesis of the pope filled me with emotion and also with great desire to listen to him, with the attention to know what Our Lord wanted to tell us, through the pope. When I arrived, seeing so many people waiting and sharing the same feelings, I was filled with joy and hope to know that there are still many people who believe in God, who hope in Him and who put their whole life in His hands. Being in the imposing St. Peter’s Square and contemplating its particular beauty, both in architecture, but even more in the universality of our Church, the Pope came out and I saw him for the first time, I was able to identify three particular characteristics that stayed with me;
the first was his closeness as a good shepherd, that shepherd who lives with and knows the pains and joys of his sheep, that should move all the consecrated and those who are in the process of consecration, to be green shepherds close and attentive to the ailments, concerns and joys of his people; The second characteristic was that soft, tender and merciful look, like the one a father has for his son, that paternal look where one feels and is protected by God; and finally, the third characteristic is the docility of being an instrument of God, and recognizing oneself as such, no more, no less, the Pope being the means by which the Holy Spirit in his wisdom wants to show us where to walk, and to be able to do his will.
This experience is unique for me, because for the first time I leave home, the Eternal City has given me the best welcome, listening to His Holiness, letting me know the importance of being Samaritans to those brothers who live daily those seas and deserts and that sometimes we ignore. This catechesis teaches me to be detached, showing my love to God through others, in detachment and being able to be light in that cold, abysmal and dense darkness that is lived day by day.
Seminarian Gerardo Cortés Meneses. Archdiocese of Puebla.