Cardinal John Henry Newman, Sister Marian Thresia, Sister Giuseppina Vannini, Sister Dulce Lopes Pontes, and Marguerite Bays were proclaimed Saints by Pope Francis in a ceremony which took place on Sunday at the Vatican.
In his homily, Pope Francis reflected on Saint Luke’s Gospel account of Jesus healing the lepers. Theirs was a “journey of faith”, said the Pope. There are three steps in this journey, he added, all expressed in the actions of the lepers whom Jesus heals: “They cry out, they walk and they give thanks”.
VaticanNews reports “the lepers “cry out”, said Pope Francis, both because of their disease and because they were excluded. Still, “they did not let themselves be paralyzed because they were shunned by society”, he said. “They cried out to God, who excludes no one”. Distances are shortened, loneliness is overcome, said the Pope, not by closing in on ourselves, but by crying out to the Lord, who “hears the cry of those who find themselves alone”.
“The Lord sets our hearts free and heals them if only we ask Him”, said Pope Francis. The lepers call on Jesus by name, a name that means: “God saves”. To call someone by name is a sign of confidence, he said. “That is how faith grows, through confident, trusting prayer”, said the Pope. “Prayer is the door of faith; prayer is medicine for the heart”.
The second stage of faith is “to walk”, continued Pope Francis. There are several verbs of motion in today’s Gospel, he noted. “The lepers are not healed as they stand before Jesus”, only afterwards as they are walking “uphill” towards Jerusalem. On the journey of life, that is how purification happens, said the Pope. “Faith calls for journey, a ‘going out’ from ourselves”, he said, leaving behind our “comforting certainties” and “safe harbours”. Faith increases by giving and by taking risks, added Pope Francis. “Faith advances with humble and practical steps”.
The Pope went on to stress how the lepers “move together”. The verbs in the Gospel are in the plural, he said. “Faith means walking together, never alone”, added Pope Francis. Yet, once healed, nine of the lepers go on their way, and only one turns back to give thanks. “The other nine, where are they?”, asks Jesus, as though He expects the one who returned to account for the other nine.
We too are called to care for “those who have stopped walking, those who have lost their way”, said the Pope. “We are called to be guardians of our distant brothers and sisters”.
Giving thanks. This, said the Pope, is the final step. “Only to the one who thanked Him did Jesus say: ‘Your faith has saved you’”. The ultimate goal is not health or wellness, said Pope Francis, but the encounter with Jesus. “He alone frees us from evil and heals our hearts”, only He “can make life full and beautiful”.
