Pope Francis on Thursday invited the faithful to rely on God even in the darkest hours, even if sometimes we do not understand how He is working, because he always walks with us in the history of Salvation. The Pope’s words came during his homily at morning Mass in the Casa Santa Marta.
“God’s will has been to save us in history” – the Pope said – our Salvation “is not sterile, as in a laboratory. No! It’s history. He has walked through history with his people. “Therefore – he said – “there is no salvation without history. And to get to the point: history goes back a long time”:
“And so, step by step, history is made. God makes history, we make history; and when we fail, God makes adjustments and sets history back on course, walking with us all the time. If this is not clear to us, we will never understand Christmas! We will never understand the Incarnation of the Word! Never! It’s a story that goes forward in time. ‘Father, is history over with the story of Christmas?’; ‘No! The Lord continues to save us in history. And he walks with his people. ‘”
In this story – Pope Francis continued – there are those chosen by God, those people that He chooses “to help his people to move forward,” like Abraham, Moses, Elijah. For them “there are some bad times”, “dark moments, awkward moments, bothersome moments”. Perhaps they are people who just want to live peacefully, but “the Lord inconveniences them. The Lord inconveniences us to make history! So often he puts us on roads that we don’t want to walk”. So much so that Moses and Elijah, at a certain point, would rather die, but then they trust in the Lord.
The Gospel of the day speaks of “another bad moment in the history of salvation”, that of Joseph who discovers that his betrothed, Mary, is pregnant: “He suffers, he sees the village women chatting in the market; and he suffers. ‘This is a good one, I know her! She is a woman of God. What has she done to me? It’s not possible!” If he accuses her, she will be stoned. But that is not what he wants to do, even although he does not understand. He knows that Mary “is incapable of being unfaithful.” “In difficult moments such as these” – the Pope said – “those chosen by God to make history, must take the problem on their shoulders, without understanding.” Like that – he said – “the Lord makes history.”
“That’s what Joseph does. The man who in the worst moment of his life, the most obscure, takes the problem upon himself. And he takes the blame in the eyes of others in order to protect his bride. A psychoanalyst could perhaps say that this dream of Joseph’s is the condensation of anxiety, which seeks to be expressed… let them say what they will. But what did Joseph do? After awaking from the dream he took Mary as his bride. ‘I do not understand, but the Lord spoke to me and said she will give birth to a son who will appear to be my son!'”.
“To make history with His people – the Pope said – for God means to walk and to put his chosen ones to test.” In the end He saves them: “Let us always remember, with confidence, even in the worst moments, even in times of illness, when we realize we have to ask for the Last Rites because there is no way out, to say: ‘Lord, history did not start with me and will not end with me! You go ahead, I am willing to come with you’. And to put ourselves in the hands of the Lord. “What then do those who are chosen by God teach us?
“That God walks with us, that God makes history, that God puts us to the test and that God saves us in the worst moments, because He is our Father. And according to Paul He is our daddy. May the Lord help us to understand this mystery of Him walking with His people in history, of testing His elected ones, as well as the greatness of their hearts as they take upon themselves the pains, the problems, even the blame for our sins – Let us walk forward with Jesus across history.”