(ANS - Santa Cruz) - Yesterday afternoon, 9 July, during his trip to Bolivia, Pope Francis had a meeting with the consecrated persons in the country, at the Don Bosco Institute of Santa Cruz. The Pope was greeted with a warm reception followed by the welcome address given by Bishop Roberto Bordi, auxiliary of the Vicariate of Beni and the Bishop responsible for Consecrated Life in the country.

by Andrés Felipe Loaiza, SDB

Pope Francis listened carefully to the testimonies of Fr Crispin Borda Gómez, Rector of the Seminary of San Luis de Cochabamba and Sister Gabriela Cuellar of the Congregation of St. Joseph of Chambery; and to the vocation story of Damián Uriona, a diocesan seminarian.

The Pope reflected on the Gospel of Mark and the passage that tells the story of the blind beggar Bartimaeus who cried out loudly to get the attention of Jesus and eventually regained his sight. The Holy Father looked at the different responses to the cry of the poor man: pass by, tell them to keep quiet or help them to get up.

Pass by: "This is the response that comes from a closed heart that has lost the ability to wonder and therefore the ability to change. How many of us who follow Jesus run the danger of losing our ability to wonder, even at Jesus?"

Keep quiet: “Keep quiet, don’t annoy me, do not disturb us, we are at community prayer, we are in a deep spiritual experience, do not bother us, do not disturb us”. Unlike the previous attitude, this one listens, acknowledges the cry, and makes contact with the other. He realizes that the poor person is there, but reacts in a very simple way, by reproving him".

Courage, Get up: "[Jesus] leaves the anonymity of the crowd to identify the poor person and engage with him. He becomes part of his life. Far from silencing him, he asks him: 'what do you want me to do for you?'  He does not put a distance between them. He does not give him a sermon. He does not label him and he allows him to speak if he wants to. He simply asks a question, identifies with the poor man, wanting to be part of his life and to share his situation. In this way he gradually restores the dignity that had been lost ..."

Pope Francis concluded his speech saying that this is the "Master’s pedagogy, the pedagogy of God with his people. We have to change from the indifference that silences the poor to 'Courage! Get up, he is calling you '(Mk 10,49) - not because we are special, not because we are better, not because we are servants of God, but only because we are grateful witnesses of the mercy that transforms us."

Published 10/07/2015