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Image: Resurrection of the Widow’s son from Nain, altar panel by Lucas Cranach the Younger, c. 1569,
in the Stadtkirche Wittenberg.
Pope Francis’ homily in memory of benedict xvi and the cardinals and bishops departed in 2023
Papal Chapel, Altar of the Cathedra of Saint Peter’s Basilica – Friday, 3 November 2023
The Gospel of Luke 11:7-17
Jesus went to a city called Nain, and his disciples and a great crowd went with him. As he drew near to the gate of the city, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow; and a large crowd from the city was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.” And he came and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” And the dead man sat up, and began to speak. And he gave him to his mother. Fear seized them all; and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited his people!” And this report concerning him spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country.
Jesus is about to enter Naim; the disciples and “a great crowd” was walking with him.
As he approaches the city gate, another procession set out, but in the opposite direction:
it is going to bury the only son of a widowed mother.
The Gospel tells us that, “when the Lord saw her, he was moved with compassion”.
Jesus saw what was happening and he was moved by compassion.
Benedict XVI, whom we commemorate today, along with the cardinals and bishops who died in the past year, wrote in his first encyclical that the program of Jesus is “a heart that sees” (Deus Caritas Est, 31).
How often did he remind us that faith is not primarily an idea to be understood or a moral precept to be followed, but a person to be encountered. This person is Jesus Christ, whose heart beats with love for us, whose eyes look with compassion on our suffering.
The Lord paused before the tragedy of death. It is significant that this is the first time Jesus is called “Lord” in in Luke’s gospel: “the Lord was moved with great compassion”. He is called Lord – the God who reigns over all things – in the very act of showing compassion for a widowed mother who lost her reason for living along with her only son,. Here we see our God, whose divinity shines forth in contact with our grief and sorrow, for his is a heart full of compassion. The raising of that young man, the gift of life that overcomes death, has its source precisely there, in the compassion of the Lord, who is moved by death, the greatest cause of our suffering. How important it is to communicate that same look of compassion to all those who mourn the death of their loved ones!
1.Jesus’ compassion is concrete.
The Gospel tells us that he “came forward and touched the bier” (cf. Lk 7:14).
He did not have to do this, and in any case, in those days, touching the bier of a dead person was considered something unclean, defiling those who did so. But Jesus does not care; his compassion makes him reach out to all those who suffer.
This is God’s “style”, a style of closeness, compassion and tenderness. And one of few words.
Christ does not begin to preach about death, but simply tells the young man’s mother: “Do not weep!”. Why? Is it wrong to weep? No, Jesus himself weeps in the Gospels.
He says to the mother, “Do not weep”, because with the Lord tears do not last forever; they have an end.
Jesus is the God who, as Scripture prophesies, will “swallow up death” and “wipe away tears from all faces” (Is 25:8; cf. Rev 21:4). He has made our tears his own in order to take them away.
Here, then, we see the Lord’s compassion, that leads him to raise that young son.
Yet here, unlike other miracles he performed, Jesus does not first ask the mother to have faith.
Why this extraordinary and unusual miracle? Because it has to do with an orphan and a widow, those whom the Bible, along with strangers, considers most alone and forsaken, having no one else to trust but God. The widow, the orphan, the stranger: these are the people closest and dearest to the Lord.
We cannot be close and dear to God if we ignore those who enjoy his protection and preferential love, for they will be the ones who welcome us to heaven one day: the widow, the orphan, the stranger.
2. Humility is the way to heaven
If we consider them too, we discover another important point, that I would like to summarize in today’s second word: humility. The orphan and the widow are “the humble” par excellence: putting all their hope in the Lord and not in themselves, have made God the centre of their lives.
They no longer rely on their own strength, but on him and his unfailing care.
Rejecting any presumption of self-sufficiency, they recognize their need for God and put their trust in him. It is the humble, the poor in spirit, who reveal to us the “lonliness” so pleasing to the Lord.
It is the way that leads to heaven.
God seeks the humble, those who hope in him and not in themselves and their own plans.
Dear brothers and sisters, this is Christian humility, which is not just one virtue among others, but the fundamental disposition of life: to believe ourselves to be in need of God, to make room for him and to putt all our trust in him.
This is Christian humility.
God loves humility because it permits him to interact with us.
Even more, God loves humility because he himself is humble.
He comes down to us; he lowers himself; he does not impose himself; he makes room for us.
God is not only humble; he is humility itself.
“You are humility, Lord” was the prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi (see Lodi: FF 261).
We think of the Father, whose name is refers entirely to the Son rather than to himself, and of the Son, whose name is refers entirely to the Father.
God loves those who do not put themselves at the center: the humble, who who are most like him..
Therefore, as Jesus says, “those who humble themselves will be exalted” (Lk 14:11).
I like to recall the very first words with which Pope Benedict described himself after his election: “a humble laborer in the vineyard of the Lord.”
Indeed, Christians, especially the Pope, the Cardinals and the Bishops, are called to be humble laborers: to serve, not to be served and to put the fruits of the Lord’s vineyard before their advantage.
What a fine thing it is to deny oneself for the Church of Jesus!
Brothers and sisters, let us ask God to give us a compassionate gaze and a humble heart.
May we never tire of asking for this, because it is on the path of compassion and humility that the Lord gives us his life, which triumphs over death.
Let us pray for our beloved deceased brethren. Their hearts were pastoral, compassionate and humble, for the Lord was the center of their lives. May they find eternal peace in Him.
May they rejoice with Mary, whom the Lord raised up by looking upon her humility.
