Let’s return to the Council to get out of ourselves

On the 60th anniversary of the opening of Vatican II, Francis presided over a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, rediscovering his actuality: “How many times have we preferred to be ‘fans of our own group’ rather than servants of all, progressives and conservatives? instead of brothers and sisters. The Lord doesn’t want us to be like that.”

Vatican City () – Avoid the temptation to “put our agendas before the Gospel” and look again at the Church “with eyes in love with God”. This is the legacy of the Second Vatican Council that the Church is called to live today, overcoming polarizations, affirmed Pope Francis in his homily at the Mass he presided over this afternoon in Saint Peter’s Basilica, in memory of the opening of the Council that Exactly 60 years ago – on October 11, 1962 – it brought together the bishops of the whole world convened by Saint John XXIII.

To speak about the Council, Pope Francis started from its source, which is precisely the question that Jesus asks Peter after his Resurrection: do you love me? (John 21:15). “Vatican Council II,” he explained, “was a great answer to this question. It was to rekindle her love that the Church, for the first time in history, dedicated a Council to questioning herself, to reflecting on her own nature and her own mission. And it was rediscovered as a mystery of grace generated by love, it was rediscovered as the People of God, the Body of Christ, the living temple of the Holy Spirit”.

“Neither the progressivism that adapts to the world nor the traditionalism that yearns for a past world -he continued- are proof of love, but of infidelity. They are Pelagian egoisms, which put their own tastes and their own plans before the love that pleases God, that simple, humble and faithful love that Jesus asked of Peter. That is why Pope Francis has asked to return “to the limpid sources of the love of the Council”, rediscover “the passion of the Council and for the Council”, aware that “a Church in love with Jesus has no time for conflicts, poisons and controversies. God save us from being critical and intolerant, bitter and angry.

But Jesus also says to Peter: “Feed my lambs.” “He assigns him a new office – observed the pontiff – that of shepherd, which he had never exercised. And it is a turning point, because while the fisherman takes for himself, attracts to himself, the shepherd lives with his flock, feeds the sheep, becomes fond of them. He is not above, like the fisherman, but in the middle”. And this is precisely the second look that the Council teaches: “being in the world with others and without ever feeling above others; bring the good news of the Gospel to life and in the leagues of men, sharing their joys and their hopes”. “How timely the Council is – the Pope added – it helps us to reject the temptation to shut ourselves up within the walls of our comforts and convictions, to imitate God’s style”. Because “the Church did not celebrate the Council to contemplate herself, but to give herself”. It is a question, then, of returning to the Council “which rediscovered the living river of Tradition without getting bogged down in traditions; who has rediscovered the source of love not to remain at the top, but so that the Church descends towards the valley and is a channel of mercy for all. Let us return to the Council to get out of ourselves and overcome the temptation of self-referentiality”.

“Pasdate – Francis continued – the Lord repeats to his Church; and shepherding, overcome the nostalgia of the past, the lament for lost importance, the attachment to power, because you, holy People of God, are a pastoral people: you do not exist to shepherd yourself, but to shepherd others, to all the others, with love And, if it is right to dedicate special attention, let it be to God’s favorites: to the poor, to the discarded”.

And the last fundamental aspect of this inheritance: Jesus asks Peter to feed “my lambs”, “does not refer only to some, but to all”. Because the Church cannot give in “to the temptation of polarization.” “How many times, after the Council – Francis recalled – have Christians made an effort to elect a part of the Church, without realizing that they are tearing the heart of her Mother. How many times have Christians insisted on choosing a part in the Church, without realizing that they were tearing the heart of her Mother. How many times has it been preferred to be “fans of one’s own group” rather than servants of all, progressives and conservatives rather than brothers and sisters, “of the right” or “of the left” rather than of Jesus; erecting themselves as “custodians of the truth” or “soloists of the novelty”, instead of recognizing themselves as humble and grateful children of the holy Mother Church. The Lord does not want us like this, we are his sheep, his flock, and we are only together, united”.