APOSTOLIC JOURNEY
OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS
TO THE REPUBLIC
OF KOREA
ON THE OCCASION OF THE 6th ASIAN YOUTH DAY
(13-18 AUGUST 2014)
HOLY MASS FOR PEACE AND RECONCILIATION
HOMILY OF POPE FRANCIS
Cathedral of Myeong-dong (Seoul)
Monday, 18 August 2014
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
As my stay in Korea
draws to a close, I thank God for the many blessings he has bestowed upon this
beloved country, and in a special way, upon the Church in Korea. Among
those blessings I especially treasure the experience we have all had in these
recent days of the presence of so many young pilgrims from throughout Asia. Their love of Jesus and their enthusiasm for the
spread of his Kingdom have been an inspiration to us all.
My visit now culminates in this celebration of Mass, in
which we implore from God the grace of peace and reconciliation. This prayer
has a particular resonance on the Korean peninsula. Today’s Mass is first and
foremost a prayer for reconciliation in this Korean family. In the Gospel,
Jesus tells us how powerful is our prayer when two or three of us join in
asking for something (cf. Mt 18:19-20). How much more when an entire people
raises its heartfelt plea to heaven!
The first reading presents God’s promise to restore to
unity and prosperity a people dispersed by disaster and division. For us, as
for the people of Israel,
this is a promise full of hope: it points to a future which God is even now
preparing for us. Yet this promise is inseparably tied to a command: the
command to return to God and wholeheartedly obey his law (cf. Dt 30:2-3). God’s
gifts of reconciliation, unity and peace are inseparably linked to the grace of
conversion, a change of heart which can alter the course of our lives and our
history, as individuals and as a people.
At this Mass, we naturally hear this promise in the context
of the historical experience of the Korean people, an experience of division
and conflict which has lasted for well over sixty years. But God’s urgent
summons to conversion also challenges Christ’s followers in Korea to
examine the quality of their own contribution to the building of a truly just
and humane society. It challenges each of you to reflect on the extent to which
you, as individuals and communities, show evangelical concern for the less fortunate,
the marginalized, those without work and those who do not share in the
prosperity of the many. And it challenges you, as Christians and Koreans,
firmly to reject a mindset shaped by suspicion, confrontation and competition,
and instead to shape a culture formed by the teaching of the Gospel and the
noblest traditional values of the Korean people.
In today’s Gospel, Peter asks the Lord: “If my brother sins
against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?” To which the
Lord replies: “Not seven times, I tell you, but seventy times seven” (Mt
18:21-22). These words go to the very heart of Jesus’ message of reconciliation
and peace. In obedience to his command, we ask our heavenly Father daily to
forgive us our sins, “as we forgive those who sin against us”. Unless we are
prepared to do this, how can we honestly pray for peace and reconciliation?
Jesus asks us to believe that forgiveness is the door which
leads to reconciliation. In telling us to forgive our brothers unreservedly, he
is asking us to do something utterly radical, but he also gives us the grace to
do it. What appears, from a human perspective, to be impossible, impractical
and even at times repugnant, he makes possible and fruitful through the
infinite power of his cross. The cross of Christ reveals the power of God to
bridge every division, to heal every wound, and to reestablish the original
bonds of brotherly love.
This, then, is the message which I leave you as I conclude
my visit to Korea.
Trust in the power of Christ’s cross! Welcome its reconciling grace into your
own hearts and share that grace with others! I ask you to bear convincing
witness to Christ’s message of reconciliation in your homes, in your
communities and at every level of national life. I am confident that, in a
spirit of friendship and cooperation with other Christians, with the followers
of other religions, and with all men and women of good will concerned for the
future of Korean society, you will be a leaven of the Kingdom of God
in this land. Thus our prayers for peace and reconciliation will rise to God
from ever more pure hearts and, by his gracious gift, obtain that precious good
for which we all long.
Let us pray, then, for the emergence of new opportunities
for dialogue, encounter and the resolution of differences, for continued
generosity in providing humanitarian assistance to those in need, and for an
ever greater recognition that all Koreans are brothers and sisters, members of
one family, one people. They speak the same language.
Before leaving Korea, I wish to thank President
Park Geun-hye, the civil and ecclesiastical authorities and all those who in
any way helped to make this visit possible. I especially wish to address a word
of personal appreciation to the priests of Korea, who daily labor in the
service of the Gospel and the building up of God’s people in faith, hope and
love. I ask you, as ambassadors of Christ and ministers of his reconciling love
(cf. 2 Cor 5:18-20), to continue to build bridges of respect, trust and
harmonious cooperation in your parishes, among yourselves, and with your
bishops. Your example of unreserved love for the Lord, your faithfulness and
dedication to your ministry, and your charitable concern for those in need,
contribute greatly to the work of reconciliation and peace in this country.
Dear brothers and sisters, God calls us to return to him
and to hearken to his voice, and he promises to establish us on the land in
even greater peace and prosperity than our ancestors knew. May Christ’s
followers in Korea
prepare for the dawning of that new day, when this land of the morning calm
will rejoice in God’s richest blessings of harmony and peace! Amen.
Addition to the Prayer of the Faithful
Mass for Peace and Reconciliation
Seoul, 18 August 2014
Prayer
for Cardinal Filoni e for Iraq:
For Cardinal Fernando Filoni, who
cannot be with us because he was sent by the Pope to the suffering people of Iraq in order
to assist our persecuted and dispossessed brothers and sisters, and all the
religious minorities who are afflicted in that country. May the Lord be close
to him in his mission.
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