Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Fides Service) - Sunday 18 March, 4th Sunday of Lent, Pope Benedict XVI visited Rome’s Casal del Marmo Penal Institute for Minors. Welcomed by Cardinal Camillo Ruini, Vicar General for the Diocese of Rome, and the local civic authorities, the Pope presided a concelebration of Mass in the institute’s chapel dedicated to the “All Merciful Father”.
In his homily the Pope explained the Sunday Gospel parable of the merciful father, in which three people appear: the father and two sons. “Both sons live in peace, they are farmers and quite well they have all that is necessary to live, they sell their products and life is good. However the younger son finds this life boring, not satisfying”. Anxious to experience another way of life in which he can be really free to do what he likes “free from discipline and God’s norms and commandments, free from his father’s orders”, the younger son takes his part of the family heritage and leaves home. “The father is very gentle and generous, he respects the freedom of his son who must choose his own project for life”. The son travels to a far away land, and probably not only geographically, “because he dreams of a life which is totally different”.
At first everything is fine but then as time passes he experiences an emptiness: “here too the slavery of doing the same things time after time reappears. And in the end fine the money runs out and the young man finds that his living conditions is worse than that of swine. He starts to reflect and ask himself if this is really a path for life: freedom understood as doing what I want, living, having life only for myself of perhaps better would be a life lived for others, helping to build up the world, the growth of the human community”. The boy reflects and realises that he had much more freedom at home “he was also a proprietor, he helped build the home and the society in communion with the Creator, his life had a purpose, he was aware of God’s plan for him”. The younger son sets out on the path to return home and resume his former life style.
His father, who had given him freedom “that he might understand in his heart what it means to live or not to live”, embraces him and prepares a feast. “The son realises that it is daily work, humility and discipline which make the real feast, the real freedom … Certainly life will not be easy, temptation will return, but now he is fully aware that life without God does not work: it lacks the essential, light, a sense of the greatness of being a human person…the young man understands that rather than obstacles to freedom and real life, God’s Commandments indicate the path to this life. The boy understands that what enriches life is work, discipline and doing things for others rather than simply for oneself”. The envious reaction of the elder son who had remained at home, helps us realise that “he too in his heart needs ‘to return home’ and re-discover the meaning of life, that we are truly alive only with God, with his Word, in the communion of our family, of work; in the great communion of the Family of God”.
Benedict XVI completed his explanation of the parable observing: “The Gospel helps us understand who God really is: He is the All Merciful Father who loves us in Jesus beyond all measure. The errors we commit, even serious ones, in no way lessen the fidelity of his love. In the sacrament of confession we can always make a fresh start in life: he welcomes us, he restores our dignity as his children… this parable also helps us to understand that human person is no "monad", an isolated entity which lives only for itself and wants life only for itself. On the contrary, we live with others, we are created with others and we can truly live only if we are with others, if we give ourselves to others... and at last we are a free person. We must realise what is freedom and what instead is only apparent freedom. Freedom, we could say, is a springboard for diving into the infinite ocean of divine goodness, but it can also be a slippery slope on which we can fall down to the abyss of sin and evil and lose our freedom and our dignity.”
The Holy Father concluded “in this season of Lent the Church calls us to conversion which, besides being an important effort to change our behaviour, is an opportunity to decide to rise up and make a new start, give up sin and choose to return to God. Let us undertake- this is the imperative of Lent - let us undertake together this path of inward liberation”.
After Mass the Pope had a meeting with the young inmates and the prison guards in the Institute’s sports hall. “I would like first of all to thank you for your joy, thank you for this preparation. For me it has been a great joy to have given you a little light with this visit” the Pope said: “Know that the Pope loves you and is concerned for your future”… “Today is a day of joy for you. Today’s liturgy is a call to be happy… during the Mass we remembered that God loves us: this is the source of true joy. Even a person who has everything can be unhappy; “we can be deprived of everything, even freedom or health, and yet if God is in our heart we can live in peace and joy. This is the secret: giving God first place in our life”. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 21/3/2007, righe 64, parole 1.013)
