A TREASURE OF LIFE AND LOVE

Fr Billy Swan

Among the vast corpus of Pope Francis’ encyclicals, Apostolic Exhortations, Letters and homilies, there are many inspiring and memorable quotations that he left us as part of his spiritual and pastoral legacy. One quote I believe will be remembered for many years to come and will guide the Church’s self-understanding and mission long into the future is found in his first Apostolic Exhortation ‘The Joy of the Gospel’ whose themes he returned to time and time again in his pontificate:

“We have a treasure of life and love which cannot deceive, and a message which cannot mislead or disappoint. It penetrates to the depths of our hearts, sustaining and ennobling us. It is a truth which is never out of date because it reaches that part of us which nothing else can reach. Our infinite sadness can only be cured by an infinite love” (para. 265).

The appeal of this quote is the confidence Pope Francis places in the power of the Gospel that contains the truth and love the world is waiting to know and see. Instead of the Church adopting a defensive or conflictual stance against alternative world visions and philosophies, Francis encourages all the baptised to be bold by joining him in sharing the gift that contains the key to human happiness and fulfillment. This gift of Gospel joy he describes as ‘a treasure of life’, underlining the Gospel as something beautiful, attractive and life-enhancing. It is also a ‘treasure of love’ that satisfies the deepest desire of every human being which is to love and be loved in return. It is a message which ‘cannot deceive’ because it concerns itself with all that is true including the truth of who God is and who we are. Anticipating the theme of this Jubilee Year and quoting from St Paul’s letter to the Romans, the Gospel is ‘a message which cannot mislead or disappoint’ because it raises our hopes towards ultimate union with the God who is the fulfillment of all hope.

For Francis, the Good News of Jesus Christ engages us at every level of our being, ‘to the depths of our hearts’. And just like the Spirit of God that sustains us in life at every moment, the joy of the Gospel upholds us and confers an immeasurable dignity upon us, beyond what we can imagine.

Likewise, the Gospel is never stale or static. It is ‘never out of date’ because it is given for the present moment and when it is most needed. For this reason, the Gospel offers eternal newness, refreshment and renewal to those who receive it. With the Gospel, each of us and the whole Church becomes a new creation. When Francis talked about the Gospel ‘reaching that part of us which nothing else can reach’, he brought us back to the uniqueness of the Gospel message as the most important of all. He reminded the Church that she is not another NGO or business who competes in a market of fleeting needs. He reminded us that we are in the business of evangelisation and saving souls by helping to connect people to the saving mystery of God’s truth and love that is deep within them and accessible through faith. In the words of St Augustine: ‘You have made us for yourself O Lord and our hearts are restless until they test in thee’. In this quote from Francis that packs so much into a few lines, the solid foundations of his claims are on the Biblical understanding of who the human person is – a creature made in the image and likeness of God who is known by God and loved by God. And in our current state of imperfection, incompleteness and the sadness that comes with that, it is the infinite love of God that will heal all wounds and replace every sadness with eternal joy.

With this one paragraph from ‘The Joy of the Gospel’, Pope Francis captured the essence and core of our faith. He has inspired us to share the joy of our faith, not because we have to, but because we want to because it is indeed a treasure of life and love. And for doing so, we will be forever grateful to Papa Bergoglio.