Miserando atque eligendo
Miserando atque eligendo. mercified and chosen. This is the motto that Pope Francis chose when he first became a bishop and he kept this same motto when he became pope. miserando atque eligendo. mercified and chosen.
In an interview, Pope Francis was asked a very simple question: WHO ARE YOU? Who is Jorge Bergolio? You know if I was asked this question, I would probably have said, I’m seminarian, I’m a deacon, I’m a student, and artist, a runner or even I’m a beloved son of God. But this is not what Pope Francis said. When asked, “Who are you?” the Pope responded simply, “I am a sinner.”
He could have said, I’m the pope, I’m the supreme pontiff, I’m the bishop of Rome, I’m the vicar of Christ, but instead he simply said, “I am a sinner.”
And to reemphasize what he was saying in case someone thinks “Oh he’s the pope he has to say that,” Pope Francis says, “This the most accurate definition. It is not a figure of speech, a literary genre. I am a sinner.”
Then the Pope in order to find a way to really drive this home he begins to talk about Rome and his love for a famous painting in Rome by Caravaggio of “The Calling of St. Matthew.”
I highly recommend if you haven’t seen it to look it up later when you get home and meditate on it.
So, in this painting you have St. Matthew, the tax collector sitting in this dark room with a bunch of his tax collector friends and they are counting the money. And all of a sudden, Jesus enters into this dark room and behind him there is this light that comes bursting into the room from behind Jesus and sheds light on all those that are there. Jesus is the light shining in the darkness and he is the light that breaks into Matthew world and lightens up his world. And Jesus points at Matthew. Calling him. And what is interesting is that some of the other persons in the room are so busy counting the money and starring at it that they don’t even realize that Jesus has entered the room. They’re all caught up in themselves. And one of the men is just focused on the money, trying to figure out how much he made that day, but his face shows his sadness and emptiness.
And in the middle of this picture is St. Matthew who sees Jesus and points to himself as if to ask, “You are calling me?” “You want me to be your disciple?” “Surely you don’t want me, the sinner, me, the tax collector…” “I’m not worthy…”
But on his face there is a kind of interest as well, as if to say, “Maybe my life will be better if I say yes” “I’m not happy with my life, I’ve heard about this Jesus, maybe if I follow him my life will be better.” But at the same time you can see the hesitancy in his eyes, “but I don’t want to leave all these money bags, I don’t want to leave these friends of mine, this is all that I’ve ever known. I’m not sure I can change.”
The painting captures so well the pivital point that determines whether he will be Matthew, the tax-collector, or Matthew, the disciple?
Pope Francis puts himself in this very moment and asks us also to put ourselves in this place of encounter and decision. He says,
“That finger of Jesus, pointing at Matthew. That’s me. I feel like him. Like Matthew.” “It is the gesture of Matthew that strikes me: he holds on to his money as if to say, ‘No, not me! No, this money is mine.’ Here, this is me, a sinner on whom the Lord has turned his gaze.”
This gaze that he shows us is the gaze of Mercy. Jesus Christ is the face of the Father’s mercy, of God’s mercy. This is what God does over and over again in the lives of those whom he loves. God breaks into our darkness, and he turns his gaze towards. And we are then mercified and chosen. miserando atque eligendo.
In the first reading, God comes to Isaiah, and his response is similar to Matthew’s. “Woe is me, I am doomed! For I am a man of unclean lips!” But God touches his mouth with an burning ember and his sin is purged! God’s mercy burns off the sin! And thus in response to God’s question, “Whom shall I send?” Isaiah is finally able to say boldly, “Here I am, Send Me!”
The same is with St. Paul who, before he converted, persecuted the christians and killed many of them. He was the enemy of the church! But once again, God’s mercy broke through and the light blinded him and knocked him to the ground. And it was then, that with the grace of God, St. Paul was able to evangelize to so many communities around that part of the world. And now his letters are so venerated that they are part of the sacred scripture!
And lastly, St. Peter in the Gospel today, he’s discouraged, he’s been out fishing all night and has caught nothing. How many times do we get like this in our own lives. We try everything and it seems like nothing works out in our favor. Yet it was at that moment that Jesus jumps into Simon Peter’s boat and tells him to “put out into the deep!” And “they caught a great number of fish” that “there nets were tearing!… and the boats were in danger of sinking!” And Simon Peter falls to his knees and says, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”
Simon Peter, who would become the first pope responded firstly, “I am a sinful man” And now we have a pope who echoes this response, “I am a sinner.”
Today, in the Mass, as in every Mass, God breaks through our world and transforms simple bread and wine into himself, into his Body and Blood.The Divine Mercy comes into our world and comes onto this altar and we are able to receive him, receive his mercy. And all of us are unworthy for God to enter under our roofs. All of us are sinners, but God’s mercy comes down into this place today and he is calling you and me out of our darkness.
My brothers and sisters, today at this point in your life, ask yourself, “Am I Matthew, the tax-collector, or St. Matthew, the disciple?” or “Am I Simon Peter, the fisherman, or am I St. Peter, the disciple?”
And finally, “What are the things that I still cling on to, that keeps me from the mercy of God?” “What part of my life am I afraid to change in order to follow the call of Jesus Christ?” Think about this for a moment right now…
I challenge you, as we begin Lent this Ash Wednesday coming up, to make the thing you give up or do for Lent to be related to this. This year don’t give up soda or chocolate. Instead make what you do related to this. Use this time of Lent that we will have to begin to let go of that which keeps us from Christ, and allow his mercy to transform you from the inside out.
