By Deborah Castellano Lubov
“To encounter the Lord in the life we have so gladly embraced, we must walk a path, as pilgrims do,” Pope Leo XIV told Augustinian Recollect Sisters of the Federation of Mexico in the Vatican before his Wednesday General Audience.
The Holy Father began by recalling that the sisters traveled to Rome in this Holy Year to live a moment of encounter with the Lord, “and I can see that He has filled you with joy.”
Pilgrims walking joyfully toward the Lord
The Pope recalled how Saint Thomas of Villanova explained the origin of this joy as being the Lord Himself, and that therefore we embrace the path of being ‘pilgrims.’
While there are countless paths one can pursue, the Holy Father recalled they all come down to two, It’s true that there are many such paths, but they all come down to two, mercy and truth.
“Through these two ways,” he said, “let us walk toward the Lord — serving like Martha in works of mercy, or resting like Mary at the feet of Jesus to contemplate the truth.”
Without love, labours lack meaning
Pope Leo called them to exemplifying love for God and their neighbours, and how this love must be lived in one’s heart.
“God, in fact, does not look at what or how much you do, but at how much you grow in desire and love for Him; because, although it is true that each will be judged by their works, the true weight of the work is the charity of the heart” (ibid., VI, 487).
The Holy Father reminded them that if the fire of love is lacking, our labours lose their meaning and become “a burden to the soul,” but rather, “where there is love, there is no suffering.”
Finally, Pope Leo invoked the maternal protection of “Our Mother of Good Counsel and the intercession of Saint Thomas of Villanova, who so deeply loved the mission in the Americas, so that we may walk this path of perfection with patience and courageous spirit, until we reach the end.” – Vatican News
