Lower your eyes

After a week of raising our gaze following the invitation of Leo XIV during his visit to Spain, the time has come to lower it, to return to reality. It is in our hands now that this enormous effort of the Holy Father and the organization has been worthwhile.

Because, in the face of the unquestionable success of the event, the overwhelmingly positive response of society or the spectacular figures of participation in the events, we run the risk of remaining there, immobile, hallucinated by what we have experienced. Today I want to dress in white, like those two men in the book of the Acts of the Apostles who stood before the disciples when they were astonished, staring at the sky after the Ascension of the Lord, and said: «You (Spanish) Galileans, what are you doing standing there staring at the sky?.

Leo XIV's journey will undoubtedly be a monumental boost to the Church's mission, but we will no longer have him. His passage through Spain has been like the passage of the plow through a land hardened by our fears and sins. The papal trip has watered the furrows, has evened the clods, his drizzle has left them soft, but now it is up to us to enter in droves to sow and to take care of the land entrusted to us. And we have to do it with the keys that he has left us and that I would summarize in five.

First of all, let's take advantage of the «goal for good» to which the Pope referred to at the Bernabeu. Let us manage this goal well, let us rationalize the euphoria because the game is long. Many have changed their perspective of the Church in these days, there is a greater sensitivity towards the spiritual, the distant have felt a little closer, the close have felt stronger and united, many others who had not even heard of the possibility of a friendship with Jesus today do not see it as something far-fetched. Let's not wait for the next goal against us, which will come, let's run for another goal that will allow us to keep the advantage. And let us do it with the keys that he has reminded us of: a synodal Church, open to listening, not closed in on itself, and dedicated to the service of the poor and needy. 

Secondly, to put forgiveness, dialogue and social friendship into practice. «A Church reconciled within can speak with greater freedom,» he reminded the bishops in his meeting with them at the EEC. Communion is a fundamental part of the mission. The Church that evangelizes the most is not the most traditional or the most progressive, but the most united, in the plurality of charisms. And as a society, we are also called to take great steps towards reconciliation, recovering dialogue, avoiding polarization, seeking what unites us, which is much more than what separates us. The seven minutes of applause for the Pope in the Congress was an example that common sense can bring us together beyond our ideological differences, however great they may be. 

Thirdly, attention to the dramas of our time. The service to the world of pain, migration, prison or violence against women is not an addition to the mission of the Christian, because the exercise of charity is not the fixation of some, as he pointed out in the meeting in the «Cedia 24 hours» project of Caritas, but «the incandescent core of the ecclesial mission». In the port of Arguineguín he reminded us that «the disciples of Jesus cannot consider the cry of those who cry out in the night as alien» nor «can we get used to counting the dead». And in Tenerife he invited us to imitate his prophetic cry against those who traffic and exploit migrants, shouting also we in our environments: «Stop! Convert!». It is about seeing Christ himself in the stranger who arrives in our country and «who needs to be welcomed, protected, integrated and promoted». 

Fourthly, to foster the dialogue of faith with culture, art, science... «In this time of the image, it is even more evident how art and beauty are eminent channels of evangelization,» said Leo XIV in his homily at the impressive inauguration of the tower of Jesus Christ of the Holy Family. We have had much music and art in this visit, let us continue to give voice to the artists who will undoubtedly find, in God, the source of their inspiration. Faith has much to contribute to the world of economics, sports, thought, because nothing human is alien to us.

Finally, to do so hand in hand with Mary with the teaching she left us in her homily in the Cathedral of Madrid: «The Almudena tells us that to build something new, beautiful and lasting, we must be willing to destroy the walls» (the image was found when part of a wall was torn down). And the fact is that -he explained- although «at first, a falling wall causes noise, chaos, disorder; it also opens spaces, restores possibilities and promotes reestablishment». Let us not be afraid, therefore, to tear down structures that no longer serve us and let us rebuild again and again the Church that, like Gaudi's Holy Family still under construction, reminds us «how Christian life is always a journey, because it is a project that God carries out».