Reinstatement: Jesus revolutionises and upsets that fearful, narrow and   
   prejudiced mentality. He does not abolish the law of Moses, but rather brings   
   it to fulfilment. He does so by stating, for example, that the law of   
   retaliation is counterproductive, that God is not pleased by a Sabbath   
   observance which demeans or condemns a man. He does so by refusing to condemn   
   the sinful woman, but saves her from the blind zeal of those prepared to stone   
   her ruthlessly in the belief that they were applying the law of Moses. Jesus   
   also revolutionises consciences in the Sermon on the Mount, opening new   
   horizons for humanity and fully revealing God's 'logic'. The logic of love,   
   based not on fear but on freedom and charity, on healthy zeal and the saving   
   will of God. For 'God our Saviour desires everyone to be saved and to come to   
   the knowledge of the truth'. 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice'.   
    "Jesus, the new Moses, wanted to heal the leper. He wanted to touch him and   
   restore him to the community without being 'hemmed in' by prejudice,   
   conformity to the prevailing mindset or worry about becoming infected. Jesus   
   responds immediately to the leper's plea, without waiting to study the   
   situation and all its possible consequences! For Jesus, what matters above all   
   is reaching out to save those far off, healing the wounds of the sick,   
   restoring everyone to God's family! And this is scandalous to some people!   
    "Jesus is not afraid of this kind of scandal! He does not think of the   
   closed-minded who are scandalised even by a work of healing, scandalised   
   before any kind of openness, by any action outside of their mental and   
   spiritual limits, by any caress or sign of tenderness which does not fit into   
   their usual thinking and their ritual purity. He wanted to reinstate the   
   outcast, to save those outside the camp.   
    "There are two ways of thinking and of having faith: we can fear to lose the   
   saved and we can want to save the lost. Even today it can happen that we stand   
   at the crossroads of these two ways of thinking. The thinking of the doctors   
   of the law, which would remove the danger by casting out the diseased person,   
   and the thinking of God, who in his mercy embraces and accepts by reinstating   
   him and turning evil into good, condemnation into salvation and exclusion into   
   proclamation.   
    "These two ways of thinking are present throughout the Church's history:   
   casting off and reinstating. Saint Paul, following the Lord's command to bring   
   the Gospel message to the ends of the earth, caused scandal and met powerful   
   resistance and great hostility, especially from those who demanded   
   unconditional obedience to the Mosaic law, even on the part of converted   
   pagans. Saint Peter, too, was harshly criticised by the community when he   
   entered the house of the pagan centurion Cornelius.   
    "The Church's way, from the time of the Council of Jerusalem, has always   
   always been the way of Jesus, the way of mercy and reinstatement. This does   
   not mean underestimating the dangers of letting wolves into the fold, but   
   welcoming the repentant prodigal son; healing the wounds of sin with courage   
   and determination; rolling up our sleeves and not standing by and watching   
   passively the suffering of the world. The way of the Church is not to condemn   
   anyone for eternity; to pour out the balm of God's mercy on all those who ask   
   for it with a sincere heart. The way of the Church is precisely to leave her   
   four walls behind and to go out in search of those who are distant, those   
   essentially on the 'outskirts' of life. It is to adopt fully God's own   
   approach, to follow the Master who said: 'Those who are well have no need of   
   the physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call, not the righteous   
   but sinners'.   
    "In healing the leper, Jesus does not harm the healthy. Rather, he frees them   
   from fear. He does not endanger them, but gives them a brother. He does not   
   devalue the law but instead values those for whom God gave the law. Indeed,   
   Jesus frees the healthy from the temptation of the 'older brother', the burden   
   of envy and the grumbling of the labourers who bore 'the burden of the day and   
   the heat'.   
    In a word: charity cannot be neutral, antiseptic, indifferent, lukewarm or   
   impartial! Charity is infectious, it excites, it risks and it engages! For   
   true charity is always unmerited, unconditional and gratuitous!. Charity is   
   creative in finding the right words to speak to all those considered incurable   
   and hence untouchable. Finding the right words. Contact is the language of   
   genuine communication, the same endearing language which brought healing to   
   the leper. How many healings can we perform if only we learn this language of   
   contact! The leper, once cured, became a messenger of God's love. The Gospel   
   tells us that 'he went out and began to proclaim it freely and to spread the   
   word'.   
    Dear new Cardinals, this is the 'logic', the mind of Jesus, and this is the   
   way of the Church. Not only to welcome and reinstate with evangelical courage   
   all those who knock at our door, but to go out and seek, fearlessly and   
   without prejudice, those who are distant, freely sharing what we ourselves   
   freely received. 'Whoever says: "I abide in [Christ]", ought to walk just as   
   he walked'. Total openness to serving others is our hallmark, it alone is our   
   title of honour!   
    "Consider carefully that, in these days when you have become Cardinals, we   
   have asked Mary, Mother of the Church, who herself experienced marginalisation   
   as a result of slander and exile, to intercede for us so that we can be God's   
   faithful servants. May she - our Mother - teach us to be unafraid of tenderly   
   welcoming the outcast; not to be afraid of tenderness. How often we fear   
   tenderness! May Mary teach us not to be afraid of tenderness and compassion.   
   May she clothe us in patience as we seek to accompany them on their journey,   
   without seeking the benefits of worldly success. May she show us Jesus and   
   help us to walk in his footsteps.   
    "Dear new Cardinals, my brothers, as we look to Jesus and our Mother, I urge   
   you to serve the Church in such a way that Christians - edified by our witness   
   - will not be tempted to turn to Jesus without turning to the outcast, to   
   become a closed caste with nothing authentically ecclesial about it. I urge   
   you to serve Jesus crucified in every person who is marginalised, for whatever   
   reason; to see the Lord in every excluded person who is hungry, thirsty,   
   naked; to see the Lord present even in those who have lost their faith, or   
   turned away from the practice of their faith, or say that they are atheists;   
   to see the Lord who is imprisoned, sick, unemployed, persecuted; to see the   
   Lord in the leper - whether in body or soul - who encounters discrimination!   
   We will not find the Lord unless we truly accept the marginalised! May we   
   always have before us the image of St. Francis, who was unafraid to embrace   
   the leper and to accept every kind of outcast. Truly, dear brothers, the   
   Gospel of the marginalised is where our credibility is at stake, is discovered   
   and is revealed!".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Angelus: good is contagious   
    Vatican City, 15 February 2015 (VIS) - At midday, following the Mass   
   celebrated with the cardinals in the Vatican Basilica, the Pope appeared at   
   the window of his study in the Apostolic Palace to pray the Angelus with the   
   faithful and pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square.   
    Francis returned to the theme of his homily, Christ's compassion and mercy   
   when faced with any type of ailment of the body or spirit, based on the Gospel   
   narrative of the healing of the leper.   
    "God's mercy overcomes every barrier, and Jesus' hand touches the leper. He   
   does not keep a safe distance and does not act by proxy, but rather He   
   directly exposes Himself to contagion by our malady; and it is precisely our   
   malady that becomes the locus of contact: He, Jesus, takes our ailing humanity   
   from us and we take His healthy, restorative humanity from Him. This happens   
   every time that we receive a Sacrament with faith: the Lord Jesus 'touches' us   
   and gives us His grace. In his case, we think especially of the Sacrament of   
   Reconciliation, which cures us from the leprosy of sin".   
    "Once again the Gospel shows us what God does when faced with our sickness:   
   God does not come to 'give a lecture' on pain; neither does He come to   
   eliminate suffering and death from the world; rather, He comes to take upon   
   Himself the burden of our human condition, to bear it unto the end, to free us   
   in a radical and definitive way. Thus Christ vanquishes the ills and   
   sufferings of the world: by taking them upon Himself and defeating them with   
   the strength of God's mercy".   
    Today, the Gospel passage of the healing of the leper tells us that if we   
   wish to be "true disciples of Christ, we are required to become, joined with   
   Him, instruments of His merciful love, setting aside every type of   
   marginalisation. To be 'imitators of Christ' before the poor or sick, we must   
   not be afraid to look them in the eye and to draw closer with tenderness and   
   compassion, to touch and embrace them", explained the Pope, adding that he   
   often asks those who help others to do so "looking them in the eye, without   
   being afraid to touch them, so that the gesture of aid may also be a gesture   
   of communication".   
    "We too need to be accepted by them", he continued, "A gesture of tenderness,   
   a gesture of compassion. ... If evil is contagious, so is good. Therefore,   
   good must increasingly abound in us. Let us be 'infected' by good, and spread   
   good to others!".   
    Following the Angelus prayer, the Holy Father expressed his desire for hope   
   and peace to all the men and women of the Far East and in the other parts of   
   the world that celebrate the new lunar year. "This celebrations offer them the   
   happy occasion to rediscover and live intensely fraternity, the precious bond   
   of family life and the foundation of social life. May this annual return to   
   the roots of the person and the family help these peoples to build a society   
   in which relationships based on respect, justice and charity may be woven".   
    Finally, he greeted all those who have come to Rome for the consistory and to   
   accompany the new cardinals, and thanked the countries that had sent official   
   delegations. Pope Francis concluded by asking the faithful and pilgrims in the   
   Square to applaud the new cardinals.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Audiences   
    Vatican City, 16 February 2015 (VIS) - Today, the Holy Father received in   
   audience:   
    - Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Muller, prefect of the Congregation for the   
   Doctrine of the Faith;   
    - Pynchas Brener, chief rabbi emeritus of the "Israelite Union of Caracas",   
   and entourage.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Other Pontifical Acts   
    Vatican City, 16 February 2015 (VIS) - The Holy Father has appointed Bishop   
   Ystinus Harjosusanto, M.S.F., of Tanjung Selor, Indonesia, as archbishop of   
   Samarinda (area 114,810, population 2,774,246, Catholics 105,959, priests 44,   
   religious 109), Indonesia.   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
   For more information and to search for documents refer to the site:   
   www.visnews.org and www.vatican.va   
      
   Copyright (VIS):  the news contained in the services of the Vatican   
   Information Service may be reproduced wholly or partially by quoting   
   the source:  V. I. S. - Vatican Information Service.   
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   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)