2016-11-17   
      
   There is no worse pain than that of indifference. In his homily at Casa Santa   
   Marta, Pope Francis recalled Jesus' complaint against the people of Israel.   
   They turned their backs on the love of God, and did not recognize Christ as   
   the Messiah.   
      
   POPE FRANCIS   
      
   "Each of us can fall into the same sin of the people of Israel, the same sin   
   of Jerusalem, not recognizing the time in which we have been visited –Do you   
   make a daily examination of conscience on this? Did the Lord visit me today?   
   Have I heard some call, some inspiration to follow Him more closely, to do a   
   work of charity, to pray a little more? I mean, so many things to which the   
   Lord invites us every day to meet with us.”   
      
   The pope said that this "story of infidelity, of not recognizing the caresses   
   of God” is what causes the most pain to the heart of Jesus Christ.   
      
   EXTRACTS OF THE HOMILY IN ENGLISH   
   (Source: Vatican Radio)   
      
   "That is what pains the heart of Jesus Christ, this story of infidelity, this   
   story of not recognizing the caresses of God, the love of God, a God in love   
   with you who is looking for you, and desirous of seeing you happy. Jesus saw   
   in that moment [when, shortly before His passion, He wept over Jerusalem’s   
   sinfulness] what awaited him as the Son – and He wept ... ‘because they did   
   not recognize the time of their visitation.’. This drama has not only happened   
   in history and ended with Jesus. It is the drama of every day. It is even my   
   drama. Can any of us really say, ‘I know how to recognize the hour in which I   
   have been visited? does God visit me?’”   
      
   "Each of us can fall into the same sin of the people of Israel, the same sin   
   of Jerusalem, not recognizing the time in which we have been visited – and   
   every day the Lord visits us, every day He is knocking at our door – but we   
   must learn to recognize this, that we not end up in that so painful a   
   situation: ‘The more I loved them, as I called them, the more they fled from   
   me’. ‘But I am sure of  things. I go to Mass, I'm sure ...’. Do you make a   
   daily examination of conscience on this? Did the Lord visit me today? Have I   
   heard some call, some inspiration to follow Him more closely, to do a work of   
   charity, to pray a little more? I do not know, so many things to which the   
   Lord invites us every day to meet with us.”   
      
   "Jesus wept not only for Jerusalem, but for all of us. He gives His life, that   
   we might recognize his visitation. St. Augustine said a word, a very strong   
   sentence: ‘I am afraid of God, of Jesus, when He passes!’ But why are you   
   afraid? ‘I’m afraid I will not recognize it!’ If you’re not careful with your   
   heart, you'll never know if Jesus is visiting you or not. May the Lord give   
   all of us the grace to recognize the times we have been visited, we are   
   visited and shall be visited, so that we open the door to Jesus and so ensure   
   that our heart is more enlarged by love, and that we might therefore serve the   
   Lord Jesus in love.”   
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