American-born Pope Leo asks us to love without limits

Archbishop Gregory Aymond delivered the following homily at a Mass of Thanksgiving May 9 at St. Louis Cathedral in honor of the election of Pope Leo XIV.

We ask today, as we asked yesterday, who is Robert Francis Prevost, an American from Chicago, an Augustinian priest who was a missionary in Peru for 20 years? 

His grandparents lived in New Orleans in the Seventh Ward, and his great grandmother was baptized here at the Cathedral in 1840. There are many connections that we have with him. Now, he is the man who has been chosen to lead our church worldwide so that we may come to dwell in the love of Christ and to live our faith in daily life. 

From now on, he will be known as Leo XIV. 

The scriptures today tell us what God says to Pope Leo XIV as he begins his important ministry as the pontiff of our Church. We will use the words of St. Peter (1 Peter 5:1-4) that he gave to the presbyters of the early church as criteria for them to be good ministers, good priests. These words speak in a very special way to Leo XIV: “God's flock is in your midst. Oversee it, not for your own profit. Do not lord it over others, but be humble to them. Be a witness to the suffering Christ, and see in others who suffer the suffering Christ.

In the Gospel (John 21:15-17), Jesus asks Peter three times, “Do you love me?” And Peter says, each time, “Lord, you know that I do.” And Jesus says to him, “Then feed my lambs; feed my sheep; shepherd the flock in my name.”

I think we can expect that Jesus asked Cardinal Prevost the same questions during the conclave and during each vote that took place in the Sistine Chapel. And, he answered, “Jesus, you know that I love you. You know all things. Yes, I will shepherd your people.” That was before he even knew what responsibility he would be given. And he went on to say that he would lead them to unity in Jesus.

Let us for a few moments ponder some of what Pope Leo XIV said yesterday. I'm going to use his thoughts. His first words to the world were: “Peace be with you.” The risen Christ would use the same, exact words when he appeared to the disciples after the resurrection. Pope Leo says that his prayer for us is peace: the peace of Christ that will enter our hearts, peace to our families and to all those who we hold in our hearts with love, and peace to all people, especially those who are suffering. 

He went on to say that we must go hand in hand with Jesus. We show how God loves us by the way in which we live our lives. We show how God loves us by loving without limits and without conditions. He went to say that division, hatred and violence exist in our world, but evil will not prevail.  He said we must build a bridge with dialogue so that we can be one people. He said there must be a constant call for unity among all people, certainly for unity within the church, so that together we must seek peace, justice and charity. 

He went on to say that we need to be missionary disciples. All disciples know and follow Jesus, but what is a missionary disciple? A person who knows Jesus and brings that same Christ to others and to the world. In order to do that, we must enter into patience and dialogue with others. We must open our hearts to everyone, even those whom we would claim as enemies.

We show by opening our arms and our hearts that we want to live with charity, especially to those who are suffering and who are alone. Pope Leo said some powerful words: “Be faithful to Jesus without fear. He quotes St. Augustine when he says to us, “Like you, I am a disciple.” He is one of us. He's a disciple of the Lord Jesus. He goes on to say, “For you, I am a bishop. I am the pope to lead you to Jesus, to serve you, to teach you and to call you to be strong in faith.”

We remind you today as we celebrate this important Mass for him that together we must go out to the suffering and to those who are in need, and that we should do that just as Jesus did, and as Jesus continues to do through us today.

He ended his comments on the balcony of St. Peter's Square by calling on the prayer of Mary to walk with us and to help us. May I use his words, “We must not fear, but we must listen to Jesus. We must allow Jesus to love us. We must listen to him say, not just to the apostles but also to us, ‘Peace be with you.’”