The beautiful lyrics of the song enlivened the Gelora Bung Karno stadium Jakarta, the parishioners cheered and welcomed the Holy Father’s arrival. On September 5, 2024 Indonesian Catholics celebrated the Eucharist with Pope Francis at Gelora Bung Karno Jakarta.
The Pope will be present among Indonesian Catholics from 3-6 September 2024. The Pope came with a message of peace, simplicity and brotherly love not only for Catholics but for all Indonesian society.
I personally interpret the Pope’s visit as Jesus coming to his disciples, getting into Peter’s boat and inviting him to cast his nets to a deeper place.
Jesus boarded a boat with his disciples. He accompanied them in their work as fishermen. Likewise, today the Pope came to Indonesia and got into the boat (heart) of each of us, accompanying us in the struggle in the middle of the Indonesian ocean. The Pope invites us to go to a deep place, namely the conscience of the Indonesian nation.
In the Pope’s homily there is a very important message for us to ponder that before we cast our net deeper, we must first equip ourselves with a net that is firm and strong, namely the Word of God.
There are two ways that Pope Francis emphasized as the basic attitude of a student, namely:
- Listen to the word.
- Living the word.
As a Canossian nun, I agree with the Pope’s homily. Listening to and living the Word is important and this attitude is really needed by Catholics today. Moreover, I specifically have been fighting for the Chapter theme “Women of the Word Loving without Measure” for the last three years.
Listening to the Word must be a solid foundation, and living the Word must be integrated into real action. I believe that if we truly live our word and dare to go deep, we will obtain abundant results. Of course, going deep means being ready to face typhoons and big waves.
From all these experiences, I am convinced that the Pope’s presence here will strengthen us all in the values of love that we continue to fight for. The Pope’s homilies and teachings all boil down to the experience of God’s love and mercy. We realize this love by living in harmony as brothers and sisters with everyone, maintaining unity and unity as a pluralistic nation and building Indonesia as a common home.
The Pope’s final encouraging message: Never get tired of sowing. Never get tired of casting your net. Never get tired of dreaming of building a peaceful nation. Never get tired of smiling. You are a smiling nation. A smile is a powerful weapon. Keep walking together.
Thanks be to God
Sr Madalena Quintão FdCC