"Desire is not the desire of the moment," Pope Francis saysPope Francis commented on the story of the "searches" in this Sunday's Gospel, underlining that "Zacchaeus" (Zacchaeus) is a "searcher".search to see who Jesus was" (v. 3), and Jesus, after having found him, affirms: "The Son of Man has come to search and to save that which was lost" (v.10). Let us dwell for a moment on the two looks that are sought: the look of Zacchaeus who seeks Jesus, and the gaze of Jesus who is looking for Zacchaeus".
Recalling the "lowly stature" of Zacchaeus noted by the Evangelist, together with his pre-eminent but hated position among his people, the Pope pointed out that "Zacchaeus risked being mocked in order to see Jesus, he made a fool of himself. Zacchaeus, in his lowliness, feels the need to seek another gaze, that of Christ. He does not yet know him, but he is waiting for someone who will free him from his morally low condition, who will bring him out of the swamp in which he finds himself".
An example, the Holy Father continued, that one can always seek and find God: "Zacchaeus teaches us that, in life, all is never lost. Please: all is never lost, never! We can always make room for the desire to begin again, to restart, to convert".
The Pope also described the story of Zacchaeus as the story of "the glances of God": "God did not look down on us from on high to humiliate and judge us, no; on the contrary, he lowered himself to the point of washing our feet, looking down on us and restoring our dignity. Thus, the exchange of glances between Zacchaeus and Jesus seems to summarize the whole history of salvation: humanity with its miseries seeks redemption; but, above all, God with his mercy seeks the creature in order to save it".
"God's gaze," the Pope said, "never dwells on our past full of mistakes, but sees with infinite trust what we can become" and encouraged those present to "have the gaze of Christ, from below, who embraces, who seeks out those who are lost, with compassion."
Remembrance for the victims in Mogadishu and Seoul
In his greetings after the Angelus prayer, the Pope wanted to raise his thoughts and prayers for "the victims of the terrorist attack in Mogadishu that killed more than a hundred people, including many children. May God convert the hearts of the violent!" as well as "for those who died tonight in Seoul - especially young people - due to the tragic consequences of a sudden stampede of the crowd".
As in the last apparitions of the Holy Father, he also did not forget "the pain of our hearts, of the martyred Ukraine" asking to continue to pray for peace.
