Pope Leo prays for Madagascar, observes Lunar New Year

ROME – Pope Leo on Sunday prayed for victims of two deadly cyclones in Madagascar and their families and asked that the upcoming Lunar New Year open a future of peace and bridge-building.

Speaking to a large crowd gathered in a sunny St. Peter’s Square after days of rain, the pope in his Feb. 15 Angelus address voiced his closeness to the people of Madagascar, “hit in a short time from one another by two cyclones, with floods and landslides.”

“I pray for the victims and their families, and for those who have experienced extensive damage,” he said.

His appeal came after Cyclone Gezani tore through Madagascar over the weekend, killing at least 41 people, injuring nearly 430 others, and displacing some 16,300, with massive damage to infrastructure. Some 13,000 people have been left without power after the storm downed power lines.

The cyclone came as Madagascar was barely recovering from severe flooding from a previous storm that affected more than 700,000 people and damaged more than 170,000 homes, prompting the government to declare a national emergency.

Pope Leo also noted that the Lunar New Year will be observed this Tuesday, Feb. 17, and prayed that “this joyful celebration encourage people to live with greater intensity familial relationships and friendships.”

“May it bring serenity to homes and cities and may it be an occasion to look to the future, building peace and prosperity for all peoples,” he said, offering his congratulations and his blessing.

During his reflection on the day’s Gospel reading, the pope reflected on Jesus’s interpretation of the Law of Moses, in which Jesus said that its precepts are not just meant to be externally observed, but must rather seep deeper, into the heart.

The precepts of the law, Leo said, are meant “to bring us into a relationship of love with God and with our brothers and sisters. For this reason, Jesus says that he did not come to abolish the Law, but to bring it to fulfillment.”

Ultimately, the law is fulfilled “by love, which brings its profound meaning and ultimate purpose to completion,” he said, saying the righteousness which Jesus invites Christians to live is greater than what was practiced by the scribes and Pharisees.

Jesus, he said, shows that it is “not limited to observing the commandments, but that opens us to love and compels us to love.”

By pointing to precepts that deal with concrete cases, Jesus draws a distinction between a formalistic religious righteousness and that of God, he said, saying this difference is key for Christians to understand the path that they ought to take.

“It shows that the law was given to Moses and the prophets as a way to come to know God and his plan for us and for history or, to use an expression of Saint Paul, as a pedagogue who guided us to him,” he said.

In the person of Jesus Christ, God came to man, bringing the law to fulfillment and “making us children of the Father and giving us the grace to enter into a relationship with him as children and as brothers and sisters among ourselves,” the pope said.

Thus, Jesus teaches humanity that true righteousness “consists in love and that, within every precept of the law, we must learn to identify a call to love.”

“Indeed, it is not sufficient to refrain from killing a person physically if one then kills with words and undermines the dignity of the other. Similarly, it is not enough to be technically faithful to one’s spouse and not commit adultery if the relationship lacks mutual tenderness, listening, respect, care for the other and shared goals,” he said.

While many other examples could be given, Pope Leo said the day’s Gospel reading offers a basic valuable lesson: “minimal righteousness is not enough; great love is needed.”

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