Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Mexico, Feb 15, 2016 / 08:45 am
Update: 12:30 am EST - Below is the full text of Pope Francis' Feb. 15 homily at Holy Mass with representatives of the indigenous communities of Chiapas in the municipal sport center in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Mexico:
Li smantal Kajvaltike toj lek – The law of the Lord is perfect; it revives the soul. Thus begins the psalm we have just heard. The law of the Lord is perfect and the psalmist diligently lists everything that the law offers to those who hear and follow it: it revives the soul, it gives wisdom to the simple, it gladdens the heart, and it gives light to the eyes.
This is the law which the people of Israel received from the hand of Moses, a law that would help the People of God to live in the freedom to which they were called. A law intended to be a light for the journey and to accompany the pilgrimage of his people. A people who experienced slavery and the Pharaoh's tyranny, who endured suffering and oppression to the point where God said, "Enough! No more! I have seen their affliction, I have heard their cry, I know their sufferings" (cf. Ex 3:9). And here the true face of God is seen, the face of the Father who suffers as he sees the pain, mistreatment, and lack of justice for his children. His word, his law, thus becomes a symbol of freedom, a symbol of happiness, wisdom and light. It is an experience, a reality which is conveyed by a phrase prayed in Popol Vuh and born of the wisdom accumulated in these lands since time immemorial: "The dawn rises on all of the tribes together. The face of the earth was immediately healed by the sun" (33). The sun rose for the people who at various times have walked in the midst of history's darkest moments.
In this expression, one hears the yearning to live in freedom, there is a longing which contemplates a promised land where oppression, mistreatment and humiliation are not the currency of the day. In the heart of man and in the memory of many of our peoples is imprinted this yearning for a land, for a time when human corruption will be overcome by fraternity, when injustice will be conquered by solidarity and when violence will be silenced by peace.