Here is a translation of the Video-Message that the Holy Father Francis sent, on the occasion of the Beatification of the Venerable Servant of God, Jose Gregorio Hernandez Cisneros, which takes place April 30, 2021, at the Central University of Venezuela in Caracas.
* * *
The Holy Father’s Video-Message
Dear Brothers in the Episcopate,
Dear Venezuelan Men and Women,
Brothers All in the Lord,
I greet you affectionately, on the occasion of the Beatification of the Venerable Doctor Jose Gregorio Hernandez Cisneros. I know with what excitement you waited for many years the moment in which the Church would confirm something that you believed firmly: that the people’s doctor is with God and that, with Our Lady of Coromoto, he intercedes for his fellow nationals and for all of us. I confess to you that I didn’t find a single Venezuelan here in the Vatican, be it in the Square or in a private audience, who in the middle of the conversation finally said: When is Gregorio’s Beatification? They carried him in their souls. Well, now this desire is realized.
Doctor Jose Gregorio is given to us, Christians, and to all people of goodwill, as an example of a believing disciple of Christ, who made of the Gospel the criteria of his life, who sought his vocation, observed the Commandments, and took part daily in the Eucharist. He dedicated time to prayer and believed in eternal life, as a kind-hearted person of civic and religious virtues, of openness, of sensitivity in face of pain, of modesty and humility in his life and professional exercise, and also a man lover of wisdom, of research, of science, at the service of health and of teaching. He is a model of holiness committed to the defense of life, to the challenges of history, and, particularly, as a paradigm of service to his neighbor, as a Good Samaritan, without excluding anyone. He is a man of universal service.
One of the most important and attractive facets of his personality was that of being a witness to personal self-improvement and of citizen service. A service understood from Christ’s example, which He left us during the Last Supper, when He began to wash the feet of His disciples and of all of them because He loved all, also Judas, although knowing that he would betray Him. Jesus did not take revenge on anyone, He didn’t take revenge on anyone; He loved all.
And, at that moment, Jesus left a mandate to His disciples: to wash one another’s feet. It seems important to me to review the phrase “one another,” because the Lord exhorts us not only to be active subjects of service but also to have the humility of letting others wash our feet. And what is that washing of one another’s feet today, I wonder, for all of us and, concretely, for you who today are celebrating the Beatification of this great washer of feet?
For example, it means welcome, to receive one another, to see the other as an equal, someone like me, without disparaging anyone. It is also to serve one another, to be willing to serve, but also to let others help us, serve us. To help and to let ourselves be helped. Another example is to forgive one another, as we must forgive and let others forgive us. We must feel forgiven, in a word, to wash one another’s feet is to love one another.
Sometimes we think that no one is in need of help; that we are autonomous, that we don’t need anything, including forgiveness, no? We all need help — all of us. We all need forgiveness. Jesus said a very lovely thing: “Let him who is without sin among you throw the first stone” (John 8:7). Let the one who does not have something inside of which to repent, accuse others. Sometimes we become a family – I am thinking, for example, of a family nucleus — of accusers of one another, or a people of accusers of one another. This is not the way that the Blessed we celebrate today taught us, but rather the way of service, of listening to one another and of forgiving one another, and of letting ourselves be forgiven.
The Beatification of Doctor Jose Gregorio takes place at a particularly difficult moment for you. Like my brother Bishops, I know well the situation you are suffering, and I am conscious that your prolonged hardships and anxieties have been aggravated by the terrible COVID-19 pandemic that affects all. I have very present, today, the many dead, the many infected by the coronavirus who have paid with their life, to fulfill their tasks in precarious conditions. This very pandemic, which today affects this great celebration of the faith, of Beatification, and that reduces it, to avoid infections for security and health reasons, makes us all stay at home and doesn’t allow us to go out on the street to celebrate and shout, because the pandemic is dangerous. And I accompany you in this — allow me the word – “pandemic” celebration, namely, a celebration without anything, because of the pain of the pandemic. I also have present all those who have left the country in search of better conditions of life, and also those deprived of their freedom, and those lacking what is most necessary. All compatriots of the Blessed, all of you, you all have the same rights. I accompany you all with love. And just as I well know your sufferings, I also know the faith and the great hopes of the Venezuelan people.
The Beatification of Doctor Hernandez is a special blessing of God for Venezuela, and it invites us to conversion, to a greater solidarity with one another, to produce among all the answer for the so needed common good, so that the country will revive, be reborn after the pandemic, with a spirit of reconciliation. It is a grace that must be prayed for: the spirit of reconciliation, because there are always problems in families, in cities, in society. There are people that look at one another somewhat askance, that look bad. And reconciliation is always needed, the outstretched hand! And the outstretched hand is a good social investment.
Therefore, in the midst of all the difficulties, I ask you all who so love Doctor Jose Gregorio, to follow his admirable example of selfless service to others. I honestly believe that this moment of national unity, around the figure of the people’s Doctor, implies a singular hour for Venezuela, and exacts from you to go beyond, to take concrete steps in favor of unity, without letting yourselves be overcome by discouragement.
Following Doctor Jose Gregorio’s example, may you be capable to recognizing one another mutually as equal, as brothers, as children of the same homeland. May you show yourselves ready to serve, and have the sufficient humility to let yourselves be served, to help and to let yourselves be helped, to forgive and let yourselves be forgiven. Don’ forget it: one another, or as that little old lady said ”and the others to one – always mutual. I ask God for reconciliation and peace among Venezuelans. I would like to go to visit you. May public institutions always be able to offer security and confidence to all, and may the people of this beautiful land always find opportunities for human development and coexistence.
I pray, dear brothers and sisters, that the new Blessed may inspire, in particular, all the leaders, everyone, trade unionists, academics, politicians, businessmen, religious, all, University students, and others to commit themselves seriously in achieving an operative unity in which all, with seriousness and sincerity, from respect and mutual recognition, putting the common good before any other interest, work for unity, peace, and prosperity, so that in this way the citizens may live with normality, productivity, democratic stability, security, justice, and hope.
I ask that, between all of us, we recover that Venezuela in which all know they have a place, in which all can find a future. And I pray to the Lord that no outside intervention may hinder you from walking on this path of national unity. How much I would like to visit you, to at least express my accompaniment on this path. I pray to the Virgin of Coromoto, Patroness of that beloved and lovely nation, and I pray to Blessed Jose Gregorio Hernandez for all of you. And I ask you not to forget to pray for me. Forward! Always together, following Jose Gregorio’s example. Do not get discouraged. May God bless you and the Virgin look after you.
© Libreria Editrice Vatican
[Original text: Spanish] [Exaudi’s translation by Virginia M. Forrester]
