In the episcopal coat of arms of Pope Jorge Mario Bergoglio there are three Latin words, not immediately understood: "miserando atque eligendo."
If you seek their source you discover the important features of the program for life and ministry of Pope Francis.
In this little treasure hunt it is helpful to cite the theologian Inos Biffi from tomorrow’s edition of "L'Osservatore Romano" (March 15).
The motto comes from a homily by Saint Bede the Venerable (672-735), a monk of Wearmouth and Jarrow, author of exegetical, homiletic and historical works, including the "The Ecclesiastical History gentis Anglorum", called the " father of English history ".
In his homily, the twenty-first of the extant collection, Bede comments on the passage of the Gospel which relates the calling of the Apostle Matthew, a public sinner.
The passage which contains the motto reads:
"Jesus saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office, and said to him, 'Follow me' (Matthew, 9, 9). He saw not so much with the look of the eyes but of the body, as with that of the inner goodness. He saw a publican, and looked at him with merciful love in view of his election, he said, 'Follow me'. He said to him, 'Follow me', and ‘imitate me’. 'Follow me,' he said, not so much with the movement of the feet, as with the lifestyle. In fact, 'he who says that he abides in him ought to walk as he walked'.” (1 John, 2, 6). " In Latin, the passage begins:
"Vidit ergo Iesus publicanum, et quia miserando atque eligendo vidit, ait illi, Sequere me. Sequere autem dixit imitare. Sequere dixit non tam incessu pedum, quam exsecutione morum”.
The inclusion of the motto "miserable atque eligendo" in the coat of arms therefore means to put oneself in the place of Matthew, gazed upon by Jesus with mercy and called, despite one’s sins.
But the important thing is the result of the passage quoted. Where Bede explains what it takes to follow Jesus:
"To aspire to earthly things, to not seek ephemeral profit, to flee from petty honors; to willingly embrace all the contempt of the world for heavenly glory, for the benefit of all, to love the insults and to give them to no one, to bear with patience those received , to always seek the glory of the Creator and never one’s own. To practice these and other similar things means to follow in the footsteps of Christ. "
Inos Biffi concludes:
"This is a program of St. Francis of Assisi, inscribed in the coat of arms of Pope Francis. And we sense that this will be the program of his ministry as Bishop of Rome and Pastor of the universal Church. "
Sandro Magister Settimo Cielo (My translation with some Google help)
P.S. The Bergoglio Coat of Arms actually omits the Archepiscopal Cross which is included with the standard above but absent from the Archbishop's official coat of arms. Something regarding a Jesuit tradition of not being bishops?
Sandro Magister Settimo Cielo (My translation with some Google help)