Holy Father Pope Francis while addressing the faithful gathered for the Holy Mass at the Casa Santa Marta, conveyed the pilgrims to draw near to the people who are suffering in order to take them by the hand to restore them to the place of dignity that God wills for them. His Holiness was reflecting on the Gospel of St. Luke, which tells how Jesus raised the son of the widow of Naim from the dead and he also explained the significance of compassion and love in life.

As reported by news.va, Holy Father Pope Francis remarked that “Jesus sees with the heart and has compassion and compassion is a sentiment that gets involved, it is a sentiment of the heart, of the viscera, it involves the whole person and it is not the same as the pain because compassion gets involved and it is ‘suffering with’” Further, His Holiness added, “Compassion then pushes us to draw near to people and drawing near is touching the reality and not just looking at it from a distance.”

His Holiness concluded the message by reminding the faithful to help those who suffer so that they can be restored to society, to the life of the family, to work and to daily life.