Pope Francis: Mongolia’s Eternal Blue Sky and Vast Lands Remind Us Two Essential Aspects of Human Life: the Earthly and the Heavenly
Allow me to address you in this way, as a brother in faith to those who believe in Christ, and as a brother to all of you in the name of our shared religious quest and our membership in the one human family. In terms of that religious quest, humanity can be compared to a band of wayfarers treading the earth with eyes lifted to heaven. A traveler from afar once observed that here in Mongolia he saw “nothing but the sky and earth.” (cf. WILLIAM OF RUBRUK, Viaggio in Mongolia, XIII/3, Milan 2014, 63). Here indeed, the sky, so clear and blue, embraces these vast and imposing lands, as if to remind us of the two essential aspects of human life: the earthly, made up of our relationships with others, and the heavenly, consisting in our quest for the transcendent Other. Mongolia thus reminds all of us, as pilgrims and wayfarers, to lift our gaze on high in order to discern which path to follow on our journey here below.
17 days