VATICAN CITY. The Pontiff renews the appeal for a truce in Ukraine in these holy days for Christianity. To Regina Coeli he sends his best wishes for Orthodox Easter, and asks to stop the “barbarism of war”. He also affirms: an imperfect but humble faith is better than a strong and presumptuous one; “The Lord does not seek perfect Christians”. Before, in St. Peter’s Basilica, he does not celebrate Mass on Divine Mercy Sunday, he remains seated and gives the homily.
At 12, the Pope looks out of the window of the study in the Apostolic Palace to recite the Marian prayer with the faithful and pilgrims – about 40 thousand, the Vatican Gendarmerie communicates – gathered in St. Peter’s Square.
In the introduction, Francis explains that today, “the last day of the Octave of Easter, the Gospel tells us about the first and second apparitions of the Risen One to the disciples”. Jesus Christ “comes at Easter, while the Apostles are closed in the Upper Room, for fear, but since Thomas, one of the Twelve, is not present, he returns eight days later”. The Pontiff invites us to focus on the two «protagonists, Thomas and Jesus, looking first at the disciple and then at the Master. It’s a nice dialogue these two have. “
The apostle Thomas, first of all: “He represents all of us, who were not present in the Upper Room when the Lord appeared and we had no other physical signs or apparitions from him. We too, like that disciple, sometimes struggle: how can you believe that Jesus is risen, that he accompanies us and is the Lord of our life without having seen him, without having touched him? How do you believe this? Why doesn’t the Lord give us some more evident sign of his presence and of his love? Some signs that I can see better … Here, we too are like Thomas, with the same doubts, the same reasonings ».
But “we must not be ashamed of this. In telling us the story of Thomas, in fact, the Gospel tells us that the Lord does not seek perfect Christians. The Lord does not seek perfect Christians. I tell you: I am afraid when I see some Christian, some association of Christians who believe themselves to be perfect. The Lord does not seek perfect Christians; the Lord does not seek Christians who never doubt and always flaunt a sure faith “. When a Christian is “like this, something is wrong. No, the adventure of faith, as for Thomas, is made up of lights and shadows. If not, what faith would that be? It knows times of consolation, enthusiasm and enthusiasm, but also weariness, bewilderment, doubts and obscurity ». The Gospel shows the “crisis” of Thomas to tell us that we must not fear the crises of life and faith. Crises are not a sin, they are a journey, we must not fear them ». Many times they make «humble, because they strip us of the idea of being in order, of being better than others. Crises help us to recognize ourselves in need: they rekindle the need for God and thus allow us to return to the Lord, to touch his wounds, to experience his love for him again, like the first time. Dear brothers and sisters, it is better an imperfect but humble faith, which always returns to Jesus, than a strong but presumptuous faith, which makes us proud and arrogant. Woe to these, woe! ».
And in the face of the absence and the journey of «Thomas, who is often ours too, what is the attitude of Jesus? The Gospel twice says that He “came”. A first time, then a second time, eight days later. Jesus does not give up, he does not get tired of us, he is not afraid of our crises, of our weaknesses. He always comes back: when the doors are closed, he comes back; when we doubt, he comes back; when, like Thomas, we need to meet him and touch him more closely, he returns. Jesus always comes back, always knocks on the door, and does not come back with powerful signs that would make us feel small and inadequate, even ashamed, but with his wounds; he returns showing us his wounds, signs of his love for him who married our frailties ».
Especially when “we experience weariness or moments of crisis, Jesus, the Risen One, wishes to return to be with us. He just waits for us to seek him, invoke him, even that, like Thomas, we protest, bringing him our needs and our unbelief. He always comes back ». Because? “Because he is patient and merciful. He comes to open the cenacles of our fears, of our incredulities, because he always wants to give us another opportunity “̀. Jesus is the Lord “of the” other opportunities “: he always gives us another, always”.
Bergoglio then advises us to think “about the last time – let’s make some memory – in which, during a difficult moment, or a period of crisis, we closed ourselves in, barricading ourselves in our problems and leaving Jesus out of the house. And let us promise ourselves, next time, in the effort, to seek Jesus, to return to him, to his forgiveness – he always forgives, always! -, return to those wounds that have healed us. Thus, we will also become capable of compassion, of approaching the wounds of others without rigidity and without prejudice ”.
And then he invokes Our Lady, “Mother of mercy – I like to think of her as Mother of mercy on the Monday after Sunday of Mercy”, so that she “accompanies us on the journey of faith and love”.
After the Regina Coeli, Pope Francis recalls that “today various Eastern, Catholic and Orthodox Churches, as well as various Latin communities, celebrate
Easter according to the Julian calendar. We celebrated it last Sunday, according to the Gregorian calendar. I offer them my best wishes: Christ is risen, he is truly risen! May he be the one to fill the good expectations of hearts with hope. May he be the one to give peace, outraged by the barbarism of war. Just today two months have passed since the beginning of this war: instead of stopping, the war has intensified ». For the Pontiff “It is sad that in these days, which are the holiest and most solemn for all Christians, the mortal roar of weapons is heard more than the sound of bells announcing the resurrection; and it is sad that weapons are increasingly taking the place of the word. I renew the appeal for an Easter truce, a minimal and tangible sign of a desire for peace. Stop the attack, to meet the suffering of the exhausted population; let us stop, obeying the words of the Risen One, who on Easter day repeats to his disciples: “Peace be with you!” ». I ask everyone “to increase prayer for peace and to have the courage to say, to show that peace is possible. Political leaders, please, listen to the voice of the people who want peace, not an escalation of the conflict ”.
In this regard, «I greet and thank the participants in the extraordinary Perugia-Assisi March for peace and fraternity, which is taking place today; as well as those who have joined, giving life to similar events in other cities of Italy “.
Today the bishops of Cameroon “make a national pilgrimage with their faithful to the Marian Shrine of Marianberg, to rededicate the country to the Mother of God and place it under her protection. They pray in particular for the return of peace to their country, which for more than five years, in various regions, has been torn apart by violence. We too raise our plea, together with the brothers and sisters of Cameroon, so that God, through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, will soon grant true and lasting peace to this beloved country “.
Francis greets “all of you, Romans and pilgrims who have come from Italy and from many countries. In particular, I greet the Poles, with a thought for the compatriots who celebrate the “Day of Good” promoted by Caritas, and also for the victims of accidents in mines. I greet the faithful from Milan, Faenza, Verolanuova, Nembro and the Vicentine volunteers of the Order of Malta. A special greeting to the pilgrimage of the confirmed young people of the diocese of Piacenza-Bobbio, accompanied by their Bishop, as well as to the Confirmation boys of Mondovì, Almenno San Salvatore, Albegno, Cazzago San Martino and Alta Padovana, and also to the Sant’Angelo group Lodigiano and the altar servers of Spirano. I greet the devotees of Divine Mercy who have gathered here today, in the church-sanctuary of Santo Spirito in Sassia; and the participants in the Walk from the Sacra di San Michele to Monte Sant’Angelo ».
Finally, the usual farewell: «Happy Sunday everyone! And please don’t forget to pray for me. Have a good lunch and goodbye ».
Contrary to what was expected, Pope Francis did not preside at Mass at 10. Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization, celebrates in his place. In recent times, the Pontiff has had to give up various commitments due to persistent and severe pain in the knee. The Bishop of Rome however entered the Basilica, without wearing liturgical vestments, and sat on an armchair near the “Altar of Confession”. And then he gave the homily: for this reason he was accompanied to sit on an armchair in front of the central Altar of the Confession; evident the difficulty of walking and proceeding with small steps, as a consequence of the pain in the right knee which Francesco suffers due to an inflammation of the ligaments. He said in the sermon: The whole Church was made by Jesus a community dispenser of mercy, a sign and an instrument of reconciliation for humanity. Brothers, sisters, each of us received the Holy Spirit in Baptism to be a man and woman of reconciliation. When we experience the joy of being freed from the weight of our sins, of our failures; when we know firsthand what it means to be born again, after an experience that seemed to have no way out, then we must share the bread of mercy with those around us ». Therefore it is necessary to feel “called to this. And let us ask ourselves: I, here where I live, I, in my family, I, at work, in my community, do I promote communion, am I a weaver of reconciliation? Do I commit myself to defusing conflicts, to bring forgiveness where there is hatred, peace where there is resentment? Or do I fall into the world of chatter, which always kills? Jesus seeks in us witnesses to the world of these words of his: Peace be with you! I received the peace: I give it to the other ».
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